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CNN Live Today

Election Process Begins for New Pope

Aired April 18, 2005 - 10:00   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: And we'll go ahead and get started. Let's start by taking a look at what's happening now in the news.
And we're keeping an eye from Arlington, Virginia, emergency vehicles on the scene of a crash. You can see a school bus there; apparently it's a school bus and a garbage truck. If you're familiar with the area, it's the intersection of Columbia Pike and Courthouse Road. One county spokeswoman saying there have been some injury, unclear how many. We'll get back to that as we have more information.

Later this hour, cardinals from six continents will take an oath to elect the next leader of the Catholic Church and its 1.1 billion followers. Within the next couple of hours the there conclave opens inside the Sistine Chapel. The first vote on a new pope could take place today.

Just last hour, crewmembers aboard the International Space Station held a live news conference as they orbited the earth. This is the second day they awakened aboard the craft after a Saturday docking. They're preparing for the return of the space shuttle, the first since the Columbia explosion more than two years ago.

This hour, a Texas businessman indicted in the United Nations' Oil for Food scandal appeared in court. Houston oilman David Chalmers, Jr., is accused of a scheme that paid millions of dollars in secret kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime. A South Korean businessman and two oil traders are also accused of taking part.

Just about 45 minutes ago, a registered sex offender formally was charged with the murder and death of Sarah Lunde. Police say David Onstott confessed to murdering the 13-year-old after a scuffle in her home. Her body was found in a pond near her Ruskin, Florida home one week after she disappeared.

Good morning. I'm Daryn Kagan.

The process of electing the new pope begins at the bottom of the hour. A Mass was celebrated a few hours in St. Peter's Basilica. One hundred and fifteen cardinals prayed for spiritual guidance in choosing the successor to Pope John Paul II. The homily was delivered by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He is the dean of the College of Cardinals. He is also seen as a possible power broker in the election.

The process of choosing the new pope is secret. But for the first time we will be able to see live pictures of the cardinals entering the conclave. CNN's Christiane Amanpour is covering the election and she joins us from Rome.

Christiane, hello.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, hello from Rome. And there will be this incredibly important morning -- rather afternoon our time here in half an hour, in which all the cardinals go into the Sistine Chapel and start what is the most important career as cardinals, and that is to elect a new pope. It will be shrouded in secrecy. But for the first time there will be live coverage of the initial part of this conclave; and that is the procession from the Apostolic Palace, through the Hall of Kings and on into the Sistine Chapel.

There will be the Litany of Saints that we heard so poignantly during the funeral for Pope John Paul II sung out, as the 115 cardinals process to take their seats in the Sistine Chapel. Once inside, they will take a general oath of secrecy, which will be administered by Cardinal Ratzinger as the dean of the College of Cardinals. Thereafter, each will independently vow to maintain secrecy for this process.

And then there may or may not be time to take the first balloting, to cast the first ballot. If that happens, it is overwhelmingly likely that the first puff of smoke we see this evening will be black, to indicate that they have not received or rather reached any conclusion on this their first ballot. And thereafter, it could go into a several day process.

But this will be unusual in that for the first time, people around the world will be able to see the very beginning of this highly secretive Conclave of the Cardinals. As we've said, 115 under 80 years old cardinals who are eligible to vote, because two of them who also could vote are sick, and therefore, will not be taking part. And they come from 52 different countries.

One of the first moments to be able to scrutinize one of the instructions to the cardinals was when Cardinal Ratzinger gave the homily during Mass earlier this morning, in which he stuck to a very traditional conservative line. He exhorted the cardinals to remain true to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, the conservative traditional doctrine, and not to, quote, "follow the fashions and the waves of the current day." So he called for a very strict adherence to doctrinaire Catholicism -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour at the Vatican. We will hear more from the Vatican in just a minute, also talking about the cardinals taking part in the conclave.

As Christiane was mentioning, they come from 52 countries on six continents. Europeans continue to dominate the conclave but there are far more Catholics these days in Latin America. Fifty-eight voting cardinals or half the percentage of the conclave are from Europe. About a quarter of the world's Catholics are European. By comparison, more than four in 10 of the world's Catholics are from Latin America. But Latin American cardinals make up only 17 percent of the conclave.

There will be 14 North American cardinals at the conclave, representing 7 percent of the world's Catholics. Rounding out the geographical division in the conclave, there will be 11 voting cardinals from Africa, 10 from Asia and two from Oceania.

Catholics around the world are waiting to hear the identity of their new spiritual leader. And many, in fact, are gathering in Vatican City this week, hoping to witness the white smoke, signifying a new pope.

Alessio Vinci is in Rome with that part of the story.

Alessio, hello.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Daryn. Yes, the conclave or the procession to the conclave will begin about an hour's -- about a half hour time. And then we do not know yet whether there will be a vote or not tonight. The cardinals are said to be deciding that later when they actually gather inside the Sistine Chapel. And they will kick everybody out from that room and decide whether or not there will be a vote tonight. If there is a vote, then there will be smoke.

Let me show you here how everything is set to work for the thousands gathered already here in St. Peter's Square. The smoke will come off from the chimney set up on the Sistine Chapel. And as you know, black smoke means no pope and white smoke will mean that the cardinals have elected their leader.

There was some confusion back in 1978; it appeared the smoke was gray. Some journalists called it wrong. So this time around, the pope himself said new rules as well as the rule that the bells of St. Peter's Square will actually toll if the pope is elected. There are six of them. The largest one here in the middle of your screen right now is known as the Campanone, which is the big bell. It is more than 20 years old. It weighed about 20,000 pounds and is about eight feet wide.

Now, once the pope is selected, we hear the bells. We'll hear the smoke. The senior cardinal deacon will appear from the balcony of St. Peter's Square, which is already being prepared here with the red drapes. And he will deliver the famous speech, "Habemus Papem." Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum habemus papem," which means, "I announce to you the great pleasure that there is a pope."

And perhaps 20 or 40 minutes later the new pope will appear to deliver his first blessing to the people of Rome and to the world, for that matter. Known as Urbi et Orbis Blessing, a traditional blessing which is delivered, of course, on Sundays. But of course, this will be the first opportunity for the new pope to deliver that blessing, as well as it happens at times in previous conclaves to basically address the crowds. Who we expect -- which we expect here in St. Peter's Square to be in the thousands, especially around the time when the smoke is expected. Which is about 12:00 local time or 7:00 p.m. local time, 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time, or about 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Beginning tomorrow, of course, unless there is already a vote tonight, therefore if that happens, then there will be probably smoke at some point later tonight around 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Back to you.

KAGAN: Alessio, of course, you were there to cover the death of Pope John Paul II and the funeral. It would appear the crowds that are there now are nothing compared to what you saw at the start of the month.

VINCI: That is correct. Of course, we should point out it's a Monday today, and we are not expecting really a result of the election on the first day. Rarely conclaves have been decided on the first day of voting. I do expect in the coming days, especially around those times that I've just given you, that people will gather here in St. Peter's Square.

And by the way, by the time there is the announcement of the pope elected in the town, the new pope will appear in the window. There will be a time of about 20, 40 minutes, according to tradition of course. And during that time, we expect by the thousands, if not tens of thousands of people, especially of course, those that are here in Rome to come here in St. Peter's Square to listen, to have their first glimpse of the new pope.

KAGAN: Alessio Vinci from Rome, thank you for that.

You can get an in-depth look at the potential successors to Pope John Paul II on our Web site. Go to cnn.com/pope, click on "Succession" and then potential successors. We will have more live coverage this hour.

First we want to get back to Virginia and the live pictures from there. This is Arlington, Virginia where apparently there's been a crash between a school bus and a garbage truck, a very serious accident.

Some of the earlier numbers that we're getting, one child has been killed in this accident. Two children critically injured, two adults critically injured and 12 children suffering minor injuries. So we will continue to monitor the situation from Arlington. Our Bob Franken is on the way to the scene there.

We also want to go to Oklahoma City -- actually to Florida for another sex offender and a murder. We're going to have the latest on Sara Lunde case coming up.

Plus, preparations for historic memorial in Oklahoma City. Ed Lavandera is there.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Well, we're here in Oklahoma City. It's a weeklong series of remembrances, as this city continues to cope and deal with what happened here 10 years ago. More coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Going back to our pictures, this is from the bus accident in Arlington, Virginia. We understand this took place about 8:00 a.m. Eastern this morning. A school bus carrying elementary school students and a garbage truck involved in this accident, very serious accident.

Some of the early numbers we're getting, at least one child has been killed. Two children critically injured, two adults critically injured and 12 children suffering minor injuries. So we're working on getting more information from the scene. Live pictures there from Arlington, Virginia.

Meanwhile, tomorrow will mark the tenth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. The domestic terrorist strike that forever changed Americans views of their vulnerabilities.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Oklahoma City with a look at the 10 days of commemoration that are now underway.

Ed, good morning.

LAVANDERA: Good morning, Daryn. Well, so much has changed here in 10 years. Five years ago, the outdoor memorial here was opened. The year after that, the museum just across the lawn here was opened as well. Since then, some 3 million people have come to Oklahoma City to spend time at the outdoor memorial and to walk through the museum.

It is hard to find someone who walks out of the museum here and says they do not come out struck poignantly, by what happened here April 19 of 1995. And so much has changed.

The new federal building has opened just caddy-cornered here from where we're sitting. Many people who sit in that office have a view of the memorial. That new federal building, five stories high. The old one was nine stories high, as well. There have been many people over the years who talked about having that view wasn't necessarily something they wanted. Other people didn't mind it as well.

But this stream here of people that come is impressive. Yesterday, Sunday afternoon, I was walking through the grounds. And it's poignant to hear families that come here, adults explaining to their children why this has to be here and what had happened here. If you listen to those conversations, it's very passionate and very intense to listen to, as you hear and see young children trying to understand exactly what has happened here.

Of course, this is all part of the weeklong series of remembrances to commemorate what happened here 10 years ago. It's a highly organized event and thousands of people are expected to hear -- to come listen, especially tomorrow, when the names of the 168 victims are read aloud -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed, this is an event that's been commemorated every year on the anniversary. Other than this, you're going 10 days, what's different about the 10-year mark?

LAVANDERA: Well, the 10-year mark is really a little bit different from the sense that they want to turn this into an experience where people are looking forward, not just going back and reliving here what happened 10 years ago. But it's also changed in the sense that, since then, you know, 9/11 has happened.

There's a group of people coming from New York that will be here with the victims and family members to kind of share thoughts and feelings. So when this happened 10 years ago to where we are today, so much has changed in this world that is definitely something that is also being remembered here this week.

KAGAN: Ed Lavandera from Oklahoma City, thank you.

Tonight CNN will return to Oklahoma City 10 years later. Survivors opening up about a terror attack that shook America to its core. Aaron Brown hosts a "NEWSNIGHT" special, "Day of Terror." That's tonight at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific right here on CNN.

A convicted sex offender appeared before a judge this morning on charges that he killed a 13-year-old Florida girl. Police say David Onstott has confessed to the crime. Sarah Michelle Lunde's body was found Saturday, a week after she disappeared.

CNN's Sarah Dorsey is covering the story from Ruskin, Florida -- Sarah.

SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, David Onstott made his first appearance today. It was a very short appearance. And basically the judge told him that he is charged with first-degree murder, and that he would be held in jail with no bond.

David Onstott confessed to Sarah Lunde according to the sheriff's office. Her body was found on Saturday in a pond about a half-mile away from her home. They tell us she was partially clothed, and partially submerged in that water. They say whoever, according to law enforcement sources, they say whoever her killer was tried to weigh down that body. Of course, we know that was unsuccessful because it was a search dog and team that found her in that pond.

Now, the sheriff office -- the sheriff himself actually talked to CNN this morning, saying that really the system has failed in this case and others in Florida. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID GEE, SHERIFF, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: I think the system in general you know, has failed us all. It's the system is overburdened. And I don't think it's any particular judge's fault or anything like that. I just think the system is overwhelmed. And as a society we have to decide what are we going to do with these people?

You know, they're in and out of the system, and it's a type of behavior that unlike any other kind of criminal behavior, it's not correctable. And I think we have to make some decisions. You know, even when the criminals hate these sex offenders, you know there's something pretty bad and pretty deviant about that behavior. And I think they need to be treated differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORSEY: The medical examiner's office says a partial autopsy on Sarah Lunde's body has been completed but there are more tests to come. We possibly could get the official cause of death as early as today -- Kyra.

KAGAN: Actually it's Daryn, but Sarah Dorsey...

DORSEY: Oh sorry, Daryn.

KAGAN: That's all right. Long days for you. Thank you, Sarah Dorsey live from Ruskin, Florida.

It's an oath of secrecy, a devotion to the church. Still to come, 115 cardinals prepare to be locked in together to emerge only after choosing a new pope. More on the cardinal's conclave when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Time is running out for a lot of Americans who want to erase their mountains of debts by filing for bankruptcy. President Bush says that he's anxious to sign Congress's newly passed overhaul that will make it a lot more difficult to wipe clean those unpaid bills.

Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis offers her "Top Five Tips" for people considering such a move.

Ger, good morning.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN-FN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey, good morning, Daryn. If you're up against it in terms of debt, if you have more debt that you can control, consumer advocates are saying file now for bankruptcy. That's because when this new bankruptcy law takes effect in about 180 day, after it's signed by the president, it will be harder to file bankruptcy, particularly the fresh start bankruptcy that wipes away your debt.

Here's what one expert told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY BREWER, BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY: What this law will basically doe is say people, your responsibilities are first and foremost to pay your MBNA and Citibank. And maybe we'll leave you enough money, but maybe not too much, to properly provide for your children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: And that's what we're talking about here, Daryn. If you file bankruptcy after this new bill goes into effect, it will be a lot harder to do what you need to do for your family.

KAGAN: All right. Gerri, we have some breaking news. So let's get through the tips as quickly as we can. A lot of people, the No. 1 concern is keeping their house.

WILLIS: Don't take out a lot of debt on your house. If you have credit debt, consumer debt, it doesn't make a lot of make sense because you want to hang onto the home if you file bankruptcy.

KAGAN: Watch out for con artists.

WILLIS: There are lots of them, particularly credit counselors. Go to the FTC, Federal Trade Commission's Web site to check out credit counselors.

KAGAN: And credit counselor is just that?

WILLIS: That's right. Credit counselor is somebody who will give you advice on making sure that you get your debts in order. And you'll have to do that if you file bankruptcy after this new bill goes into effect.

KAGAN: And then finally, this is a wakeup call to all of us who might have some debt problems.

WILLIS: You bet. You want to make sure you keep your debt under control because at the end of the day, if you wait until the new bill goes into effect there's not much of a safety net out there. So make sure that you keep those credit cards under control.

KAGAN: Gerri Willis thank you for your tips.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: We want to go live now to Arlington, West Virginia. Our Bob Franken is on the scene of that fatal school bus crash that took place earlier this morning.

Bob, what do you know?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, as you can see behind me what is one of a parent's worst nightmares, the smashed in school bus on the news. It's as bad as it looks. We have one child who was killed. All together there were three critically injured, another 15 children -- another 12 children rather, have been hospitalized but none in serious condition.

It happened less than two hours ago when a garbage truck, which was going in one direction, collided with the school bus, which was waiting at this intersection for a left turn. No word on whether the school bus was moving. The collision was hard enough, as you can see, that it did that damage. Children were pinned inside the bus were safely removed.

The garbage truck driver was in there over an hour. They finally pulled him out just a short time ago. And he was medevaced to a hospital where, as I said, he is in critical condition.

Now, counselors have raced to the school, which is several blocks from here. But it is the kind of tragedy that nobody can expect. But as I said, Daryn, everybody fears -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. We'll be back to you with more information as it becomes available. Bob Franken live in Arlington, thank you.

