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American Morning
Ratzinger Becomes Pope; How to Succeed in Business
Aired April 20, 2005 - 08:00 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
And a promise this morning from the new pope. In his first mass as leader of the Catholic Church, Benedict XVI saying he will work to unify all Christians.
Meanwhile in Washington, a setback for the president coming from a Republican, as a key nomination suddenly running into trouble.
And slicing up that old food pyramid. New colors and new lines and maybe some new confusion, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning, everybody.
We are holding it together here.
I'm Bill Hemmer.
Soledad is off today.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: She is, indeed.
I'm Carol Costello.
HEMMER: In a moment here, a lot to talk about, too, with the new pope. Our Vatican analyst, John Allen, with us again today, looking at what this pontificate will bring. We'll also get more on this mixed message around the world and also what we're hearing from Europe today. So we'll get to that.
COSTELLO: Pretty controversial stuff. It's interesting.
Also, former G.E. Chairman Jack Welch is with us. His new book is called "Winning," and he says he can teach anyone how to do that, not just on their job, but in their life. And I'm going to be listening closely.
HEMMER: We all will.
What's up -- Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's my former boss, you know? I worked for him for 13 years or more.
HEMMER: Good enough.
COSTELLO: Do you have any choice words?
CAFFERTY: I like him.
COSTELLO: Oh?
CAFFERTY: Yes. He's a good guy.
Coming up in "The Cafferty File," it's Wednesday, time for "Things People Say." Lisa Marie Presley talking about being sucked in by Michael Jackson, which, for some reason, is a rather unpleasant thing to conjure.
A 911 dispatcher in Texas offers to come over and shoot a child.
And a rock band that proudly proclaims their bellybuttons are not pretty.
COSTELLO: Just the image of that kind of makes me nauseas.
CAFFERTY: Which one, the bellybuttons or the?
COSTELLO: Well, actually, all of it.
CAFFERTY: Well, that's why I'm here, Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand.
HEMMER: That's right, keep the air running.
CAFFERTY: Is the government -- is this the government's food pyramid thing you were teasing?
HEMMER: I know it's not yours.
CAFFERTY: I mean don't they have anything else to do?
HEMMER: Well, you know, there's that.
CAFFERTY: The diet they feed us is not anywhere in that food pyramid. It's found in the barnyard.
COSTELLO: Oh, man, we'll talk about that later.
Let's check the headlines now with Valerie Morris -- good morning.
VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi again, Carol and Bill and Jack.
Now in the news, at least two U.S. soldiers have been killed in a car bombing in Baghdad. The fatalities happened in one of three suicide car bombings in the area in the past 24 hours. The attacks apparently targeting Americans and Iraqi forces. The nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is on hold. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee delaying a scheduled vote Tuesday. The panel is scheduled to meet again next month. Bolton may be asked to come back for some additional testimony.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Moscow this morning, laying the groundwork for President Bush's visit there next month. Secretary Rice is meeting with Russia's foreign minister. She'll speak with President Vladimir Putin later today. And topping today's agenda, Russia's democratic development.
And it's football's turn. The congressional panel looking into the use of steroids in baseball is now going after the National Football League. The House Government Reform Committee has scheduled a hearing for next week. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is among those invited to testify.
That's the very latest news -- back to both of you.
HEMMER: And the NFL made a whole lot of cash this past week, too.
MORRIS: Didn't they, though? Ka ching many times.
HEMMER: Wow!
Ka ching, right.
Thank you, Valerie.
MORRIS: Sure.
HEMMER: The new pope is Benedict XVI. Outlining his path earlier today in his first mass as pontiff, he promised to follow the policies of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. The former cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger, says his primary task is to unify all Christians. He also says he wants to open a sincere dialogue with other religions, like his predecessor, as well.
John Allen is CNN's Vatican analyst.
He's also written a book called "Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith" -- John, hello from the Vatican.
JOHN ALLEN, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Hi, Bill.
How are you?
HEMMER: I'm doing just fine.
I know you've been working so many hours here.
You were listening earlier today for the mass.
Was there any message that you heard in here that was surprising or different, that perhaps you did not anticipate, being his biographer?
ALLEN: Well, it's not so much that I didn't anticipate. I mean I knew that Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, is nobody's fool. Obviously he is aware that his public reputation over the last 24 years as the Vatican's top doctrinal official has left some divisions in its wake. And I anticipated that he would want to use this first public platform to try to reassure people about where he intended to go.
