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American Morning

Pope John Paul II Starts Four-Day Trip to Homeland

Aired August 16, 2002 - 09:34   ET

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

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Pope John Paul II starts his four-day trip to his homeland today. Church officials have been denying rumors throughout Europe that the 82-year-old pope may not return to The Vatican, instead choosing to retire in southern Poland, the place where it all started for him.
In the southern town of Krakow, Chris Burns is following the pontiff in a trip there.

Chris, hello. Good afternoon.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, they can deny rumors right and left about whether the pope will resign. That is all wide open speculation, but much of the country here sees it as a goodbye. They see it as a goodbye to the man they see as their liberator and their uncrowned king.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURNS (voice-over): Carol Boteewa (ph) makes his first triumphant homecoming as pope in 1979. The communist government limits his itinerary, but millions greet John Paul II as their true leader.

"May the holy spirit change the surface of the land," he says. "This land."

It is the beginning of a tumultuous decade. One year later, the independent trade union solidarity is legalized, with a pope's blessing. The next year, Poland's desperate communist rulers cling to power by imposing martial law, which the pope strongly condemns.

In 1989, after more papal embolden the anticommunist opposition, more crippling strikes force the Apparachicks (ph) to cede power. Poland forms a noncommunist government. It's the first major crack in the Soviet bloc.

And two months later, the Berlin Wall begins to crumble.

As Poland prepares for the ailing pope's homecoming, many here fear it will be his last, that it is the beginning of a long good-bye, for the noon whom they owe so much.

"I would like him to live on, but we're all getting old," she says. "Maybe it is the last time."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without his person, this breakthrough that we've experienced 14 years ago, it wouldn't be possible, for us.

BURNS: Among the pope's stops in Krakow is Vladel (ph) Cathedral, where the young Carol Boteewa (ph) prayed as Nazi bombs fell on Poland when World War II began.

(on camera): Pope John Paul II marked many of his milestones at Vladel (ph) Cathedral. He was ordained a priest here. He celebrated his first mass here. He became bishop and archbishop here, and the most important symbol of the Polish nation, where the country's kings were crowned and buried. Many in Poland see the pope among those ranks.

PROF. PIOTR SZTOMPKA, JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY: He certainly is Poland's uncrowned king, or more.

BURNS (voice-over): Sociology professor Piotr Sztompka teaches at Krakow's Jagiellonian University, the pope's alma mater.

SZTOMPKA: He is a liberator of the country, but also he is our father. He is somebody who comes, and who is very close, and especially now, with his bad health.

BURNS: Some here see the pope's struggle with it's health as a metaphor for Poland's struggle to adapt to democracy and capitalism, and prepare for European Union membership. Unemployment is 18 percent. Populist leaders against the EU have gained support.

"We can learn this from the Holy Father," she says, "that one can accept all kinds of suffering, and live with it."

BURNS: As many poles come to bid him goodbye, the pope offers words of hope and encouragement, to urge them to finish the task he helped them to begin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNS: The pope arrives from Rome in the next three hours. He is to be greeted by President Alexander Kraznevsky (ph), a former communist official, and so a bit of irony there on his arrival -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Chris, thanks. Chris Burns, reporting live there in Southern Poland, the town of Krakow.

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