We are getting close to the half hour where in just a few moments we will be watching the entry into the cardinals' conclave, and the administering of the oath of secrecy. It's all set to begin from the Vatican. We'll take you there live after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And we take you live now to the Vatican, getting ready for the beginning of the conclave. The cardinals right now in the Hall of Blessings, very soon we expect them to be leaving and walk in procession to the Sistine Chapel.

We have our top correspondents on the scene to help with our coverage. Right now, let's go to CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour -- Christiane.

AMANPOUR: Daryn, hello this afternoon from Rome. What we're seeing now on the air, these live pictures are unprecedented live pictures of the beginning of the secret conclave. For the first time in the history of this exercise, Vatican cameras are allowed to broadcast a part of this, the beginning part of it.

We're joined, of course, by CNN's Vatican analyst John Allen and Delia Gallagher. Right now, we're listening to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and we will listen for a second. He is delivering the opening prayer before this array of cardinals, 115 in all, from 52 different countries, all of them under the age of 80, will process into the Sistine Chapel, and from thereon, it will be secret, lockdown, conclave means with key and it will be a secret process as they cast their ballots. This the most important thing a cardinal can do in his career to cast his vote for the next pope.

Let's just listen to the prayer for a moment.

(SPEAKING IN ITALIAN)

AMANPOUR: As you can hear, the "Litany of Saints" is being recited right now, that hauntingly beautiful music that lists all the saints in the Catholic Church over the centuries, and that litany will be sung as these cardinals process into the Sistine Chapel. We just heard them bless the procession, and they're now leaving the Hall of Blessings, going through what's known as the Sala De Rgia (ph), the hall of the kings, where Pope John Paul II used to meet all of the Vatican ambassadors and dignitaries every morning, or when he had an audience with them, and now, they're going to process through these ancient corridors into the Sistine Chapel. Very quickly, just hear quickly from John Allen and Delia what we plan to see over the next hour or so. ALLEN: Well, Christiane, what will happen is the cardinal will process, as you say, through Sala De Rgia, into the Sistine Chapel.

Once they arrive, they will take their places. They'll, of course, each have assigned places inside the Sistine Chapel, around the 12 tables that are located there. Then Cardinal Ratzinger will read the oath they are all going to swear, promising to be maintain the secrecy of the conclave and to defend the temporal and spiritual interests of the Vatican, whoever is elected. Then each cardinal will individually and in his own words to that oath, and then will come the fateful words "extra ummus (ph), at which stage everyone has to leave, except for the cardinal who will give the meditation, Cardinal Thomas (INAUDIBLE).

GALLAGHER: We should also say, of course, that this is being followed by the people in the square. There are screens in the square so those following from outside can also watch, and after, of course, the predication of the meditation, which will be the last words that they're able to hear, the cardinals will then have their slips of paper on which they must write the name of their candidate of choice. All of the others will be out of the Sistine Chapel at that stage, and they will write the name of the candidate of choice, and then there's a very formal process for bringing it up and placing it into the urn, which they again have to say they have made this decision of their own liberty, and under God and they place that in the urn, which is up on the altar, and go back to their seats. So it's a very long process of voting.

AMANPOUR: We're just going to listen in for a moment.

(SINGING)

What we're looking at now is, in fact, a diagram of the Sistine Chapel, but on the actual live pictures, you could see that the cardinals have made it already to the Sistine Chapel. In fact, these are the live pictures. You just saw the ceiling, the incredible, wonderful Michelangelo work of art in which you see the creation, and on the wall, you also see the last judgment. And this is what is going to be facing, or at least this is what the cardinals are going to be in the presence of for the next several days as they sit down and choose the next pope -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Christiane, thanks. I'd like to ask a couple of questions of John Allen and Delia Gallagher as well. First, a question about what we're seeing and why we're seeing it. We keep hearing how the church now, it's not controlled, but it's directed by conservatives and traditionalists. So why the move to allow the world to see part of the conclave that we've never been allowed to see before?

ALLEN: Well, it's an interesting point. I think, actually, from the very beginning of the final stages of John Paul's illness, the Vatican clearly made a decision to try to be as transparent as possible.

You'll remember that for the first time ever we saw live video images, for example, of John Paul's body lying in state at its private chapel before it moved eventually into the Vatican. The Vatican was actually quite forthcoming with information about the final stages of his illness.

And I think this is, in a sense, of a piece with John Paul II's life, his gift to the media to open up to the wider world through the use of the instruments of communication.

And I think this is an attempt, the Vatican is trying to strike a balance between letting the world in as much as possible, while at the same time obviously trying to maintain very much the secrecy of the conclave, which is something historically that is intended to maintain the independence of this process, the cardinal electors are not subjected to outside influences.

But as a Vatican-ista, as somebody who follows this stuff on a full time basis, I can not tell you how thrilling these images are. Because in the back of our minds there's always been these sort of pictures we carry around, having read books and articles and had conversations with cardinals. It is really fascinating to see the thing happening in prime time.

KAGAN: So modern technology allows us to see things we've never seen before, but there also, Delia, have been considerations by the order of John Paul II to modern technology and that looking for electronic bugs or other things of the sort that might intrude upon the privacy of the conclave.

GALLAGHER: Well, if you'll notice there, Daryn, in the pictures, the Sistine Chapel normally has a level floor. The second part of it where the cardinals will be sitting is actually raised up, and underneath that are the debugging jamming devices for any cardinal who has brought his cell phone. I doubt there are very many, frankly.

But, yes, that was a precaution that was taken, because in this day and age, cell phones and those around them perhaps trying to put in little bugging devices. If there are any of those, this is a precaution against that. So certainly, the age of modern technology has arrived.

Also, the Vatican usually in the Sistine Chapel, you are never allowed to film. So these are really unique pictures for the world today.

KAGAN: And so we have this historic moment.

(SINGING)

(SPEAKING IN ITALIAN) AMANPOUR: I'm going to read the translation of the document that we have, read the translation of the Formula of the Oath that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is now pronouncing. It goes like this, "We the cardinal electors, collectively and individual, present in this election of the supreme pontiff promise, pledge and swear to observe faithfully and scrupulously all the prescriptions contained in the Apostolic Constitution of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II published on the 22nd of February, 1996.

"We likewise promise, pledge, and swear that which ever of us by divine disposition is elected Roman pontiff, will commit himself faithfully to carrying out the munus petrinum (ph) as pastor of the universal church, and will not fail to affirm and defend strenuously the spiritual and temporal rights and the liberty of the Holy See.

"Above all, we promise and swear to observe with the greatest fidelity and with all persons, clerical or lay, secrecy regarding everything that, in a way, relates to the election of the Roman pontiff, and regarding owe what occurs in the place of the election, directly or indirectly relating to the results of the voting. We promise not to break this secret in any way, either during or after the election of the new pontiff, unless explicit authorization is granted by the same pontiff, and never to lend support or favor to any interference, opposition, or any other form of intervention, whereby secular authorities of whatever order and degree or any group of people or individuals might wish to intervene in the election of the Roman pontiff."

(SPEAKING IN ITALIAN)

AMANPOUR: So that was the collective Oath of Secrecy that Cardinal Ratzinger, the dean of the College of Cardinals, has administered on behalf of all the cardinals. But now the gospel, the Book of Gospels, is going to be presented, and we'll watch to see how -- there it is, the Book of Gospels -- presented to each of the 115 cardinals who will add their own personal oath of secrecy to this solemn moment.

(SPEAKING IN ITALIAN)

AMANPOUR: As you can see, they're walking to this Book of Gospels. It's put in a very prominent place there, on a gold lectern, as you can see, a gold platform on which that Book of Gospels is placed. Each of the 115 cardinals places his HAYNES: nd on the Book of Gospels, and announces, according to the following formula, I, Cardinal X, do so promise, pledge and swear, so help me God, and these holy gospels which I touch with my hand. That is the individual oath of secrecy that each of these cardinals swears before they sit down and cast their first ballot, before they are now committed to the solemn moment of secrecy that may last several days in order to cast their ballots.

As you can see, this is potentially a fairly lengthy process. These cardinals are not all sprightly. Some of them need help in walking. And they are at 80 or under. And there are 115 of them. We should say that there are, in fact, 117 eligible to vote, but two of them are infirm, are unable to be at this conclave, and therefore, there are only 115.

ALLEN: Yes, and of course the two who were not here, Cardinal Himy Syn (ph) of the Philippines, Cardinal Suarez Riviera (ph) from Monterrey, in Mexico.

We see now, interestingly the pope's successor as the archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Maharski (ph) swearing the oath.

As you say, this will potentially play on awhile. But the idea here is that each cardinal is personally pledging to uphold both the secrecy of the conclave, as you rightly pointed out, and also pledging that if he were to be the one who is elected, he is pledging to undertake the Petrine (ph) office, that is the office of being the successor to Peter, and to defend the temporal and the spiritual interests of the Holy See.

GALLAGHER: I think it's also interesting, Christiane, to note that is the first time for all almost of these cardinals to participate in this conclave, with the exception of Cardinal Ratzinger and the American cardinal, Cardinal Long (ph), who were both made cardinal by Paul VI. They'd be the only two who had participation in the 02/19/78 conclave. So this is very new also for all of these men.

AMANPOUR: And amongst the very rare cardinals have who have not been elevated by Pope John Paul II, he has elevated the vast majority of these cardinals that we see.

And I might add as we're watching the cardinals, earlier we did see a closeup picture. The cameras chose to focus on Cardinal Law, the retired, resigned cardinal of the Boston archdiocese, who has become a lightning rod for many American Catholics because of the sex- abuse scandal, the pedophilia scandal that unfolded in Boston. It did elsewhere in the United States and around the world as well. But he was essentially asked to resign, to retire because of that, and there was a protest here at the Vatican on Monday last week. When the first of the mournful masses for Pope John Paul II was held, he was the one, because of his role as the paster of one of the churches here. He lead one of those masses, and many American Catholics voiced their outrage over that fact.

He is nonetheless, under 80, a cardinal, and he is eligible to vote for the next pope.

Interesting, also, we might just add, you recognize...

ALLEN: That was Cardinal Mizner (ph) of (INAUDIBLE).

And I was just going to make a point that Cardinal Mizner will be the host of World Youth Day this coming summer, and that will probably be the first major trip that the new pope takes. You'll remember the whole Youth Day as these massive gatherings of Catholic youth. Some call it the Catholic Woodstock of John Paul II, and very much a trademark of his pontificate, and I think it's universally accepted that whoever the next pope is he will undoubtedly want to be part of that gathering.

And Cardinal Mizner, of course, will therefore be his host when the pope travels to Cologne.

AMANPOUR: And of course we saw after the passing of Pope John Paul II and during the days of mourning leading up to his funeral, that Rome was -- literally saw its population doubled, mostly by an influx of young people, young Catholic pilgrims who came from all over the world to pay tribute to this pope. He really did touch the youth, he touched young people, he reached out to them in a special way, and that, too, is going to be a challenge to whoever is elected the next pope.

But also perhaps to point out that people have come to Rome. They are in Vatican Square right now to watch this election process, or at least to watch out for the smoke that will be billowing from the Sistine Chapel smokestack, but in no way near the numbers that came to bid farewell to John Paul II. The Vatican Square is nowhere near -- nowhere near as full as it was over the days leading up the to funeral of Pope John Paul II -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That is true.

And our Alessio Vinci is standing in that square. He was there not only for the days leading up the to death of Pope John Paul II, but for the funeral as well, and tells us -- sets the scene for us from the outside as we watch these pictures from inside the Sistine Chapel -- Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Daryn.

Yes, well, one of the reasons why we're not seeing the great numbers of people yet here in St. Peter's Square and around this area is because virtually no one expects a result of this election today. We don't even know if the cardinals at the end of the swearing in ceremony, taking this oath, will even decide to take -- to hold the first vote or not. There are some indications perhaps they will begin voting only tomorrow.

We do expect the numbers to grow in the coming days, especially around 12:00 local time here in Rome, 6:00 a.m. Eastern. And around 7:00 p.m. local time here, about -- about 1:00 p.m. Eastern, when, actually, after the two rounds of votes, we expect the ballots to be burned. And obviously if there is white smoke it means the pope has been elected. If there is black smoke, of course it means the pope has not been elected.

Let me set the scene here. Because here in St. Peters Square, there are about a few thousand people so far. And as you can see, they are able to see what is happening inside the Sistine Chapel right behind the St. Peter's Basilica on four giant television screens.

And I can tell you I've been here all day, and there's been a lot of movement of people coming in and out. But right now, everybody seems to be glued here, pointing to these television screens, really paying a lot of attention about what is happening.

Most of the people telling us that they are here, of course, because they want to participate through this historical day. There are, of course, many pilgrims, many Catholic faithful. But they really are here because they feel that there is -- this is an historical moment, an historical day.

Of course no conclave has taken place in 26 years. And so even one gentleman from Camaron (ph), telling me, "Hey, I'm 55 years old. You know, who knows when the next conclave will be. So I want to make sure that I don't miss this one."

And this is just one of the many things that we've heard this morning here and this afternoon in St. Peters Square.

And, of course, we must also remember that this is an historical moment. And for the first time, televised live on Vatican television, of course, and around the world. This is the first time the people here in St. Peter's Square are actually able to see a live broadcast from within the Sistine Chapel, and not just on any day.

This is a day, of course, the most important day for most of the cardinals who are now in this chapel. And it is a day they have to elect the successor of John Paul II.

Many cardinals telling us, even in previous months, that they knew, they always knew, that this election would come. Of course they could not openly debate the possibility that a conclave would take place in a matter of months, but certainly privately they would discuss, you know, the fact that they felt a conclave would be possible under their, if you want, their being a cardinal before they would retire, or before they would go over the age of 80. And, therefore, they know this is perhaps the most important day in their lives in terms of their ministry and their service to the Catholic Church.

And this is why we're seeing these very solemn pictures of them taking this oath of secrecy. And besides the secrecy, of course, they're also pretty much taking -- promising that whoever will be selected -- because it is -- while everybody can be elected pope who is a Catholic and who has been baptized, it is almost clearly evident that the successor of John Paul II will be among those 115 cardinal electors.

And, of course, part of the oath is also to, you know, affirm the spiritual rite of the Holy See. And also, the fact that they will accept this job faithfully.

As you know, once the cardinal is selected to become the pope, then he will be asked whether or not he accepts this job. And there are moments, in even recent history, including Pope John Paul I, who at some point felt the weight of the responsibility.

And I want you also to remember that, whoever gets the job of being pope, it's a job for life. This is not a job that you can just do for a few years and then pass on to a successor. This is a job for life. And certainly all these cardinals, while taking this oath, feel the tremendous responsibility that they are getting, not just by selecting the pope's successor, John Paul II's successor, but also knowing full well that they could be among -- among -- or they could be the one selected to become -- to become pope -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And so, Alessio, those in the square now, fascinated to be able to see these pictures, as you said, and you're showing us on those live screen televisions, ultimately, though, they're going to wait to see the white smoke coming from the chimney. How good is the view from the square there? Can you see it from all parts of the square, or is it limited?

VINCI: Yes. Let me give you a perspective here.

I mean, we are down here below -- inside -- on the edges of St. Peter's Square. And we're about, what, 200 or 300 yards from the roof of the Sistine Chapel, which you can see here now. And in the middle of the screen you see a small chimney.

Now, as I mentioned to you earlier, in 1978 there was some confusion about whether the smoke was indeed white or black. This time around, the Vatican has set up a system by which there will be not just one burner, burning the -- burning the ballots, of course, but there will be also a second burner attached to the same chimney through which canisters, smoke canisters will be able to produce a whiter or blacker smoke which will be very clear, we're told, for all to see from down here in St. Peter's Square.