But having said all that, I think some of the specific language that he chose -- and, of course, you just referred to a great deal of it -- the idea of dialogue, the idea of openness to other Christian churches and other religions. And he also talked about wanting to involve bishops and others in the decision-making here in Rome.
I mean, I think for all those who have a fear that this is going to be a kind of authoritarian, enclosed papacy, you know, his message this morning was you may be in for a surprise.
HEMMER: Yes. He's 78. He turned that this past weekend.
How is his health, John?
ALLEN: Basically it's OK. He did have a hemorrhage back in the early '90s which laid him down for a while, but he recovered from it. About two years ago, he was -- experienced some fatigue, but appears to have picked up from that. Everyone who has worked with him and seen him in recent months, including myself, would say that he appears to be in basically good health.
But, on the other hand, Bill, let's not kid ourselves. At 78 years of age, it is unlikely we are going to see another 26 year pontificate from Pope Benedict XVI. And, in fact, Ratzinger himself, when he explained inside the conclave to the cardinals the logic for taking the name Benedict XVI, he mentioned several different points. But one of the things he alluded to is the fact that Benedict XV, the last pope to have that name, had one of the shortest pontificates of the 20th century.
So I think he has a very keen sense that this may not be a very long pontificate and there's an awful lot to do.
HEMMER: Yes.
What does that suggest to you, within the College of Cardinals? One of the shortest conclaves ever, for that matter.
ALLEN: Well, Bill, here I don't think we have to do a whole lot of tea leave reading. I think it's quite obvious that Ratzinger went in with a large base of support and it continued to climb. And nobody else came along as a credible contender.
Now, in talking with several cardinals this morning -- and, of course, you remember, Bill, their press blackout is now lifted and so they can talk to us again. In speaking to several of them, they seemed to make the point that basically the logic of this election boils down to two points.
One, they were talking all along about secularism as an issue. That is, how does the church engage with this heavily secularized, almost post-Christian culture in the developed West? Well, Joseph Ratzinger is a man who has spent more time studying the Western intellectual tradition than anyone else on the public stage in the Catholic Church.
Secondly, he towered over this interregnum from the death of Pope John Paul II to his own election as supreme pontiff. He led those daily general congregation meetings every day when the cardinals got together. He presided at the funeral mass. He presided at the final mass before they went into the conclave. And most of the cardinals I've talked to thought he did a masterful job.
You put those two things together and it's not hard to figure out why Joseph Ratzinger today is Pope Benedict XVI.
HEMMER: Are you suggesting the past week got him this job?
ALLEN: Well, no. I mean, I think, you know, had he been a nobody prior to the past week, had he never written a book, given a lecture or had a conversation with another cardinal, it's unlikely the events of the past week by themselves would have put him over the top.
HEMMER: OK.
ALLEN: What I am suggesting is that that previous logic, that he is the man to deal with secularism, combined with the fact that any doubts cardinals may have had about him were reassured during this week, I think that's the thing that engineered his candidacy.
HEMMER: John, thanks.
We'll talk again.
John Allen from the Vatican there.
Also, the new pope's brother thinks that the job is too much for a 78-year-old man. Those comments, however, were made before the election on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORG RATZINGER, POPE BENEDICT XVI'S BROTHER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Let me put it this way, I am convinced that he will be spared. I don't think -- I am convinced my brother will be spared from this (INAUDIBLE). At age 78, it's not good to take on such a job, which challenges the entire person and the physical and mental existence. At an age when you approach 80, it's no longer guaranteed that one is able to work and get up the next day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The two of them met in the seminary together back in the 1940s. A CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll sampling American Catholics about the pope's age. Seventy-two percent say it did not bother them -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
The former Cardinal Ratzinger gained his hard line image while he was the right hand man to Pope John Paul II. But how much of that hardliner will we see now that he's become pope?
The archbishop of San Francisco, William Joseph Levada, worked closely with the former Cardinal Ratzinger at the Vatican.
Archbishop Levada is in San Francisco this morning and he joins us live.
Good morning, sir.
WILLIAM LEVADA, ARCHBISHOP OF SAN FRANCISCO: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Cardinal Ratzinger's first words as pope, he describes himself as a simple, humble worker in god's vineyard. But many describe him differently. They describe him as deeply intellectual and unyielding. You know him well.
Which is more accurate?
LEVADA: Well, he certainly is intellectually qualified. He's a wonderful theologian. But he's also a very kind and gracious man. Anybody who knows him, meets with him on any regular basis, would be able to tell you that.
