In the Philippines, where his 1981 visit is credited with sowing the seeds of the movement that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, church bells tolled and parishioners wept openly.

In Vietnam, Asia's second largest Catholic congregation with some eight million believers, churches were packed.

"God has taken with him Pope John Paul II. Let us pray for his eternal rest," said Catholic priest Dang Duc Ngan during mass at St Joseph's Cathedral in Hanoi.

In South Korea, home to four million Catholics, special altars were set up for people to mourn the pope, who visited the country in 1984 and 1989.

The state-controlled Catholic Church in China offered "grave condolences", even though it does not recognise the Vatican and Beijing broke diplomatic ties with the Holy See in 1951.

In Taiwan, off the southeastern Chinese coast, flags were to fly at half mast to honour the pontiff.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi sent a message of condolence expressing "his greatest respect for the feat achieved by the late pope's efforts towards world peace."

In India, where the pope visited in 1986 and 1999, President Abdul Kalam said he was "deeply saddened at the passing away of Pope John Paul II."

"He was a great, great visionary. He did so much for the humanity," added Sister Nirmala, the head of the Catholic Missionaries of Charity founded by the late Nobel laureate Mother Teresa.

Mainly Muslim Indonesia, Bangladesh and Malaysia as well as predominantly Buddhist Thailand and Sri Lanka also paid tribute to the late pontiff.