As I said, nobody expects white smoke already tonight. Most -- first of all, we don't even know if there will be a vote tonight. But if there will be a vote, this will be probably and possibly a vote during which the cardinals will size each other up. They will see how officially the vote is going, and then eventually they will burn those ballots, and, therefore, we will expect to see black smoke.

And then tomorrow morning, that is when perhaps the vote itself is beginning in earnest, with two votes in the morning and two votes in the afternoon for the next -- for the next three days. And at the end of each voting session, there will be the burning of the ballots, which means we are expecting to see twice a day the possibility of the white or the black smoke to come off this chimney square in St. Peter's Square.

And as I said, this is the first time that we see this procedure so live on television. But I was watching the previous election of the conclave back in 1978. As you know, there were two conclaves basically back to back because John Paul I died only after a month in office.

Well, I can see this square being completely filled with a lot of people, even using binoculars trained on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. So we do expect these kinds of scenes to be repeated perhaps again in the coming days when -- when the actual election is expected to produce the successor of John Paul II -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Let me go ahead and bring back in our Vatican analysts, John Allen and Delia Gallagher, and talk about the point that Alessio was making there, the pace of the voting, and at what pace do you expect this to keep up -- Delia. DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Well, I think the pace is fairly clear in the sense that they have to have the two votes in the morning, then they have a pause for lunch, and then the two votes in the afternoon. So we know, more or less, what the organization of the voting is going to be. The question is, how many days?

And again, historically, we know that within three or four days, this is something which they are able to decide upon. Of course, there are 115 of them, a very large college, and from all over the world. So they don't necessarily all know each other.

It will take some time for them to work out what lines the college are drawing in terms of a more conservative candidate, a more liberal candidate. And then perhaps, also, historically, Daryn, they tend to sort of -- the first two top candidates, let us say, today, maybe Cardinal Ratzinger and Cardinal Tettamanzi, for example, the Italian cardinal who's a bit more progressive than Cardinal Ratzinger, the German, very conservative, let's say that they get, you know, some 30 votes each today. Well, those will be the top two names.

But historically we know that then it goes to a compromise candidate often. If neither one of those two pillars can get enough votes, which in this case would be 77, then they tend to find the third candidate. That's how Karol Wojtyla came out of the '78 conclave.

So I think that something along those lines we could speculate on. But, again, it's anybody's guess. They could come up with something very quickly. We might be surprised -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And John, let's go ahead and bring you in. Once these doors close, and once the discussions get under way, it is a free for all? How does it -- how organized is it? What exactly will happen?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Well, you know, Daryn, actually, I think, you know, the truth is that, once those doors just, obviously we're all going to be fascinated with what's going on. But I think if we were inside, we might actually find ourselves pretty quickly bored, because the truth is that it's all quite ceremonial inside the Sistine Chapel.

I mean, what will happen is, once they begin the balloting process, each cardinal will write the name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote on a piece of paper that, by the way, was designed personally by Pope Paul VI with the idea if making sure that no one else could see the name of the person that the cardinal was writing.

He'll then fold that twice, carry it up ceremonially to the altar, where he will place it on a paten -- that's a small silver plate -- and dip it into the urn. Once every cardinal has done that, then the ballots will be counted by three cardinals whose names were drawn by luck called the scrutineers.

Another group called the revisers will count behind them to make sure the tally is correct. And then the results will be announced. Now, all of this, as you can see from this procession to swear the oath, this all takes some time. So frankly, what you are seeing now will quite resemble what the cardinals are going to be watching time and time again as they go through the balloting process. So the really interesting moments, quite honestly, will be taking place outside the Sistine Chapel over breakfast at the Casa Santa Marta.

KAGAN: Where's the discussion part? Where do they talk about it?

ALLEN: Yes. Well, when they talk about it is, when they leave the Sistine Chapel tonight, they will, of course, go to the Casa Santa Marta for dinner. One presumes that those conversations are going to be fairly interesting.

They can also talk among one another at breakfast tomorrow. They are at liberty when they're not in the Sistine Chapel to be walking in the Vatican gardens or on Vatican grounds. They'll have the opportunity to talk to one another then.

I think the point Delia made about the cardinals not knowing one another well is exactly correct. I mean, I think the thing we have to understand is, what makes this conclave historically different from every one that went before is that this time the Italians really are not running the show.

This is the first conclave in which all 115 members from those 52 different countries are, in a sense, equally positioned to influence the outcome, and to be participants in the conversation. And that obviously is much more difficult to organize.

And so what will be happening, what I'm sure began happening last night, when the cardinals moved into the Casa Santa Marta, what will continue over the next few days are some very, very interesting conversations, but almost entirely outside the Sistine Chapel itself.

KAGAN: I want to pick up on your point about Italians. Two hundred and 12 Italian folks in history, some of the articles I've been reading say among the Italians there's a feeling that they need to get the pope back to being Italian.

ALLEN: Yes, I think there's been some speculation along those lines. And I have no doubt that somewhere in their heart of hearts, some the Italian cardinals would probably prefer if the next pope would be Italian.

But I think the truth is that things like age and nationality and so forth are very much second order of concerns. The perception we get from talking to cardinals is they really are interested in finding the right man for the job. And after that, they're willing to make compromises on many other things.

And I think, again, what has made this conclave so hard to handicap for those of us in the press corps, is that it's the first time that they're not just looking for the best Italian, they're looking for the best man. Which means it's a much wider field of candidates.

And this, of course, is why on CNN and elsewhere we have spent so much time in the last few days talking about candidates from Africa, from Latin America, from Asia, and so on. I think in that sense it is -- it remains even today a very wide open race.

KAGAN: And when you make a reference to these voting blocs, for instance, there is a large voting bloc from Latin America. But I've been reading that that might not be a cohesive voting bloc, that they don't all see the same -- same way in what the next pope should be.

ALLEN: Yes. Well, I think you can say that for any of the blocs in the College of Cardinals. You can say that for the American cardinals, for example.

The second largest group after the Italians, 11 of them. They are certainly not all on the same page.

As far as the Latin Americans go, I think probably the single defining issue in Latin American Catholicism in recent decades was the battle over liberation theology in the '70s and '80s. This was a movement whose aim was to align Catholicism with progressive movements for social change and the political struggles against the military governments.

Some cardinals saw that as a very good thing, what the church should be doing. Others saw it as a kind of betrayal of the church's primary spiritual mission. And there was a great division.

And you have in this College of Cardinals among the Latin Americans some who are on one side of that argument and some who are on the other, which certainly does render it difficult for them to act as one unified cohesive bloc.

KAGAN: Let's talk about the issue of age. We many time hear the name of Cardinal Ratzinger brought up. He's 78 years old.

Delia, how much do you think these cardinals will take into consideration age, not just on the old side, but on the young side and not wanting someone to have a papacy as long as John Paul II?

GALLAGHER: Well, again, that is a consideration, but secondary, as John says. You know, the first concern is, who is the best man. And then if he's younger or older, well, we'll take him anyway.

But I think that as regards to Cardinal Ratzinger, you have to say he's a standout candidate, certainly in the initial stages, just because he has such a long history, nearly at the helm of the church already. You know, he was -- he was -- he's been here since 1981, very much a part of Pope John Paul II's papacy.

So I think it was -- he's a clear conservative candidate. But again, you know, he's 78, which would probably be a good age for a shorter papacy, if we want to say it like that.

But I think that the point about Cardinal Ratzinger is, even if he is not going to be the candidate for the next -- for pope, he is going to be somebody who will decide where those votes should go. So he will have a lot of weight in terms of his -- his decision on where the people who might want to vote for that conservative candidate should put their votes instead of with him.

KAGAN: And so, John, when somebody, like, let's just say, as Delia was referring to Cardinal Ratzinger, that he would have some play, how are we to understand that the balance here between -- that this isn't just your typical election, that there's not supposed to be bargaining, there's not supposed to be politicking, and yet there has to be some amount of that, otherwise how do you get to a conclusion here?

GALLAGHER: Well, this is the difficulty in analyzing this College of Cardinals. Because the lines, we can say generally sort of more progressive, generally more conservative. But it depends on what you're talking about.

There are a lot of issues within the church that they are concerned about in terms of how do they decide who makes decisions. Is it all with the pope? Is it with the bishops?

There are issues outside of the church with social justice. And the moral issues, of course, which we've talked about. And so there's a sort of confluence of a lot of these issues, and no one cardinal you can place in any camp for sure.

So I think that what happens is they try to generally align themselves according to sort of their philosophies, their theology. And they know, more or less, the Cardinal Ratzinger line who has worked with him in the past and who has generally been in agreement with him. So you can sort of mark down a number of younger cardinals who even had Cardinal Ratzinger as a teacher, literally.

So then you know that that's sort of on one side. And then you have a more progressive side perhaps represented by the Italian Cardinal Martini, who is a bit more liberal. And so then you can decide who are the people that line up more with him and would be more open on a lot of the moral questions that are so important today.

So we can make those general guidelines. But as we were saying earlier, with regards to the blocs, there's no saying that all of the Americans will vote for one candidate and all of the Latin Americans for another. On the contrary. Sometimes the better they know each other the more they know they don't like that person. So...

KAGAN: Sometimes too much information not a good thing. Or it is a good thing...

GALLAGHER: Exactly.

KAGAN: ... depending on what decision you are trying to make.

We are continuing to watch these absolutely historic and incredible pictures as the Vatican for the first time allows cameras into the beginning of the conclave. We're watching from the inside -- inside the Sistine Chapel. Also, we're watching from outside as thousands of pilgrims and faithful begin to gather.

They are able to watch through large screen televisions the same pictures that we are. And ultimately, they will gather and wait for the white smoke to come from the chimney, announcing and signifying that a new pope has been elected.

We're joined in our coverage by our senior international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, who is sitting alongside John Allen and Delia Gallagher -- Christiane.

AMANPOUR: Daryn, we are around 90 when it comes to cardinals who have already sworn their individual oath. That means there are quite a few more to go until we get to 117. About 127 more to -- or rather 27 more to go. So this could take a little bit longer, but not that much longer.

We've seen the cardinal of New York and other American cardinals put their hand on the gospel book. And as you were discussing what various cardinals might say or might not say, or the direction in which they may be going over the next several days, we got one of our first clues today at the mass in terms of, you know, what the chief cardinal, if you like, the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Ratzinger, was thinking, and he holds a powerful position.

He's been named as potential future pope, and if he doesn't become pope he's definitely a pope maker. At least he's considered that.

He was also very close to Pope John Paul II. He's known as the pope's enforcer. He has been the one who has been silencing dissidents and generally keeping the church along a very close and narrow conservative doctrinal path.

Well, today in his homily, he was very blunt indeed. There was no mistaking at all what he thought.

And he basically essentially talked about the nature of faith, and the nature of what the Catholic Church should be looking for as they take this very serious decision. And he said that having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, today is often labeled as fundamentalism. He said, whereas a dictatorship of relativism exists.

He said there's too much, he thought, of the church doctrine being sort of full of people's own egos and their own desires, and what is needed now was a faith that was based on the truth, with a capital T, and it should not be based on today's fashions, or whatever waves and stream were popular today. And that was a very, very clear clarion call for the church to stick very, very clearly to its conservative doctrine and its tradition.

And that, I think, is going to be of some concern to many, many Catholics in certainly North America, the United States of America, and in western Europe, because that is where you're seeing the congregations diminish or stay the same, as opposed to in places like Latin America, Asia and Africa, where Catholic churches are growing. What do you think, John? I find this really interesting. How does a new pope, if you like, embrace the whole of the world's 1.1 million Catholics?

ALLEN: Well, and, Christiane, I think that kind of the challenge is even more complex than that. Because let's not forget the pope is a figure of interest not just to Roman Catholics, but to, in a sense, the entire world.

I mean, one of the hallmarks of John Paul II's reign, of course, was outreach to other Christian denominations, other religions. He also was a singular political player on the global stage for more than a quarter century.

I mean, you can bet your bottom dollar that the night that he was elected people in Moscow were scrambling to know what was this going to mean. So, in a sense, the pope has to hold together not just Catholics, but also has to be able to sell a message, if you like, to the whole planet.

That is an extraordinarily complex task. And there's that very delicate balance that has to be walked between, on the one hand, not abandoning core principles of Christian identity, the sort of tenacious defense of what Christianity what it is, but at the same time striking a spirit of openness and dialogue and outreach that makes that identity appealing to a broader public. And I think it's a very difficult one.

I think my sense, honestly, as to how many cardinals would have reacted to what Cardinal Ratzinger had to say this morning is that he was absolutely right on the content. I mean, he ticked off those threats we talked about, Marxism, liberalism, radical individualism, syncretism, relativism. I think everyone would acknowledge those things exist, they're real, the church has to take count of them.

But the question is, did he have the tone right? I mean, in other words, you know, do you want the first chapter, if you like, of the message you're trying to present to be one of sort of pessimism and fear, or do you want it to be one of optimism and hope?

And so my sense would be that many cardinals would come away from that saying, that was an accurate presentation so far as it goes, but it's not quite the face we want to put forward to the rest of the world.

GALLAGHER: Yes, I think that Cardinal Ratzinger clearly is, you know, responsible for, and has been maintaining, the doctrine of the church. That has been his clarion call throughout the papacy of John Paul II.

And when you talk about the future of the church, these cardinals are thinking about -- they agree on all the issues. The question is, how do we approach those issues?

Do we do it in the Cardinal Ratzinger way by tightening up, maintaining our doctrine and saying to the world, this is what we believe, and if you don't believe it, fine, but we are not changing it? Or, are we a bit more liberal, and allow, OK, we can allow certain changes in our doctrine or in our moral teachings?

And that's really the heart of the question, is how do we approach a more secular world? How does Christianity live its religion in a secular world? And where do we give in, on what points do we give in? And Cardinal Ratzinger would say we don't give in on anything.

AMANPOUR: And, in fact, he's been quoted many times, not just in this homily, but in interviews he's given and articles and other text that he's written, he's been essentially quoted using that word "fundamentalism," which through our mind in today's world has negative connotations. But he believes, looking at other faiths and what others have done -- and he's talked about Islam and other minorities -- that they flourish by adhering very strictly the "fundamentalist" principles of their religions.

Is there any room, do you think, to satisfy, let's say, American Catholics, who, let's fact it, make up a big portion of Catholics around the world, Americans who are saying, we still love our faith, but we're not following every doctrine of the church? We are picking and choosing according to our conscious and how we are able to live in today's modern world.

ALLEN: Yes. Well, first of all, we probably ought to say that American Catholics are exactly 6 percent of the global Catholic population -- 1.1 billion Catholics, 65 million in America, which means, among other things, that the first thing the pope thinks about when he gets out of bed in the morning cannot be the American Catholic Church.

But obviously, you know, you are right. I mean, in America, and other parts of the world, there are various currents within the Catholic Church, some of which are chafing against what they would see as a kind of rigid doctrine approach.

And I think, you know, this is again that sort of delicate balancing act the pope has to strike. There's that famous saying of John XXIII that the pope has to be both, both of those with their foot on the break and their foot on the gas. That's the balance that has to be struck.

AMANPOUR: As we come right now to the very end of this long list of 117, or 115, rather, cardinals, we are second to the last, it looks like, from the picture there. And thereafter, as we watch the last cardinal eligible to vote on this day -- and again, let's reiterate, it's 115 that we're seeing and will go into the conclave. The two others that make up the 117 are too ill and unable to participate.

So there is the end of this long, individual oath of secrecy and devotion as they head into the conclave.

John, what happens, precisely next?

ALLEN: Well, after sort of tidying up a bit from the swearing of the oaths, what will be next is Archbishop (INAUDIBLE) who will say hear from a cardinal who say extra omnes.