COSTELLO: I hear your words, but some definitely would disagree with you, since his role in the church was to defend the Catholic faith. His nickname is God's Rottweiler.
With his past, how will he be able to reach out to those who have strayed?
LEVADA: Well, certainly he's -- his work has been that of preserving, handing on the tradition that comes to us from the scriptures. We believe that it's an important work. I think he's done it very well. Apparently the cardinals also agreed that he was the man to lead us for the future as our new pope, Benedict XVI.
I think he'll be a wonderful pope. I really am delighted.
COSTELLO: But here's the thing. Catholic women, some Catholic women, Cardinal Ratzinger, now pope, he's come out against feminism, birth control, against women having powerful roles in the church.
If I'm Catholic and a female, what does he offer me?
LEVADA: Well, he offers you a fellow Christian believer, one who is a discipline of Jesus Christ, tries to follow that as best he can and as best we all should. So I know many women who think he's a wonderful person and I think they'll find he's a good pope.
COSTELLO: That he chose the name he did, of a moderate pope from the past, does that say anything about how he will, that he, too, will change and become less conservative, perhaps?
LEVADA: Well, maybe. I mean I, for me, conservative isn't a bad word, so I'm not too keen on having him change his colors, his spots. But I do think that having chosen this name of Benedict -- I heard the earlier report about the comparison with Benedict XV. My thoughts went immediately to Saint Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism and a great figure in the first millennium of Christianity.
So I'm sure he has his reasons that he'll be able to explain to us as the days of this papacy move along.
COSTELLO: Is it safe to assume there will be no change in church doctrine as it applies to birth control for women or women in more powerful roles within the church?
LEVADA: Well, of course, it's hard to play the prophet on these things. When you're talking about women's roles and more powerful roles, I think that people in charge of dioceses and I think even at the Vatican, will look for opportunities for women to serve at high levels. I don't expect to see any change in the question of the ordination of women.
COSTELLO: Archbishop of San Francisco, William Levada.
Thank you for joining AMERICAN MORNING this morning.
LEVADA: It's good to be with you.
HEMMER: Catholics around the world celebrating, reacting to the election of Pope Benedict XVI. But in the church's fastest growing flock, there is some disappointment. A closer look at that angle, in a moment -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Also, re-inventing the food pyramid. The government comes out with new guidelines on what you should be eating. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" to sort it all out.
HEMMER: And legendary CEO Jack Welch sharing his secrets of success with us today. How some life changing events affected his outlook on winning, and that's what the book is all about. Jack Welch our guest in a moment, when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Jack Welch's name has become synonymous with success. He led General Electric as chairman and CEO for 10 years and during that time the company's stock value increased by billions of dollars. And today Welch advises CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. He's also out with a book. His business knowledge into a new book called "Winning."
And Jack Welch is my guest here in our studios in New York.
Nice to see you again.
JACK WELCH, AUTHOR, "WINNING," FORMER CHAIRMAN/CEO OF G.E.: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Good morning.
Let me go ahead and pick through some of this stuff.
You say candor is the biggest little dirty secret in business.
How so?
WELCH: People just don't, don't just say it like it is. How many people really know where they stand at the workplace? And I think that letting people know what they're doing well and how they can improve is a critical element of managing and it just doesn't live out there.
HEMMER: Is that part of winning? Is that what comes under that category?
WELCH: Absolutely. You move faster. You build better teams. All those things are results of candor.
HEMMER: Yes.
As you go through this book, too, you've had some life changing events.
WELCH: Yes.
HEMMER: I am told that you're a softer former CEO now, maybe a more gentle CEO now.
WELCH: I don't think so. I don't think anything has changed. I don't play golf. I had a back surgery. I don't think I've changed personally. I think I'm still a tough-minded and compassionate guy.
HEMMER: You went through some health issues, too. A heart attack.
WELCH: Ten years ago, yes.
HEMMER: Yes, and you also came through a tough marriage...
WELCH: A tough marriage.
HEMMER: ... that was played out publicly, as well.
WELCH: Yes.
HEMMER: A public divorce.
Did that change you in any way?
WELCH: Not that I know of. I'll have to go look in the mirror. But I think I'm the same person. It's no fun to go through those things, as you might imagine. But you always come out the other side better for it.
HEMMER: Yes.
So you went from golf to pilates? That's a change.
WELCH: Yes, that's a hell of a change.
HEMMER: Yes. You see where I'm going with on this now?
