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CNN Live At Daybreak

Pope John Paul II in Canada This Morning

Aired July 24, 2002 - 05:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pope John Paul the II is in Canada this morning. He is attending a World Youth Day gathering in Toronto.

CNN senior correspondent Jim Bittermann watched the pope's arrival yesterday and reports now on a spiritual leader slowed by both age and by illness.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a small thing, but a large gesture for an old man pained and stiffened by disease. Still, no one missed the significance as Pope John Paul II rejected the plans of his aides to lower him from his plane in a handicapped lift and decided instead to take the last 27 steps to Canada on his own two feet.

It surprised his hosts and his staff, who at this stage in the pope's reign have learned they must be ready to deal with his increasing physical limitations. But after two weeks of rest at his summer residence, John Paul was having a good day and those who welcomed him to World Youth Days took it as a good sign.

REV. TERRENCE PENDERGRAST, ARCHBISHOP OF HALIFAX: He's not going to let anything keep him from this and he wants to show people he's not just going to fold up and die. He's going to keep going as long as he can.

BITTERMANN: And from the start in Toronto, he demonstrated that, by urging the young people to have faith.

POPE JOHN PAUL II: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) begin and end without (UNINTELLIGIBLE), without hope. That is one of the principal reasons for the World Youth Day.

BITTERMANN: Those who heard John Paul's airport remarks in French and English found his speaking ability, diminished in recent years by what is believed to be Parkinson's Disease, had returned to at least some of its old form.

CARDINAL ALOYSIUS AMBROZIC, ARCHBISHOP OF TORONTO: I would say he spoke much more clearly than he, the last time I heard him some months ago in Rome. So obviously this has -- this prospect of this youth day has energized him. BITTERMANN: Aides around John Paul say watching him grappling with his growing physical infirmities is an inspiration. And, as the people greeted the young and the handicapped, it proved to be.

(on camera): In all, the pope's only public appearance between now and Thursday afternoon lasted barely 42 minutes, very little for someone who just a few years ago would schedule a dozen or more events in a single day.

(voice-over): Still, while he's gathering strength in a remote Canadian island for his heavier program later in the week, those who came to worship with their spiritual leader seem closer to finding the inspiration they are looking for.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Toronto.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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