AMANPOUR: He has just said that extra omnes, and people seem to be walking out. And Vatican camera has tilted up. It looks like this is the end of our peek inside, our unprecedented peek inside the secret motions of the conclave.

We are looking now at the wonderful fresco of the Last Judgment. There you see the risen Christ, as he is depicted by Michelangelo in heaven. Below that, the other layer is the Torment of Hell.

And this is what's going to accompany the 115 cardinals as they sit not directly facing this fresco, but it will be to the side of them. They sit facing each other in those rows of benches that we saw, where they will start, at some point, perhaps today, to cast their ballots.

As we've been smoking with John and Delia, they do have the opportunity to cast their first ballot today. And it is potentially possible that we will see a puff of smoke from the Vatican -- from the Sistine Chapel smokestack, upon which we and others have their cameras trained.

And they will remain trained there until such time as there is a white puff of smoke. And just in case we get it wrong, and if we cannot read the difference between black and white or gray, Pope John Paul II himself has come to the rescue. He, before he died, obviously instructed that accompanying the white puff of smoke should be the ringing of St. Peter's bells. There should be the two at the same time.

Now we're watching this door close.

GALLAGHER: Master of papal ceremonies closing the door.

AMANPOUR: And from Vatican Square downstairs, we can here the people's applause.

ALLEN: What, of course, now will be happening behind that closed door, Christiane, is that the cardinals will be hearing a final medication from one of their own, although an over-80 cardinal, Cardinal Tumash Shpidlich (ph) of the Czech Republic.

Cardinal Shpidlich (ph) is -- the great passion of his life has been the effort to put the eastern and western churches back together. So ecumenism, the idea of Christian unity.

We would expect him to strike that note of the need for the church, as John Paul once said, to breathe with both its lungs, west and east. And when he is finished with his meditation, then both he and Marini (ph) also will have to exit the room.

Then the door will actually be locked for that, as you rightly said, that conclave moment -- in other words, with the key for what could be the potentially be the first ballot of this conclave this afternoon. AMANPOUR: We're looking, a little picture now, of what we call our smoke camera. That is the camera that we have trained on that smokestack that we were talking about just before the doors closed. And this is the smokestack that will deliver the verdict of each round of balloting.

It will be black for not yet, and white when they actually do choose a pope. Additives are added for both to make it black or white. And, as I said, there will also be the ringing of bells to announce when they actually do get a vote that is conclusive and they do get a pope.

This is because the last round there was something of a mistake. Journalists who covered that say that when they saw a puff of smoke, they thought that it was white. It was actually gray. They couldn't quite determine the color. They announced to the world that there was a pope, but there was no pope coming to the window.

GALLAGHER: And they waited for hours to see if he would come.

ALLEN: Right.

AMANPOUR: Exactly right. And, you know, we've already seen the crimson curtains which are -- have been hung on that central balcony on St. Peter's Basilica, which is where the new pope will present himself first to the world. And it will be announced, "Habemus Papam," "We have a pope," and he will arrive at that window which has right now those elegant crimson curtains that we have seen so many times in pictures of the past, and that we perhaps will see in the next several days, depending on how many rounds of balloting it takes.

But this is now the moment. This is what we've been waiting for. We're not allowed to report what's going on inside. We don't know what's going on inside. There'll be glimpses of the cardinals as they go back and forth from the Sistine Chapel to their quarters, to the hotel that is been designated for them. But apart from that, basically that's it until the white smoke.

ALLEN: That's it. That's absolutely right. I mean, I don't know if it's a question of us not being allowed. Personally, I'd love to report what's going on inside the Sistine Chapel right now, but we simply don't know and won't know.

GALLAGHER: The wonderful thing I think will be when we do have that announcement at lugge (ph), at the balcony, because of course when they announce the name of the cardinal that has become pope, they announce his Christian name. So everybody in the square doesn't necessarily know who know he is and where he's from. It happened to Karol Wojtyla. They said, oh, they elected an African, and we has -- because they only say, (INAUDIBLE), we have a pope, and they pronounced Karol Wojtyla, so you've got to be rather quick to know the Christian names of all the cardinals in order to know where he's from.

ALLEN: And of course the formula (INAUDIBLE), they pronounce his first name, and then there are four words that actually come before the last name. It's Karol, cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Wojtyla. So there's that sort of moment of panic, that instant between the first and the last name, where you're just wondering, who might this be, especially if got a guy with a name like Antonio, where there are two or three different possibilities, then your mind starts running through the different scenarios.

GALLAGHER: They'll also keep you waiting for a good half hour by the time we see somebody to announce the name. We've got the white smoke, and then it'll take a while for them to...

AMANPOUR: Well, panic, maybe, but certainly a lot of prayer going on inside the Sistine Chapel, and perhaps for the next several days, as they wait to choose the next pope. That is the end of our video look inside the conclave.

Back to you, Daryn.

KAGAN: The end of the video look, and yet the story, fascinating, historical and dramatic as it is, continues from the Vatican, as will our coverage.

Our thanks to Christiane Amanpour, John Allen and Delia Gallagher.

While we were watching those historic pictures from the Vatican, a lot of news taking place. We're going to get to that after this break.

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KAGAN: I want to show you live pictures from the Vatican right now, pictures of the chimney where we expect at any time, it could happen, that there is a vote, a first vote, on picking the successor to John Paul II. We're watching historic, and dramatic and incredible pictures over the last hour as the Vatican for the first time ever allowed cameras inside the Sistine Chapel to watch the beginning of the conclave, the prayer and the oath leading up to the part where everyone except the 115 cardinals were kicked out and they closed the doors.

Now meanwhile, you're going to look in the lower-right part of your screen, and you're going to see what we call our Vatican live bug. We're going to keep that up. That is a small picture, a live picture, that will continually be on the chimney, where if there is a vote, we'll be watching for black smoke if there is no pope and white smoke if they have indeed selected the successor to Pope John Paul II.

While we're doing that, let's take a look at what else is happening in the news.

Here in the U.S. we're following a developing story, a deadly school bus crash in a Washington D.C. suburb. It happened just a few hours ago. Officials say the school bus collided with a garbage truck in Alexandria, Virginia. One child was reportedly killed, 16 others were hurt. The drivers of the bus and the truck were critically injured. President Bush is expected to arrive in Columbia, South Carolina about 40 minutes from now. Mr. Bush will focus on Social Security reform during a townhall meeting. The trip makes up for a previously planned trip that the president had to cancel following the death of the pope.

The Norwegian Dawn pulled into New York harbor this morning, as passengers still rattled from a weekend of high drama on the high seas. A seven-story wave smashed into the size of the cruise ship as it struggled in rough Atlantic waters. More than 60 cabins were flooded and four people were injured.

An American aid worker who helped innocent victims in the Iraq war has herself become a victim. Twenty-year-old Marla Ruzicka was killed in a weekend bombing near Baghdad's airport. Her parents in Lakeport, California remember their daughter as a young woman with a tremendous open heart.

In New York this morning, Texas oil man David Chalmers entered a not-guilty plea in a federal court to charges related to the U.N. Oil- for-Food scandal. Chalmers is charged with paying secret kickbacks to Saddam Hussein and cheating the humanitarian program out of at least $100 million.

In Tampa, Florida, convicted sex offender accused of killing 13- year-old Sarah Lunde appeared in court this morning on murder charges. Authorities say David Onstott did not make a statement. They do say he has confessed to killing Lunde in her home and dumping her body in a nearby pond. Onstott is being held without bond. He had once dated Lunde's mother.

More drama could come today in the Michael Jackson child- molestation trial. The mother of Jackson's accuser will again face defense attorneys when she returns to the stand this morning. Last week her exchanges with Jackson's attorney became so heated the judge threatened to shutdown the trial for a day.

It is an unforgettable day of terror. On the morning of April 19th, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a truck packed with homemade explosives in front of a federal building in Oklahoma, and caused an explosion of tremendous force and fire; 168 people were killed.

Our Ed Lavandera is in Oklahoma City on the eve of the 10th anniversary of that attack -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. Well, this is a weeklong remembrance (INAUDIBLE).

KAGAN: We're going to jump in here. We're having a little trouble with your audio. We will come back and check out the live pictures and hear more from you when we can get that fixed.

Meanwhile, we want you to know about tonight. Aaron Brown will hosting a "NEWSNIGHT" special "DAY OF TERROR," on the eve of the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing. That's tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. And CNN will be live tomorrow for full coverage of the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing. Bill Hemmer will be reporting live from Oklahoma City.

Right now, a quick break. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We appear to have the audio problems all fixed. Let's go back to Oklahoma City and our Ed Lavandera on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the Oklahoma city bombing -- Ed, let's try again.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Daryn, I think we got things straightened out here. But we're talking about the memorial here, the Oklahoma City Memorial -- national memorial and the museum. Some three million people have come here since this complex opened five years ago. And we can take you inside the memorial where you see the reflection pond.

And for people who haven't been here, you have to remember, that reflection pond sits exactly on the road, Fifth Street in downtown Oklahoma City. That reflection pond is Fifth Street. That's the road where the Ryder Truck was brought in on. And where you the chairs in the background, each of those chairs representing the 168 people that were killed in the bombing and their exact location inside the building, as well. That is where all of this took place.

And that reflection pond, where you see thousands of people who have come here over the past weekend, and you'll expect tens of thousands more to show up here over the course of the next couple of days to come pay their respects. The reflection pond -- I spoke a little bit earlier, when you walk around this area and you listen to people talk and you listen to families talk about what happened here, it's very poignant. When you're inside there, it's quiet, reflective scene that you can experience there, as well.

As I mentioned, 168 people were killed in this bombing. The signature event of this week will be tomorrow's memorial service. 168 seconds of silence. One second, of course, for each of the victims. But one of the more special moments, and I think we should tell people about, that you should be on the lookout for tomorrow.

As you see the memorial services, that the mission statement of this memorial will be read by six children, six survivors of this bombing. 19 children in the day care were killed here almost ten years ago. Six of the children, the oldest one now 15 years old, many of them in critical condition, battled years and years of rehab and therapy. Six of them will be involved in reading the mission's -- the memorial's mission statement tomorrow.

You can bet that these -- their voices, their faces, are a symbolic reminder to everyone here in Oklahoma that has been affected by this bombing, of how much they fought back and scratched back to get to where they are today -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed Lavandera, live from Oklahoma City. Our coverage from there will continue. Ed, thank you. We have a lot more news ahead. A break and we're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: OK, sometimes we do some abrupt transitions here, so stay with us for this one. We're going to talk about getaways, two types of getaways, in fact. There's the sit back, relax, do next to nothing getaway, or the get off your know what and you get wild and crazy getaway. "Travel and Leisure" magazine profiles 50 great American adventures in its April issue.

Let's take a look at a few with "Travel and Leisure" editor, Laura Begley, joining me from New York this morning. Good morning.

LAURA BEGLEY, "TRAVEL AND LEISURE" MAGAZINE: Hi. It's great to be here.

KAGAN: So this isn't a sit by the pool, drink mai thai kind of vacation?

BEGLEY: No, this is for adventurers. In our April issue, we did a package on 50 amazing adventures. And if you can believe it, people are just getting crazier and crazier these days. Maybe it's the "Fear Factor" effect, but there are so many amazing adventures out there, and we rounded up some of the best, from urban adventures to water adventures to nature.

KAGAN: Well, I might be some of those crazy people, because I think everything on this list sounded fun. So, let's get to it. First of all, in Sedona, Arizona, to go hiking.

BEGLEY: Yes, this is an Enchantment Resort, and this on 70 acres of desert. And they take advantage of their very spiritual surroundings with a two-hour vortex walk. And you go out with a certified chigan (ph) instructor into the red rocks. And she'll take you around to all of these vortex sites, take you walking under 1,000- foot-high red rock formations. Pretty incredible.

KAGAN: I was just there in October. I had a great time. A lot of people have been to San Francisco, but they don't think about going kayaking.

BEGLEY: Well, this is a whole new to see San Francisco. It's actually out on San Francisco Bay. There's a new hotel called the Hotel Vitale, which is right on the Embarcadero waterfront, and they have a weekend package where you can take a four-hour kayak ride. And you'll go and see the Golden Gate bridge, the Bay Bridge, Treasure Island. You might even run into a sea lion or two out in the bay. And if you're really daring, you can brave the ways under the Golden Gate Bridge and even paddle around Alcatraz.

KAGAN: Oh, see I think that sounds great. New York City, a swinging kind of place, but literally, with the way you're looking at it.

BEGLEY: This is a swinging place. And everybody remembers when Carrie Bradshaw in "Sex and the City" went out and did the trapeze school. And real people can do it, too. It's right on the Hudson River. They strap you in, so it's very safe. And you can actually swing over the river. It's $47 for two hours and they do a whole bunch of different levels. Even children aged six years old can get up there and swing.

KAGAN: See, that sounds fun. Back to the Southwest for some power parachuting.

BEGLEY: Now this is one of the more extreme sports on our list. And this looks like something out of the Wright Brothers movie. Sky trails ranch out in western Utah has this program where they do power parachuting. They trap you in a machine that has this huge, very strong propeller on the back, and you can fly up to heights of 12,000 feet, over desert and over canyons. This is a pretty thrilling adventure, if I do say so myself.

KAGAN: Sounds like you're giving a wide range of activities, and geography, and also price range, which is what we like to see.

Laura Begley, from "Travel & Leisure," thank you.

BEGLEY: Thank you.

KAGAN: Have a fun time out there.

Let's see what's coming up at the top of the hour with Wolf Blitzer.

Hi, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Daryn. Thanks very much.

We have a very busy hour ahead on NEWS FROM CNN. We'll be live at the Vatican where the selection process for the new pope is now under way. We'll have extensive coverage for that. We'll have an inspiring story of a most extraordinary young California woman who dedicated her short live to easing the suffering of the innocent victims of war in both Afghanistan and Iraq. We'll go to Jane Arraf. She knew her quite well. That's coming up.

All that and a lot more at the top of the hour on NEWS FROM CNN, Daryn.

In the meantime, back to you.

KAGAN: All right, Wolf, we look forward to that. We're going take a look at weather and business coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Well, interest rates may be low. But in a lot of areas in the country, the housing market is tight.

CNN.com's spring home guide has everything you need to know before bidding on your dreamhouse.

CNN's Veronica De La Cruz tells us where to find it and how to use it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Home buying, it's high season in the spring. But before you jump on the home buyer's bandwagon, log on to CNNmoney.com's 2005 Ultimate Home Guide. First off, ask yourself these four questions, why do you want to buy a house? Can you afford it? What's the cost of renting? Are you ready to make that commitment?

Once you've decided that buying a home is for you and you've found the perfect one, ask yourself this, does the neighborhood make the grade? That old wisdom to buy where the schools are good is true now more than ever.

Another tip, take a good look at who's working for you. Don't rely on the luck of the draw. Before you shop for a house, shop for an agent. And how much house can you afford? To arrive at an affordable price, this calculator follows the guidelines of most lenders. Are you wondering how much your mortgage will be? Punch in the numbers and find out.

Finally, do you want to live like a millionaire? This interactive gallery shows you what $1 million will get you across the nation.

Happy hunting from the dot-com newsdesk in Atlanta and Veronica De La Cruz.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The world's oldest annual marathon is set to start in just a few minutes from now. The 109th Boston Marathon gets under way at noon.

As the preparations go on, another race associated with the marathon was run earlier today. Take a look at this, U.S. troops based in southern Iraq ran in the Iraq -- Boston Marathon. I guess we do not have pictures of that. A 10 mile run inside the base. Some 260 runners took part.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: That's going to do it for me. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll see you right back here tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington, D.C.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired April 18, 2005 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: And we'll go ahead and get started. Let's start by taking a look at what's happening now in the news.
And we're keeping an eye from Arlington, Virginia, emergency vehicles on the scene of a crash. You can see a school bus there; apparently it's a school bus and a garbage truck. If you're familiar with the area, it's the intersection of Columbia Pike and Courthouse Road. One county spokeswoman saying there have been some injury, unclear how many. We'll get back to that as we have more information.

Later this hour, cardinals from six continents will take an oath to elect the next leader of the Catholic Church and its 1.1 billion followers. Within the next couple of hours the there conclave opens inside the Sistine Chapel. The first vote on a new pope could take place today.

Just last hour, crewmembers aboard the International Space Station held a live news conference as they orbited the earth. This is the second day they awakened aboard the craft after a Saturday docking. They're preparing for the return of the space shuttle, the first since the Columbia explosion more than two years ago.

This hour, a Texas businessman indicted in the United Nations' Oil for Food scandal appeared in court. Houston oilman David Chalmers, Jr., is accused of a scheme that paid millions of dollars in secret kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime. A South Korean businessman and two oil traders are also accused of taking part.

Just about 45 minutes ago, a registered sex offender formally was charged with the murder and death of Sarah Lunde. Police say David Onstott confessed to murdering the 13-year-old after a scuffle in her home. Her body was found in a pond near her Ruskin, Florida home one week after she disappeared.

Good morning. I'm Daryn Kagan.

The process of electing the new pope begins at the bottom of the hour. A Mass was celebrated a few hours in St. Peter's Basilica. One hundred and fifteen cardinals prayed for spiritual guidance in choosing the successor to Pope John Paul II. The homily was delivered by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He is the dean of the College of Cardinals. He is also seen as a possible power broker in the election.

The process of choosing the new pope is secret. But for the first time we will be able to see live pictures of the cardinals entering the conclave. CNN's Christiane Amanpour is covering the election and she joins us from Rome.

Christiane, hello.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, hello from Rome. And there will be this incredibly important morning -- rather afternoon our time here in half an hour, in which all the cardinals go into the Sistine Chapel and start what is the most important career as cardinals, and that is to elect a new pope. It will be shrouded in secrecy. But for the first time there will be live coverage of the initial part of this conclave; and that is the procession from the Apostolic Palace, through the Hall of Kings and on into the Sistine Chapel.

There will be the Litany of Saints that we heard so poignantly during the funeral for Pope John Paul II sung out, as the 115 cardinals process to take their seats in the Sistine Chapel. Once inside, they will take a general oath of secrecy, which will be administered by Cardinal Ratzinger as the dean of the College of Cardinals. Thereafter, each will independently vow to maintain secrecy for this process.

And then there may or may not be time to take the first balloting, to cast the first ballot. If that happens, it is overwhelmingly likely that the first puff of smoke we see this evening will be black, to indicate that they have not received or rather reached any conclusion on this their first ballot. And thereafter, it could go into a several day process.

But this will be unusual in that for the first time, people around the world will be able to see the very beginning of this highly secretive Conclave of the Cardinals. As we've said, 115 under 80 years old cardinals who are eligible to vote, because two of them who also could vote are sick, and therefore, will not be taking part. And they come from 52 different countries.

One of the first moments to be able to scrutinize one of the instructions to the cardinals was when Cardinal Ratzinger gave the homily during Mass earlier this morning, in which he stuck to a very traditional conservative line. He exhorted the cardinals to remain true to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, the conservative traditional doctrine, and not to, quote, "follow the fashions and the waves of the current day." So he called for a very strict adherence to doctrinaire Catholicism -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour at the Vatican. We will hear more from the Vatican in just a minute, also talking about the cardinals taking part in the conclave.

As Christiane was mentioning, they come from 52 countries on six continents. Europeans continue to dominate the conclave but there are far more Catholics these days in Latin America. Fifty-eight voting cardinals or half the percentage of the conclave are from Europe. About a quarter of the world's Catholics are European. By comparison, more than four in 10 of the world's Catholics are from Latin America. But Latin American cardinals make up only 17 percent of the conclave.

There will be 14 North American cardinals at the conclave, representing 7 percent of the world's Catholics. Rounding out the geographical division in the conclave, there will be 11 voting cardinals from Africa, 10 from Asia and two from Oceania.

Catholics around the world are waiting to hear the identity of their new spiritual leader. And many, in fact, are gathering in Vatican City this week, hoping to witness the white smoke, signifying a new pope.

Alessio Vinci is in Rome with that part of the story.

Alessio, hello.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Daryn. Yes, the conclave or the procession to the conclave will begin about an hour's -- about a half hour time. And then we do not know yet whether there will be a vote or not tonight. The cardinals are said to be deciding that later when they actually gather inside the Sistine Chapel. And they will kick everybody out from that room and decide whether or not there will be a vote tonight. If there is a vote, then there will be smoke.

Let me show you here how everything is set to work for the thousands gathered already here in St. Peter's Square. The smoke will come off from the chimney set up on the Sistine Chapel. And as you know, black smoke means no pope and white smoke will mean that the cardinals have elected their leader.

There was some confusion back in 1978; it appeared the smoke was gray. Some journalists called it wrong. So this time around, the pope himself said new rules as well as the rule that the bells of St. Peter's Square will actually toll if the pope is elected. There are six of them. The largest one here in the middle of your screen right now is known as the Campanone, which is the big bell. It is more than 20 years old. It weighed about 20,000 pounds and is about eight feet wide.

Now, once the pope is selected, we hear the bells. We'll hear the smoke. The senior cardinal deacon will appear from the balcony of St. Peter's Square, which is already being prepared here with the red drapes. And he will deliver the famous speech, "Habemus Papem." Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum habemus papem," which means, "I announce to you the great pleasure that there is a pope."

And perhaps 20 or 40 minutes later the new pope will appear to deliver his first blessing to the people of Rome and to the world, for that matter. Known as Urbi et Orbis Blessing, a traditional blessing which is delivered, of course, on Sundays. But of course, this will be the first opportunity for the new pope to deliver that blessing, as well as it happens at times in previous conclaves to basically address the crowds. Who we expect -- which we expect here in St. Peter's Square to be in the thousands, especially around the time when the smoke is expected. Which is about 12:00 local time or 7:00 p.m. local time, 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time, or about 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Beginning tomorrow, of course, unless there is already a vote tonight, therefore if that happens, then there will be probably smoke at some point later tonight around 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Back to you.

KAGAN: Alessio, of course, you were there to cover the death of Pope John Paul II and the funeral. It would appear the crowds that are there now are nothing compared to what you saw at the start of the month.

VINCI: That is correct. Of course, we should point out it's a Monday today, and we are not expecting really a result of the election on the first day. Rarely conclaves have been decided on the first day of voting. I do expect in the coming days, especially around those times that I've just given you, that people will gather here in St. Peter's Square.

And by the way, by the time there is the announcement of the pope elected in the town, the new pope will appear in the window. There will be a time of about 20, 40 minutes, according to tradition of course. And during that time, we expect by the thousands, if not tens of thousands of people, especially of course, those that are here in Rome to come here in St. Peter's Square to listen, to have their first glimpse of the new pope.

KAGAN: Alessio Vinci from Rome, thank you for that.

You can get an in-depth look at the potential successors to Pope John Paul II on our Web site. Go to cnn.com/pope, click on "Succession" and then potential successors. We will have more live coverage this hour.

First we want to get back to Virginia and the live pictures from there. This is Arlington, Virginia where apparently there's been a crash between a school bus and a garbage truck, a very serious accident.

Some of the earlier numbers that we're getting, one child has been killed in this accident. Two children critically injured, two adults critically injured and 12 children suffering minor injuries. So we will continue to monitor the situation from Arlington. Our Bob Franken is on the way to the scene there.

We also want to go to Oklahoma City -- actually to Florida for another sex offender and a murder. We're going to have the latest on Sara Lunde case coming up.

Plus, preparations for historic memorial in Oklahoma City. Ed Lavandera is there.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Well, we're here in Oklahoma City. It's a weeklong series of remembrances, as this city continues to cope and deal with what happened here 10 years ago. More coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Going back to our pictures, this is from the bus accident in Arlington, Virginia. We understand this took place about 8:00 a.m. Eastern this morning. A school bus carrying elementary school students and a garbage truck involved in this accident, very serious accident.

Some of the early numbers we're getting, at least one child has been killed. Two children critically injured, two adults critically injured and 12 children suffering minor injuries. So we're working on getting more information from the scene. Live pictures there from Arlington, Virginia.

Meanwhile, tomorrow will mark the tenth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. The domestic terrorist strike that forever changed Americans views of their vulnerabilities.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Oklahoma City with a look at the 10 days of commemoration that are now underway.

Ed, good morning.

LAVANDERA: Good morning, Daryn. Well, so much has changed here in 10 years. Five years ago, the outdoor memorial here was opened. The year after that, the museum just across the lawn here was opened as well. Since then, some 3 million people have come to Oklahoma City to spend time at the outdoor memorial and to walk through the museum.

It is hard to find someone who walks out of the museum here and says they do not come out struck poignantly, by what happened here April 19 of 1995. And so much has changed.

The new federal building has opened just caddy-cornered here from where we're sitting. Many people who sit in that office have a view of the memorial. That new federal building, five stories high. The old one was nine stories high, as well. There have been many people over the years who talked about having that view wasn't necessarily something they wanted. Other people didn't mind it as well.

But this stream here of people that come is impressive. Yesterday, Sunday afternoon, I was walking through the grounds. And it's poignant to hear families that come here, adults explaining to their children why this has to be here and what had happened here. If you listen to those conversations, it's very passionate and very intense to listen to, as you hear and see young children trying to understand exactly what has happened here.

Of course, this is all part of the weeklong series of remembrances to commemorate what happened here 10 years ago. It's a highly organized event and thousands of people are expected to hear -- to come listen, especially tomorrow, when the names of the 168 victims are read aloud -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed, this is an event that's been commemorated every year on the anniversary. Other than this, you're going 10 days, what's different about the 10-year mark?

LAVANDERA: Well, the 10-year mark is really a little bit different from the sense that they want to turn this into an experience where people are looking forward, not just going back and reliving here what happened 10 years ago. But it's also changed in the sense that, since then, you know, 9/11 has happened.

There's a group of people coming from New York that will be here with the victims and family members to kind of share thoughts and feelings. So when this happened 10 years ago to where we are today, so much has changed in this world that is definitely something that is also being remembered here this week.

KAGAN: Ed Lavandera from Oklahoma City, thank you.

Tonight CNN will return to Oklahoma City 10 years later. Survivors opening up about a terror attack that shook America to its core. Aaron Brown hosts a "NEWSNIGHT" special, "Day of Terror." That's tonight at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific right here on CNN.

A convicted sex offender appeared before a judge this morning on charges that he killed a 13-year-old Florida girl. Police say David Onstott has confessed to the crime. Sarah Michelle Lunde's body was found Saturday, a week after she disappeared.

CNN's Sarah Dorsey is covering the story from Ruskin, Florida -- Sarah.

SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, David Onstott made his first appearance today. It was a very short appearance. And basically the judge told him that he is charged with first-degree murder, and that he would be held in jail with no bond.

David Onstott confessed to Sarah Lunde according to the sheriff's office. Her body was found on Saturday in a pond about a half-mile away from her home. They tell us she was partially clothed, and partially submerged in that water. They say whoever, according to law enforcement sources, they say whoever her killer was tried to weigh down that body. Of course, we know that was unsuccessful because it was a search dog and team that found her in that pond.

Now, the sheriff office -- the sheriff himself actually talked to CNN this morning, saying that really the system has failed in this case and others in Florida. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID GEE, SHERIFF, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: I think the system in general you know, has failed us all. It's the system is overburdened. And I don't think it's any particular judge's fault or anything like that. I just think the system is overwhelmed. And as a society we have to decide what are we going to do with these people?

You know, they're in and out of the system, and it's a type of behavior that unlike any other kind of criminal behavior, it's not correctable. And I think we have to make some decisions. You know, even when the criminals hate these sex offenders, you know there's something pretty bad and pretty deviant about that behavior. And I think they need to be treated differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORSEY: The medical examiner's office says a partial autopsy on Sarah Lunde's body has been completed but there are more tests to come. We possibly could get the official cause of death as early as today -- Kyra.

KAGAN: Actually it's Daryn, but Sarah Dorsey...

DORSEY: Oh sorry, Daryn.

KAGAN: That's all right. Long days for you. Thank you, Sarah Dorsey live from Ruskin, Florida.

It's an oath of secrecy, a devotion to the church. Still to come, 115 cardinals prepare to be locked in together to emerge only after choosing a new pope. More on the cardinal's conclave when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Time is running out for a lot of Americans who want to erase their mountains of debts by filing for bankruptcy. President Bush says that he's anxious to sign Congress's newly passed overhaul that will make it a lot more difficult to wipe clean those unpaid bills.

Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis offers her "Top Five Tips" for people considering such a move.

Ger, good morning.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN-FN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey, good morning, Daryn. If you're up against it in terms of debt, if you have more debt that you can control, consumer advocates are saying file now for bankruptcy. That's because when this new bankruptcy law takes effect in about 180 day, after it's signed by the president, it will be harder to file bankruptcy, particularly the fresh start bankruptcy that wipes away your debt.

Here's what one expert told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY BREWER, BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY: What this law will basically doe is say people, your responsibilities are first and foremost to pay your MBNA and Citibank. And maybe we'll leave you enough money, but maybe not too much, to properly provide for your children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: And that's what we're talking about here, Daryn. If you file bankruptcy after this new bill goes into effect, it will be a lot harder to do what you need to do for your family.

KAGAN: All right. Gerri, we have some breaking news. So let's get through the tips as quickly as we can. A lot of people, the No. 1 concern is keeping their house.

WILLIS: Don't take out a lot of debt on your house. If you have credit debt, consumer debt, it doesn't make a lot of make sense because you want to hang onto the home if you file bankruptcy.

KAGAN: Watch out for con artists.

WILLIS: There are lots of them, particularly credit counselors. Go to the FTC, Federal Trade Commission's Web site to check out credit counselors.

KAGAN: And credit counselor is just that?

WILLIS: That's right. Credit counselor is somebody who will give you advice on making sure that you get your debts in order. And you'll have to do that if you file bankruptcy after this new bill goes into effect.

KAGAN: And then finally, this is a wakeup call to all of us who might have some debt problems.

WILLIS: You bet. You want to make sure you keep your debt under control because at the end of the day, if you wait until the new bill goes into effect there's not much of a safety net out there. So make sure that you keep those credit cards under control.

KAGAN: Gerri Willis thank you for your tips.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: We want to go live now to Arlington, West Virginia. Our Bob Franken is on the scene of that fatal school bus crash that took place earlier this morning.

Bob, what do you know?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, as you can see behind me what is one of a parent's worst nightmares, the smashed in school bus on the news. It's as bad as it looks. We have one child who was killed. All together there were three critically injured, another 15 children -- another 12 children rather, have been hospitalized but none in serious condition.

It happened less than two hours ago when a garbage truck, which was going in one direction, collided with the school bus, which was waiting at this intersection for a left turn. No word on whether the school bus was moving. The collision was hard enough, as you can see, that it did that damage. Children were pinned inside the bus were safely removed.

The garbage truck driver was in there over an hour. They finally pulled him out just a short time ago. And he was medevaced to a hospital where, as I said, he is in critical condition.

Now, counselors have raced to the school, which is several blocks from here. But it is the kind of tragedy that nobody can expect. But as I said, Daryn, everybody fears -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. We'll be back to you with more information as it becomes available. Bob Franken live in Arlington, thank you.

We are getting close to the half hour where in just a few moments we will be watching the entry into the cardinals' conclave, and the administering of the oath of secrecy. It's all set to begin from the Vatican. We'll take you there live after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And we take you live now to the Vatican, getting ready for the beginning of the conclave. The cardinals right now in the Hall of Blessings, very soon we expect them to be leaving and walk in procession to the Sistine Chapel.

We have our top correspondents on the scene to help with our coverage. Right now, let's go to CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour -- Christiane.

AMANPOUR: Daryn, hello this afternoon from Rome. What we're seeing now on the air, these live pictures are unprecedented live pictures of the beginning of the secret conclave. For the first time in the history of this exercise, Vatican cameras are allowed to broadcast a part of this, the beginning part of it.

We're joined, of course, by CNN's Vatican analyst John Allen and Delia Gallagher. Right now, we're listening to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and we will listen for a second. He is delivering the opening prayer before this array of cardinals, 115 in all, from 52 different countries, all of them under the age of 80, will process into the Sistine Chapel, and from thereon, it will be secret, lockdown, conclave means with key and it will be a secret process as they cast their ballots. This the most important thing a cardinal can do in his career to cast his vote for the next pope.

Let's just listen to the prayer for a moment.

(SPEAKING IN ITALIAN)

AMANPOUR: As you can hear, the "Litany of Saints" is being recited right now, that hauntingly beautiful music that lists all the saints in the Catholic Church over the centuries, and that litany will be sung as these cardinals process into the Sistine Chapel. We just heard them bless the procession, and they're now leaving the Hall of Blessings, going through what's known as the Sala De Rgia (ph), the hall of the kings, where Pope John Paul II used to meet all of the Vatican ambassadors and dignitaries every morning, or when he had an audience with them, and now, they're going to process through these ancient corridors into the Sistine Chapel. Very quickly, just hear quickly from John Allen and Delia what we plan to see over the next hour or so. ALLEN: Well, Christiane, what will happen is the cardinal will process, as you say, through Sala De Rgia, into the Sistine Chapel.

Once they arrive, they will take their places. They'll, of course, each have assigned places inside the Sistine Chapel, around the 12 tables that are located there. Then Cardinal Ratzinger will read the oath they are all going to swear, promising to be maintain the secrecy of the conclave and to defend the temporal and spiritual interests of the Vatican, whoever is elected. Then each cardinal will individually and in his own words to that oath, and then will come the fateful words "extra ummus (ph), at which stage everyone has to leave, except for the cardinal who will give the meditation, Cardinal Thomas (INAUDIBLE).

GALLAGHER: We should also say, of course, that this is being followed by the people in the square. There are screens in the square so those following from outside can also watch, and after, of course, the predication of the meditation, which will be the last words that they're able to hear, the cardinals will then have their slips of paper on which they must write the name of their candidate of choice. All of the others will be out of the Sistine Chapel at that stage, and they will write the name of the candidate of choice, and then there's a very formal process for bringing it up and placing it into the urn, which they again have to say they have made this decision of their own liberty, and under God and they place that in the urn, which is up on the altar, and go back to their seats. So it's a very long process of voting.

AMANPOUR: We're just going to listen in for a moment.

(SINGING)

What we're looking at now is, in fact, a diagram of the Sistine Chapel, but on the actual live pictures, you could see that the cardinals have made it already to the Sistine Chapel. In fact, these are the live pictures. You just saw the ceiling, the incredible, wonderful Michelangelo work of art in which you see the creation, and on the wall, you also see the last judgment. And this is what is going to be facing, or at least this is what the cardinals are going to be in the presence of for the next several days as they sit down and choose the next pope -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Christiane, thanks. I'd like to ask a couple of questions of John Allen and Delia Gallagher as well. First, a question about what we're seeing and why we're seeing it. We keep hearing how the church now, it's not controlled, but it's directed by conservatives and traditionalists. So why the move to allow the world to see part of the conclave that we've never been allowed to see before?

ALLEN: Well, it's an interesting point. I think, actually, from the very beginning of the final stages of John Paul's illness, the Vatican clearly made a decision to try to be as transparent as possible.

You'll remember that for the first time ever we saw live video images, for example, of John Paul's body lying in state at its private chapel before it moved eventually into the Vatican. The Vatican was actually quite forthcoming with information about the final stages of his illness.

And I think this is, in a sense, of a piece with John Paul II's life, his gift to the media to open up to the wider world through the use of the instruments of communication.

And I think this is an attempt, the Vatican is trying to strike a balance between letting the world in as much as possible, while at the same time obviously trying to maintain very much the secrecy of the conclave, which is something historically that is intended to maintain the independence of this process, the cardinal electors are not subjected to outside influences.

But as a Vatican-ista, as somebody who follows this stuff on a full time basis, I can not tell you how thrilling these images are. Because in the back of our minds there's always been these sort of pictures we carry around, having read books and articles and had conversations with cardinals. It is really fascinating to see the thing happening in prime time.

KAGAN: So modern technology allows us to see things we've never seen before, but there also, Delia, have been considerations by the order of John Paul II to modern technology and that looking for electronic bugs or other things of the sort that might intrude upon the privacy of the conclave.

GALLAGHER: Well, if you'll notice there, Daryn, in the pictures, the Sistine Chapel normally has a level floor. The second part of it where the cardinals will be sitting is actually raised up, and underneath that are the debugging jamming devices for any cardinal who has brought his cell phone. I doubt there are very many, frankly.

But, yes, that was a precaution that was taken, because in this day and age, cell phones and those around them perhaps trying to put in little bugging devices. If there are any of those, this is a precaution against that. So certainly, the age of modern technology has arrived.

Also, the Vatican usually in the Sistine Chapel, you are never allowed to film. So these are really unique pictures for the world today.

KAGAN: And so we have this historic moment.

(SINGING)

(SPEAKING IN ITALIAN) AMANPOUR: I'm going to read the translation of the document that we have, read the translation of the Formula of the Oath that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is now pronouncing. It goes like this, "We the cardinal electors, collectively and individual, present in this election of the supreme pontiff promise, pledge and swear to observe faithfully and scrupulously all the prescriptions contained in the Apostolic Constitution of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II published on the 22nd of February, 1996.

"We likewise promise, pledge, and swear that which ever of us by divine disposition is elected Roman pontiff, will commit himself faithfully to carrying out the munus petrinum (ph) as pastor of the universal church, and will not fail to affirm and defend strenuously the spiritual and temporal rights and the liberty of the Holy See.

"Above all, we promise and swear to observe with the greatest fidelity and with all persons, clerical or lay, secrecy regarding everything that, in a way, relates to the election of the Roman pontiff, and regarding owe what occurs in the place of the election, directly or indirectly relating to the results of the voting. We promise not to break this secret in any way, either during or after the election of the new pontiff, unless explicit authorization is granted by the same pontiff, and never to lend support or favor to any interference, opposition, or any other form of intervention, whereby secular authorities of whatever order and degree or any group of people or individuals might wish to intervene in the election of the Roman pontiff."

(SPEAKING IN ITALIAN)

AMANPOUR: So that was the collective Oath of Secrecy that Cardinal Ratzinger, the dean of the College of Cardinals, has administered on behalf of all the cardinals. But now the gospel, the Book of Gospels, is going to be presented, and we'll watch to see how -- there it is, the Book of Gospels -- presented to each of the 115 cardinals who will add their own personal oath of secrecy to this solemn moment.

(SPEAKING IN ITALIAN)

AMANPOUR: As you can see, they're walking to this Book of Gospels. It's put in a very prominent place there, on a gold lectern, as you can see, a gold platform on which that Book of Gospels is placed. Each of the 115 cardinals places his HAYNES: nd on the Book of Gospels, and announces, according to the following formula, I, Cardinal X, do so promise, pledge and swear, so help me God, and these holy gospels which I touch with my hand. That is the individual oath of secrecy that each of these cardinals swears before they sit down and cast their first ballot, before they are now committed to the solemn moment of secrecy that may last several days in order to cast their ballots.

As you can see, this is potentially a fairly lengthy process. These cardinals are not all sprightly. Some of them need help in walking. And they are at 80 or under. And there are 115 of them. We should say that there are, in fact, 117 eligible to vote, but two of them are infirm, are unable to be at this conclave, and therefore, there are only 115.

ALLEN: Yes, and of course the two who were not here, Cardinal Himy Syn (ph) of the Philippines, Cardinal Suarez Riviera (ph) from Monterrey, in Mexico.

We see now, interestingly the pope's successor as the archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Maharski (ph) swearing the oath.

As you say, this will potentially play on awhile. But the idea here is that each cardinal is personally pledging to uphold both the secrecy of the conclave, as you rightly pointed out, and also pledging that if he were to be the one who is elected, he is pledging to undertake the Petrine (ph) office, that is the office of being the successor to Peter, and to defend the temporal and the spiritual interests of the Holy See.

GALLAGHER: I think it's also interesting, Christiane, to note that is the first time for all almost of these cardinals to participate in this conclave, with the exception of Cardinal Ratzinger and the American cardinal, Cardinal Long (ph), who were both made cardinal by Paul VI. They'd be the only two who had participation in the 02/19/78 conclave. So this is very new also for all of these men.

AMANPOUR: And amongst the very rare cardinals have who have not been elevated by Pope John Paul II, he has elevated the vast majority of these cardinals that we see.

And I might add as we're watching the cardinals, earlier we did see a closeup picture. The cameras chose to focus on Cardinal Law, the retired, resigned cardinal of the Boston archdiocese, who has become a lightning rod for many American Catholics because of the sex- abuse scandal, the pedophilia scandal that unfolded in Boston. It did elsewhere in the United States and around the world as well. But he was essentially asked to resign, to retire because of that, and there was a protest here at the Vatican on Monday last week. When the first of the mournful masses for Pope John Paul II was held, he was the one, because of his role as the paster of one of the churches here. He lead one of those masses, and many American Catholics voiced their outrage over that fact.

He is nonetheless, under 80, a cardinal, and he is eligible to vote for the next pope.

Interesting, also, we might just add, you recognize...

ALLEN: That was Cardinal Mizner (ph) of (INAUDIBLE).

And I was just going to make a point that Cardinal Mizner will be the host of World Youth Day this coming summer, and that will probably be the first major trip that the new pope takes. You'll remember the whole Youth Day as these massive gatherings of Catholic youth. Some call it the Catholic Woodstock of John Paul II, and very much a trademark of his pontificate, and I think it's universally accepted that whoever the next pope is he will undoubtedly want to be part of that gathering.

And Cardinal Mizner, of course, will therefore be his host when the pope travels to Cologne.

AMANPOUR: And of course we saw after the passing of Pope John Paul II and during the days of mourning leading up to his funeral, that Rome was -- literally saw its population doubled, mostly by an influx of young people, young Catholic pilgrims who came from all over the world to pay tribute to this pope. He really did touch the youth, he touched young people, he reached out to them in a special way, and that, too, is going to be a challenge to whoever is elected the next pope.

But also perhaps to point out that people have come to Rome. They are in Vatican Square right now to watch this election process, or at least to watch out for the smoke that will be billowing from the Sistine Chapel smokestack, but in no way near the numbers that came to bid farewell to John Paul II. The Vatican Square is nowhere near -- nowhere near as full as it was over the days leading up the to funeral of Pope John Paul II -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That is true.

And our Alessio Vinci is standing in that square. He was there not only for the days leading up the to death of Pope John Paul II, but for the funeral as well, and tells us -- sets the scene for us from the outside as we watch these pictures from inside the Sistine Chapel -- Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Daryn.

Yes, well, one of the reasons why we're not seeing the great numbers of people yet here in St. Peter's Square and around this area is because virtually no one expects a result of this election today. We don't even know if the cardinals at the end of the swearing in ceremony, taking this oath, will even decide to take -- to hold the first vote or not. There are some indications perhaps they will begin voting only tomorrow.

We do expect the numbers to grow in the coming days, especially around 12:00 local time here in Rome, 6:00 a.m. Eastern. And around 7:00 p.m. local time here, about -- about 1:00 p.m. Eastern, when, actually, after the two rounds of votes, we expect the ballots to be burned. And obviously if there is white smoke it means the pope has been elected. If there is black smoke, of course it means the pope has not been elected.

Let me set the scene here. Because here in St. Peters Square, there are about a few thousand people so far. And as you can see, they are able to see what is happening inside the Sistine Chapel right behind the St. Peter's Basilica on four giant television screens.

And I can tell you I've been here all day, and there's been a lot of movement of people coming in and out. But right now, everybody seems to be glued here, pointing to these television screens, really paying a lot of attention about what is happening.

Most of the people telling us that they are here, of course, because they want to participate through this historical day. There are, of course, many pilgrims, many Catholic faithful. But they really are here because they feel that there is -- this is an historical moment, an historical day.

Of course no conclave has taken place in 26 years. And so even one gentleman from Camaron (ph), telling me, "Hey, I'm 55 years old. You know, who knows when the next conclave will be. So I want to make sure that I don't miss this one."

And this is just one of the many things that we've heard this morning here and this afternoon in St. Peters Square.

And, of course, we must also remember that this is an historical moment. And for the first time, televised live on Vatican television, of course, and around the world. This is the first time the people here in St. Peter's Square are actually able to see a live broadcast from within the Sistine Chapel, and not just on any day.

This is a day, of course, the most important day for most of the cardinals who are now in this chapel. And it is a day they have to elect the successor of John Paul II.

Many cardinals telling us, even in previous months, that they knew, they always knew, that this election would come. Of course they could not openly debate the possibility that a conclave would take place in a matter of months, but certainly privately they would discuss, you know, the fact that they felt a conclave would be possible under their, if you want, their being a cardinal before they would retire, or before they would go over the age of 80. And, therefore, they know this is perhaps the most important day in their lives in terms of their ministry and their service to the Catholic Church.

And this is why we're seeing these very solemn pictures of them taking this oath of secrecy. And besides the secrecy, of course, they're also pretty much taking -- promising that whoever will be selected -- because it is -- while everybody can be elected pope who is a Catholic and who has been baptized, it is almost clearly evident that the successor of John Paul II will be among those 115 cardinal electors.

And, of course, part of the oath is also to, you know, affirm the spiritual rite of the Holy See. And also, the fact that they will accept this job faithfully.

As you know, once the cardinal is selected to become the pope, then he will be asked whether or not he accepts this job. And there are moments, in even recent history, including Pope John Paul I, who at some point felt the weight of the responsibility.

And I want you also to remember that, whoever gets the job of being pope, it's a job for life. This is not a job that you can just do for a few years and then pass on to a successor. This is a job for life. And certainly all these cardinals, while taking this oath, feel the tremendous responsibility that they are getting, not just by selecting the pope's successor, John Paul II's successor, but also knowing full well that they could be among -- among -- or they could be the one selected to become -- to become pope -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And so, Alessio, those in the square now, fascinated to be able to see these pictures, as you said, and you're showing us on those live screen televisions, ultimately, though, they're going to wait to see the white smoke coming from the chimney. How good is the view from the square there? Can you see it from all parts of the square, or is it limited?

VINCI: Yes. Let me give you a perspective here.

I mean, we are down here below -- inside -- on the edges of St. Peter's Square. And we're about, what, 200 or 300 yards from the roof of the Sistine Chapel, which you can see here now. And in the middle of the screen you see a small chimney.

Now, as I mentioned to you earlier, in 1978 there was some confusion about whether the smoke was indeed white or black. This time around, the Vatican has set up a system by which there will be not just one burner, burning the -- burning the ballots, of course, but there will be also a second burner attached to the same chimney through which canisters, smoke canisters will be able to produce a whiter or blacker smoke which will be very clear, we're told, for all to see from down here in St. Peter's Square.

As I said, nobody expects white smoke already tonight. Most -- first of all, we don't even know if there will be a vote tonight. But if there will be a vote, this will be probably and possibly a vote during which the cardinals will size each other up. They will see how officially the vote is going, and then eventually they will burn those ballots, and, therefore, we will expect to see black smoke.

And then tomorrow morning, that is when perhaps the vote itself is beginning in earnest, with two votes in the morning and two votes in the afternoon for the next -- for the next three days. And at the end of each voting session, there will be the burning of the ballots, which means we are expecting to see twice a day the possibility of the white or the black smoke to come off this chimney square in St. Peter's Square.

And as I said, this is the first time that we see this procedure so live on television. But I was watching the previous election of the conclave back in 1978. As you know, there were two conclaves basically back to back because John Paul I died only after a month in office.

Well, I can see this square being completely filled with a lot of people, even using binoculars trained on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. So we do expect these kinds of scenes to be repeated perhaps again in the coming days when -- when the actual election is expected to produce the successor of John Paul II -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Let me go ahead and bring back in our Vatican analysts, John Allen and Delia Gallagher, and talk about the point that Alessio was making there, the pace of the voting, and at what pace do you expect this to keep up -- Delia. DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Well, I think the pace is fairly clear in the sense that they have to have the two votes in the morning, then they have a pause for lunch, and then the two votes in the afternoon. So we know, more or less, what the organization of the voting is going to be. The question is, how many days?

And again, historically, we know that within three or four days, this is something which they are able to decide upon. Of course, there are 115 of them, a very large college, and from all over the world. So they don't necessarily all know each other.

It will take some time for them to work out what lines the college are drawing in terms of a more conservative candidate, a more liberal candidate. And then perhaps, also, historically, Daryn, they tend to sort of -- the first two top candidates, let us say, today, maybe Cardinal Ratzinger and Cardinal Tettamanzi, for example, the Italian cardinal who's a bit more progressive than Cardinal Ratzinger, the German, very conservative, let's say that they get, you know, some 30 votes each today. Well, those will be the top two names.

But historically we know that then it goes to a compromise candidate often. If neither one of those two pillars can get enough votes, which in this case would be 77, then they tend to find the third candidate. That's how Karol Wojtyla came out of the '78 conclave.

So I think that something along those lines we could speculate on. But, again, it's anybody's guess. They could come up with something very quickly. We might be surprised -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And John, let's go ahead and bring you in. Once these doors close, and once the discussions get under way, it is a free for all? How does it -- how organized is it? What exactly will happen?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Well, you know, Daryn, actually, I think, you know, the truth is that, once those doors just, obviously we're all going to be fascinated with what's going on. But I think if we were inside, we might actually find ourselves pretty quickly bored, because the truth is that it's all quite ceremonial inside the Sistine Chapel.

I mean, what will happen is, once they begin the balloting process, each cardinal will write the name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote on a piece of paper that, by the way, was designed personally by Pope Paul VI with the idea if making sure that no one else could see the name of the person that the cardinal was writing.

He'll then fold that twice, carry it up ceremonially to the altar, where he will place it on a paten -- that's a small silver plate -- and dip it into the urn. Once every cardinal has done that, then the ballots will be counted by three cardinals whose names were drawn by luck called the scrutineers.

Another group called the revisers will count behind them to make sure the tally is correct. And then the results will be announced. Now, all of this, as you can see from this procession to swear the oath, this all takes some time. So frankly, what you are seeing now will quite resemble what the cardinals are going to be watching time and time again as they go through the balloting process. So the really interesting moments, quite honestly, will be taking place outside the Sistine Chapel over breakfast at the Casa Santa Marta.

KAGAN: Where's the discussion part? Where do they talk about it?

ALLEN: Yes. Well, when they talk about it is, when they leave the Sistine Chapel tonight, they will, of course, go to the Casa Santa Marta for dinner. One presumes that those conversations are going to be fairly interesting.

They can also talk among one another at breakfast tomorrow. They are at liberty when they're not in the Sistine Chapel to be walking in the Vatican gardens or on Vatican grounds. They'll have the opportunity to talk to one another then.

I think the point Delia made about the cardinals not knowing one another well is exactly correct. I mean, I think the thing we have to understand is, what makes this conclave historically different from every one that went before is that this time the Italians really are not running the show.

This is the first conclave in which all 115 members from those 52 different countries are, in a sense, equally positioned to influence the outcome, and to be participants in the conversation. And that obviously is much more difficult to organize.

And so what will be happening, what I'm sure began happening last night, when the cardinals moved into the Casa Santa Marta, what will continue over the next few days are some very, very interesting conversations, but almost entirely outside the Sistine Chapel itself.

KAGAN: I want to pick up on your point about Italians. Two hundred and 12 Italian folks in history, some of the articles I've been reading say among the Italians there's a feeling that they need to get the pope back to being Italian.

ALLEN: Yes, I think there's been some speculation along those lines. And I have no doubt that somewhere in their heart of hearts, some the Italian cardinals would probably prefer if the next pope would be Italian.

But I think the truth is that things like age and nationality and so forth are very much second order of concerns. The perception we get from talking to cardinals is they really are interested in finding the right man for the job. And after that, they're willing to make compromises on many other things.

And I think, again, what has made this conclave so hard to handicap for those of us in the press corps, is that it's the first time that they're not just looking for the best Italian, they're looking for the best man. Which means it's a much wider field of candidates.

And this, of course, is why on CNN and elsewhere we have spent so much time in the last few days talking about candidates from Africa, from Latin America, from Asia, and so on. I think in that sense it is -- it remains even today a very wide open race.

KAGAN: And when you make a reference to these voting blocs, for instance, there is a large voting bloc from Latin America. But I've been reading that that might not be a cohesive voting bloc, that they don't all see the same -- same way in what the next pope should be.

ALLEN: Yes. Well, I think you can say that for any of the blocs in the College of Cardinals. You can say that for the American cardinals, for example.

The second largest group after the Italians, 11 of them. They are certainly not all on the same page.

As far as the Latin Americans go, I think probably the single defining issue in Latin American Catholicism in recent decades was the battle over liberation theology in the '70s and '80s. This was a movement whose aim was to align Catholicism with progressive movements for social change and the political struggles against the military governments.

Some cardinals saw that as a very good thing, what the church should be doing. Others saw it as a kind of betrayal of the church's primary spiritual mission. And there was a great division.

And you have in this College of Cardinals among the Latin Americans some who are on one side of that argument and some who are on the other, which certainly does render it difficult for them to act as one unified cohesive bloc.

KAGAN: Let's talk about the issue of age. We many time hear the name of Cardinal Ratzinger brought up. He's 78 years old.

Delia, how much do you think these cardinals will take into consideration age, not just on the old side, but on the young side and not wanting someone to have a papacy as long as John Paul II?

GALLAGHER: Well, again, that is a consideration, but secondary, as John says. You know, the first concern is, who is the best man. And then if he's younger or older, well, we'll take him anyway.

But I think that as regards to Cardinal Ratzinger, you have to say he's a standout candidate, certainly in the initial stages, just because he has such a long history, nearly at the helm of the church already. You know, he was -- he was -- he's been here since 1981, very much a part of Pope John Paul II's papacy.

So I think it was -- he's a clear conservative candidate. But again, you know, he's 78, which would probably be a good age for a shorter papacy, if we want to say it like that.

But I think that the point about Cardinal Ratzinger is, even if he is not going to be the candidate for the next -- for pope, he is going to be somebody who will decide where those votes should go. So he will have a lot of weight in terms of his -- his decision on where the people who might want to vote for that conservative candidate should put their votes instead of with him.

KAGAN: And so, John, when somebody, like, let's just say, as Delia was referring to Cardinal Ratzinger, that he would have some play, how are we to understand that the balance here between -- that this isn't just your typical election, that there's not supposed to be bargaining, there's not supposed to be politicking, and yet there has to be some amount of that, otherwise how do you get to a conclusion here?

GALLAGHER: Well, this is the difficulty in analyzing this College of Cardinals. Because the lines, we can say generally sort of more progressive, generally more conservative. But it depends on what you're talking about.

There are a lot of issues within the church that they are concerned about in terms of how do they decide who makes decisions. Is it all with the pope? Is it with the bishops?

There are issues outside of the church with social justice. And the moral issues, of course, which we've talked about. And so there's a sort of confluence of a lot of these issues, and no one cardinal you can place in any camp for sure.

So I think that what happens is they try to generally align themselves according to sort of their philosophies, their theology. And they know, more or less, the Cardinal Ratzinger line who has worked with him in the past and who has generally been in agreement with him. So you can sort of mark down a number of younger cardinals who even had Cardinal Ratzinger as a teacher, literally.

So then you know that that's sort of on one side. And then you have a more progressive side perhaps represented by the Italian Cardinal Martini, who is a bit more liberal. And so then you can decide who are the people that line up more with him and would be more open on a lot of the moral questions that are so important today.

So we can make those general guidelines. But as we were saying earlier, with regards to the blocs, there's no saying that all of the Americans will vote for one candidate and all of the Latin Americans for another. On the contrary. Sometimes the better they know each other the more they know they don't like that person. So...

KAGAN: Sometimes too much information not a good thing. Or it is a good thing...

GALLAGHER: Exactly.

KAGAN: ... depending on what decision you are trying to make.

We are continuing to watch these absolutely historic and incredible pictures as the Vatican for the first time allows cameras into the beginning of the conclave. We're watching from the inside -- inside the Sistine Chapel. Also, we're watching from outside as thousands of pilgrims and faithful begin to gather.

They are able to watch through large screen televisions the same pictures that we are. And ultimately, they will gather and wait for the white smoke to come from the chimney, announcing and signifying that a new pope has been elected.

We're joined in our coverage by our senior international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, who is sitting alongside John Allen and Delia Gallagher -- Christiane.

AMANPOUR: Daryn, we are around 90 when it comes to cardinals who have already sworn their individual oath. That means there are quite a few more to go until we get to 117. About 127 more to -- or rather 27 more to go. So this could take a little bit longer, but not that much longer.

We've seen the cardinal of New York and other American cardinals put their hand on the gospel book. And as you were discussing what various cardinals might say or might not say, or the direction in which they may be going over the next several days, we got one of our first clues today at the mass in terms of, you know, what the chief cardinal, if you like, the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Ratzinger, was thinking, and he holds a powerful position.

He's been named as potential future pope, and if he doesn't become pope he's definitely a pope maker. At least he's considered that.

He was also very close to Pope John Paul II. He's known as the pope's enforcer. He has been the one who has been silencing dissidents and generally keeping the church along a very close and narrow conservative doctrinal path.

Well, today in his homily, he was very blunt indeed. There was no mistaking at all what he thought.

And he basically essentially talked about the nature of faith, and the nature of what the Catholic Church should be looking for as they take this very serious decision. And he said that having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, today is often labeled as fundamentalism. He said, whereas a dictatorship of relativism exists.

He said there's too much, he thought, of the church doctrine being sort of full of people's own egos and their own desires, and what is needed now was a faith that was based on the truth, with a capital T, and it should not be based on today's fashions, or whatever waves and stream were popular today. And that was a very, very clear clarion call for the church to stick very, very clearly to its conservative doctrine and its tradition.

And that, I think, is going to be of some concern to many, many Catholics in certainly North America, the United States of America, and in western Europe, because that is where you're seeing the congregations diminish or stay the same, as opposed to in places like Latin America, Asia and Africa, where Catholic churches are growing. What do you think, John? I find this really interesting. How does a new pope, if you like, embrace the whole of the world's 1.1 million Catholics?

ALLEN: Well, and, Christiane, I think that kind of the challenge is even more complex than that. Because let's not forget the pope is a figure of interest not just to Roman Catholics, but to, in a sense, the entire world.

I mean, one of the hallmarks of John Paul II's reign, of course, was outreach to other Christian denominations, other religions. He also was a singular political player on the global stage for more than a quarter century.

I mean, you can bet your bottom dollar that the night that he was elected people in Moscow were scrambling to know what was this going to mean. So, in a sense, the pope has to hold together not just Catholics, but also has to be able to sell a message, if you like, to the whole planet.

That is an extraordinarily complex task. And there's that very delicate balance that has to be walked between, on the one hand, not abandoning core principles of Christian identity, the sort of tenacious defense of what Christianity what it is, but at the same time striking a spirit of openness and dialogue and outreach that makes that identity appealing to a broader public. And I think it's a very difficult one.

I think my sense, honestly, as to how many cardinals would have reacted to what Cardinal Ratzinger had to say this morning is that he was absolutely right on the content. I mean, he ticked off those threats we talked about, Marxism, liberalism, radical individualism, syncretism, relativism. I think everyone would acknowledge those things exist, they're real, the church has to take count of them.

But the question is, did he have the tone right? I mean, in other words, you know, do you want the first chapter, if you like, of the message you're trying to present to be one of sort of pessimism and fear, or do you want it to be one of optimism and hope?

And so my sense would be that many cardinals would come away from that saying, that was an accurate presentation so far as it goes, but it's not quite the face we want to put forward to the rest of the world.

GALLAGHER: Yes, I think that Cardinal Ratzinger clearly is, you know, responsible for, and has been maintaining, the doctrine of the church. That has been his clarion call throughout the papacy of John Paul II.

And when you talk about the future of the church, these cardinals are thinking about -- they agree on all the issues. The question is, how do we approach those issues?

Do we do it in the Cardinal Ratzinger way by tightening up, maintaining our doctrine and saying to the world, this is what we believe, and if you don't believe it, fine, but we are not changing it? Or, are we a bit more liberal, and allow, OK, we can allow certain changes in our doctrine or in our moral teachings?

And that's really the heart of the question, is how do we approach a more secular world? How does Christianity live its religion in a secular world? And where do we give in, on what points do we give in? And Cardinal Ratzinger would say we don't give in on anything.

AMANPOUR: And, in fact, he's been quoted many times, not just in this homily, but in interviews he's given and articles and other text that he's written, he's been essentially quoted using that word "fundamentalism," which through our mind in today's world has negative connotations. But he believes, looking at other faiths and what others have done -- and he's talked about Islam and other minorities -- that they flourish by adhering very strictly the "fundamentalist" principles of their religions.

Is there any room, do you think, to satisfy, let's say, American Catholics, who, let's fact it, make up a big portion of Catholics around the world, Americans who are saying, we still love our faith, but we're not following every doctrine of the church? We are picking and choosing according to our conscious and how we are able to live in today's modern world.

ALLEN: Yes. Well, first of all, we probably ought to say that American Catholics are exactly 6 percent of the global Catholic population -- 1.1 billion Catholics, 65 million in America, which means, among other things, that the first thing the pope thinks about when he gets out of bed in the morning cannot be the American Catholic Church.

But obviously, you know, you are right. I mean, in America, and other parts of the world, there are various currents within the Catholic Church, some of which are chafing against what they would see as a kind of rigid doctrine approach.

And I think, you know, this is again that sort of delicate balancing act the pope has to strike. There's that famous saying of John XXIII that the pope has to be both, both of those with their foot on the break and their foot on the gas. That's the balance that has to be struck.

AMANPOUR: As we come right now to the very end of this long list of 117, or 115, rather, cardinals, we are second to the last, it looks like, from the picture there. And thereafter, as we watch the last cardinal eligible to vote on this day -- and again, let's reiterate, it's 115 that we're seeing and will go into the conclave. The two others that make up the 117 are too ill and unable to participate.

So there is the end of this long, individual oath of secrecy and devotion as they head into the conclave.

John, what happens, precisely next?

ALLEN: Well, after sort of tidying up a bit from the swearing of the oaths, what will be next is Archbishop (INAUDIBLE) who will say hear from a cardinal who say extra omnes.

AMANPOUR: He has just said that extra omnes, and people seem to be walking out. And Vatican camera has tilted up. It looks like this is the end of our peek inside, our unprecedented peek inside the secret motions of the conclave.

We are looking now at the wonderful fresco of the Last Judgment. There you see the risen Christ, as he is depicted by Michelangelo in heaven. Below that, the other layer is the Torment of Hell.

And this is what's going to accompany the 115 cardinals as they sit not directly facing this fresco, but it will be to the side of them. They sit facing each other in those rows of benches that we saw, where they will start, at some point, perhaps today, to cast their ballots.

As we've been smoking with John and Delia, they do have the opportunity to cast their first ballot today. And it is potentially possible that we will see a puff of smoke from the Vatican -- from the Sistine Chapel smokestack, upon which we and others have their cameras trained.

And they will remain trained there until such time as there is a white puff of smoke. And just in case we get it wrong, and if we cannot read the difference between black and white or gray, Pope John Paul II himself has come to the rescue. He, before he died, obviously instructed that accompanying the white puff of smoke should be the ringing of St. Peter's bells. There should be the two at the same time.

Now we're watching this door close.

GALLAGHER: Master of papal ceremonies closing the door.

AMANPOUR: And from Vatican Square downstairs, we can here the people's applause.

ALLEN: What, of course, now will be happening behind that closed door, Christiane, is that the cardinals will be hearing a final medication from one of their own, although an over-80 cardinal, Cardinal Tumash Shpidlich (ph) of the Czech Republic.

Cardinal Shpidlich (ph) is -- the great passion of his life has been the effort to put the eastern and western churches back together. So ecumenism, the idea of Christian unity.

We would expect him to strike that note of the need for the church, as John Paul once said, to breathe with both its lungs, west and east. And when he is finished with his meditation, then both he and Marini (ph) also will have to exit the room.

Then the door will actually be locked for that, as you rightly said, that conclave moment -- in other words, with the key for what could be the potentially be the first ballot of this conclave this afternoon. AMANPOUR: We're looking, a little picture now, of what we call our smoke camera. That is the camera that we have trained on that smokestack that we were talking about just before the doors closed. And this is the smokestack that will deliver the verdict of each round of balloting.

It will be black for not yet, and white when they actually do choose a pope. Additives are added for both to make it black or white. And, as I said, there will also be the ringing of bells to announce when they actually do get a vote that is conclusive and they do get a pope.

This is because the last round there was something of a mistake. Journalists who covered that say that when they saw a puff of smoke, they thought that it was white. It was actually gray. They couldn't quite determine the color. They announced to the world that there was a pope, but there was no pope coming to the window.

GALLAGHER: And they waited for hours to see if he would come.

ALLEN: Right.

AMANPOUR: Exactly right. And, you know, we've already seen the crimson curtains which are -- have been hung on that central balcony on St. Peter's Basilica, which is where the new pope will present himself first to the world. And it will be announced, "Habemus Papam," "We have a pope," and he will arrive at that window which has right now those elegant crimson curtains that we have seen so many times in pictures of the past, and that we perhaps will see in the next several days, depending on how many rounds of balloting it takes.

But this is now the moment. This is what we've been waiting for. We're not allowed to report what's going on inside. We don't know what's going on inside. There'll be glimpses of the cardinals as they go back and forth from the Sistine Chapel to their quarters, to the hotel that is been designated for them. But apart from that, basically that's it until the white smoke.

ALLEN: That's it. That's absolutely right. I mean, I don't know if it's a question of us not being allowed. Personally, I'd love to report what's going on inside the Sistine Chapel right now, but we simply don't know and won't know.

GALLAGHER: The wonderful thing I think will be when we do have that announcement at lugge (ph), at the balcony, because of course when they announce the name of the cardinal that has become pope, they announce his Christian name. So everybody in the square doesn't necessarily know who know he is and where he's from. It happened to Karol Wojtyla. They said, oh, they elected an African, and we has -- because they only say, (INAUDIBLE), we have a pope, and they pronounced Karol Wojtyla, so you've got to be rather quick to know the Christian names of all the cardinals in order to know where he's from.

ALLEN: And of course the formula (INAUDIBLE), they pronounce his first name, and then there are four words that actually come before the last name. It's Karol, cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Wojtyla. So there's that sort of moment of panic, that instant between the first and the last name, where you're just wondering, who might this be, especially if got a guy with a name like Antonio, where there are two or three different possibilities, then your mind starts running through the different scenarios.

GALLAGHER: They'll also keep you waiting for a good half hour by the time we see somebody to announce the name. We've got the white smoke, and then it'll take a while for them to...

AMANPOUR: Well, panic, maybe, but certainly a lot of prayer going on inside the Sistine Chapel, and perhaps for the next several days, as they wait to choose the next pope. That is the end of our video look inside the conclave.

Back to you, Daryn.

KAGAN: The end of the video look, and yet the story, fascinating, historical and dramatic as it is, continues from the Vatican, as will our coverage.

Our thanks to Christiane Amanpour, John Allen and Delia Gallagher.

While we were watching those historic pictures from the Vatican, a lot of news taking place. We're going to get to that after this break.

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KAGAN: I want to show you live pictures from the Vatican right now, pictures of the chimney where we expect at any time, it could happen, that there is a vote, a first vote, on picking the successor to John Paul II. We're watching historic, and dramatic and incredible pictures over the last hour as the Vatican for the first time ever allowed cameras inside the Sistine Chapel to watch the beginning of the conclave, the prayer and the oath leading up to the part where everyone except the 115 cardinals were kicked out and they closed the doors.

Now meanwhile, you're going to look in the lower-right part of your screen, and you're going to see what we call our Vatican live bug. We're going to keep that up. That is a small picture, a live picture, that will continually be on the chimney, where if there is a vote, we'll be watching for black smoke if there is no pope and white smoke if they have indeed selected the successor to Pope John Paul II.

While we're doing that, let's take a look at what else is happening in the news.

Here in the U.S. we're following a developing story, a deadly school bus crash in a Washington D.C. suburb. It happened just a few hours ago. Officials say the school bus collided with a garbage truck in Alexandria, Virginia. One child was reportedly killed, 16 others were hurt. The drivers of the bus and the truck were critically injured. President Bush is expected to arrive in Columbia, South Carolina about 40 minutes from now. Mr. Bush will focus on Social Security reform during a townhall meeting. The trip makes up for a previously planned trip that the president had to cancel following the death of the pope.

The Norwegian Dawn pulled into New York harbor this morning, as passengers still rattled from a weekend of high drama on the high seas. A seven-story wave smashed into the size of the cruise ship as it struggled in rough Atlantic waters. More than 60 cabins were flooded and four people were injured.

An American aid worker who helped innocent victims in the Iraq war has herself become a victim. Twenty-year-old Marla Ruzicka was killed in a weekend bombing near Baghdad's airport. Her parents in Lakeport, California remember their daughter as a young woman with a tremendous open heart.

In New York this morning, Texas oil man David Chalmers entered a not-guilty plea in a federal court to charges related to the U.N. Oil- for-Food scandal. Chalmers is charged with paying secret kickbacks to Saddam Hussein and cheating the humanitarian program out of at least $100 million.

In Tampa, Florida, convicted sex offender accused of killing 13- year-old Sarah Lunde appeared in court this morning on murder charges. Authorities say David Onstott did not make a statement. They do say he has confessed to killing Lunde in her home and dumping her body in a nearby pond. Onstott is being held without bond. He had once dated Lunde's mother.

More drama could come today in the Michael Jackson child- molestation trial. The mother of Jackson's accuser will again face defense attorneys when she returns to the stand this morning. Last week her exchanges with Jackson's attorney became so heated the judge threatened to shutdown the trial for a day.

It is an unforgettable day of terror. On the morning of April 19th, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a truck packed with homemade explosives in front of a federal building in Oklahoma, and caused an explosion of tremendous force and fire; 168 people were killed.

Our Ed Lavandera is in Oklahoma City on the eve of the 10th anniversary of that attack -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. Well, this is a weeklong remembrance (INAUDIBLE).

KAGAN: We're going to jump in here. We're having a little trouble with your audio. We will come back and check out the live pictures and hear more from you when we can get that fixed.

Meanwhile, we want you to know about tonight. Aaron Brown will hosting a "NEWSNIGHT" special "DAY OF TERROR," on the eve of the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing. That's tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. And CNN will be live tomorrow for full coverage of the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing. Bill Hemmer will be reporting live from Oklahoma City.

Right now, a quick break. We're back after this.

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KAGAN: We appear to have the audio problems all fixed. Let's go back to Oklahoma City and our Ed Lavandera on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the Oklahoma city bombing -- Ed, let's try again.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Daryn, I think we got things straightened out here. But we're talking about the memorial here, the Oklahoma City Memorial -- national memorial and the museum. Some three million people have come here since this complex opened five years ago. And we can take you inside the memorial where you see the reflection pond.

And for people who haven't been here, you have to remember, that reflection pond sits exactly on the road, Fifth Street in downtown Oklahoma City. That reflection pond is Fifth Street. That's the road where the Ryder Truck was brought in on. And where you the chairs in the background, each of those chairs representing the 168 people that were killed in the bombing and their exact location inside the building, as well. That is where all of this took place.

And that reflection pond, where you see thousands of people who have come here over the past weekend, and you'll expect tens of thousands more to show up here over the course of the next couple of days to come pay their respects. The reflection pond -- I spoke a little bit earlier, when you walk around this area and you listen to people talk and you listen to families talk about what happened here, it's very poignant. When you're inside there, it's quiet, reflective scene that you can experience there, as well.

As I mentioned, 168 people were killed in this bombing. The signature event of this week will be tomorrow's memorial service. 168 seconds of silence. One second, of course, for each of the victims. But one of the more special moments, and I think we should tell people about, that you should be on the lookout for tomorrow.

As you see the memorial services, that the mission statement of this memorial will be read by six children, six survivors of this bombing. 19 children in the day care were killed here almost ten years ago. Six of the children, the oldest one now 15 years old, many of them in critical condition, battled years and years of rehab and therapy. Six of them will be involved in reading the mission's -- the memorial's mission statement tomorrow.

You can bet that these -- their voices, their faces, are a symbolic reminder to everyone here in Oklahoma that has been affected by this bombing, of how much they fought back and scratched back to get to where they are today -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed Lavandera, live from Oklahoma City. Our coverage from there will continue. Ed, thank you. We have a lot more news ahead. A break and we're back after this.

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KAGAN: OK, sometimes we do some abrupt transitions here, so stay with us for this one. We're going to talk about getaways, two types of getaways, in fact. There's the sit back, relax, do next to nothing getaway, or the get off your know what and you get wild and crazy getaway. "Travel and Leisure" magazine profiles 50 great American adventures in its April issue.

Let's take a look at a few with "Travel and Leisure" editor, Laura Begley, joining me from New York this morning. Good morning.

LAURA BEGLEY, "TRAVEL AND LEISURE" MAGAZINE: Hi. It's great to be here.

KAGAN: So this isn't a sit by the pool, drink mai thai kind of vacation?

BEGLEY: No, this is for adventurers. In our April issue, we did a package on 50 amazing adventures. And if you can believe it, people are just getting crazier and crazier these days. Maybe it's the "Fear Factor" effect, but there are so many amazing adventures out there, and we rounded up some of the best, from urban adventures to water adventures to nature.

KAGAN: Well, I might be some of those crazy people, because I think everything on this list sounded fun. So, let's get to it. First of all, in Sedona, Arizona, to go hiking.

BEGLEY: Yes, this is an Enchantment Resort, and this on 70 acres of desert. And they take advantage of their very spiritual surroundings with a two-hour vortex walk. And you go out with a certified chigan (ph) instructor into the red rocks. And she'll take you around to all of these vortex sites, take you walking under 1,000- foot-high red rock formations. Pretty incredible.

KAGAN: I was just there in October. I had a great time. A lot of people have been to San Francisco, but they don't think about going kayaking.

BEGLEY: Well, this is a whole new to see San Francisco. It's actually out on San Francisco Bay. There's a new hotel called the Hotel Vitale, which is right on the Embarcadero waterfront, and they have a weekend package where you can take a four-hour kayak ride. And you'll go and see the Golden Gate bridge, the Bay Bridge, Treasure Island. You might even run into a sea lion or two out in the bay. And if you're really daring, you can brave the ways under the Golden Gate Bridge and even paddle around Alcatraz.

KAGAN: Oh, see I think that sounds great. New York City, a swinging kind of place, but literally, with the way you're looking at it.

BEGLEY: This is a swinging place. And everybody remembers when Carrie Bradshaw in "Sex and the City" went out and did the trapeze school. And real people can do it, too. It's right on the Hudson River. They strap you in, so it's very safe. And you can actually swing over the river. It's $47 for two hours and they do a whole bunch of different levels. Even children aged six years old can get up there and swing.

KAGAN: See, that sounds fun. Back to the Southwest for some power parachuting.

BEGLEY: Now this is one of the more extreme sports on our list. And this looks like something out of the Wright Brothers movie. Sky trails ranch out in western Utah has this program where they do power parachuting. They trap you in a machine that has this huge, very strong propeller on the back, and you can fly up to heights of 12,000 feet, over desert and over canyons. This is a pretty thrilling adventure, if I do say so myself.

KAGAN: Sounds like you're giving a wide range of activities, and geography, and also price range, which is what we like to see.

Laura Begley, from "Travel & Leisure," thank you.

BEGLEY: Thank you.

KAGAN: Have a fun time out there.

Let's see what's coming up at the top of the hour with Wolf Blitzer.

Hi, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Daryn. Thanks very much.

We have a very busy hour ahead on NEWS FROM CNN. We'll be live at the Vatican where the selection process for the new pope is now under way. We'll have extensive coverage for that. We'll have an inspiring story of a most extraordinary young California woman who dedicated her short live to easing the suffering of the innocent victims of war in both Afghanistan and Iraq. We'll go to Jane Arraf. She knew her quite well. That's coming up.

All that and a lot more at the top of the hour on NEWS FROM CNN, Daryn.

In the meantime, back to you.

KAGAN: All right, Wolf, we look forward to that. We're going take a look at weather and business coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Well, interest rates may be low. But in a lot of areas in the country, the housing market is tight.

CNN.com's spring home guide has everything you need to know before bidding on your dreamhouse.

CNN's Veronica De La Cruz tells us where to find it and how to use it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Home buying, it's high season in the spring. But before you jump on the home buyer's bandwagon, log on to CNNmoney.com's 2005 Ultimate Home Guide. First off, ask yourself these four questions, why do you want to buy a house? Can you afford it? What's the cost of renting? Are you ready to make that commitment?

Once you've decided that buying a home is for you and you've found the perfect one, ask yourself this, does the neighborhood make the grade? That old wisdom to buy where the schools are good is true now more than ever.

Another tip, take a good look at who's working for you. Don't rely on the luck of the draw. Before you shop for a house, shop for an agent. And how much house can you afford? To arrive at an affordable price, this calculator follows the guidelines of most lenders. Are you wondering how much your mortgage will be? Punch in the numbers and find out.

Finally, do you want to live like a millionaire? This interactive gallery shows you what $1 million will get you across the nation.

Happy hunting from the dot-com newsdesk in Atlanta and Veronica De La Cruz.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The world's oldest annual marathon is set to start in just a few minutes from now. The 109th Boston Marathon gets under way at noon.

As the preparations go on, another race associated with the marathon was run earlier today. Take a look at this, U.S. troops based in southern Iraq ran in the Iraq -- Boston Marathon. I guess we do not have pictures of that. A 10 mile run inside the base. Some 260 runners took part.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: That's going to do it for me. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll see you right back here tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington, D.C.

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