WELCH: Yes, but that isn't softer, that's just trying to be able to get around. I mean when your kiss goes, it's a pain in the neck.
HEMMER: A couple of things here.
You say come up with a big aha.
WELCH: Yes.
HEMMER: That's what you talk about in your book.
What is a big aha? Is that a light bulb or more than that?
WELCH: It's a light bulb going off for an idea to start something. Let's take strategy. Gurus come out with big books, talk about it forever. And O'Hara's, a pizza joint down the street from us in Boston, it's packed all day, upper crust pizza, one bench. You go in there, they've got the best. What's their strategy? Great sauce.
You've got a drugstore competing with big drugstores in the area. All they do is deliver in 45 minutes. Great people. They stock everything. They killed the big chain store right next to them with service.
I saw a guy in Atlanta this week who started a company three years ago. He took it to $100 million in three years cleaning, deicing airplanes. A crappy industry. He goes, starts an industry and builds a great business fast.
HEMMER: Well, that's interesting.
WELCH: He had the heart.
HEMMER: You say put the right people in the right jobs. And we hear this consistently.
How did you do it?
WELCH: By candor. Appraising people, telling them where they stand, what they have to do to improve. And then, look, the business team, business is like sports -- the team that fields the best players wins. And that's why you've got to do it. You can't carry dead weight.
HEMMER: Seek out the best practices. What does that mean?
WELCH: Go everywhere for an idea. If you've got an idea here, "The Today Show" ought to be looking at it and taking it, or "Good Morning America" should. Back and forth with ideas, always looking for a best practice, who can come up with the best practice and take it and be open to ideas from everywhere.
HEMMER: Yes, a final thing here.
Who is this book for? Is this for a CEO?
WELCH: It's for every...
HEMMER: Is this for somebody working in a mailroom?
WELCH: It's for anybody in business. It's anybody graduating from college. It's the perfect graduation thing. It's a Father's Day thing. It's everything to do with advice. It's not for CEOs. There's a couple of chapters...
(CROSSTALK)
WELCH: ... it's for how to get a job, how to get promoted, all about that damn boss. There's a chapter on that. If you've got a lousy boss, what do you do? It's all the practical things of life, Bill.
HEMMER: Yes.
WELCH: Thanks a lot.
HEMMER: Nice to see you.
WELCH: Thank you.
Thanks a lot for having me.
HEMMER: Jack Welch.
WELCH: Good to see you.
HEMMER: You've got it.
The book is called "Winning."
Nice to see you, too.
Here's Carol again -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Bill.
The faithful flock to what some say is a miracle under a highway. Is it a holy phenomenon or something a whole lot simpler? Take a look at that image on the wall.
We'll have more just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is time to check in with Jack and the Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Carol.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger would probably not have been the first choice for pope from many of America's Catholics. Pope Benedict XVI spent the past quarter century as a Vatican conservative, a staunch defender of traditional church doctrine and a fierce opponent of liberalism or modernism, as it's called. America's so-called cafeteria Catholics probably would be disappointed. It's unlikely that this man will yield on women priests, gay rights, birth control and other traditional issues.
So the question this morning is this -- what does the new pope have to do to unite the Catholic Church?
An Episcopal priest, Reverend Eric in Medina, Ohio, writes: "There's nothing the new pope can do to unite the church. The unity of the church depends on tolerance and flexibility around a core of belief. Tolerance and flexibility are not the hallmarks of Benedict XVI, who, for years, has confused uniformity with unity."
Betty Anne in Freehold, New Jersey: "I'm not sure what responsibility should be put solely on the pope. We as Catholics have a responsibility to the church, to follow doctrine. No one promised us an easy path to eternal life."
Cheryl in Michigan writes: "Teach the truth. Eternal truth does not change. Jesus didn't qualify or amend his teachings to please the critics of his time. They were free to accept or reject what he taught. That's why they crucified him."
And Michael in Virginia writes two words: "Communion Margaritas."
COSTELLO: That would surely unite everyone.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Everybody has an idea of how to get this done.
COSTELLO: I just -- I was sitting with a group of Catholic women, by the way, when the announcement of the new pope came and you should have seen their faces -- crestfallen.
CAFFERTY: Really?
COSTELLO: Really.
HEMMER: Is that so? Who were they hoping for?
COSTELLO: Someone other than Cardinal Ratzinger.
CAFFERTY: Yes. COSTELLO: Because they know he's conservative. They know there will be no change. The birth control rules will not change. Nothing will change. It'll be the same. And there'll be the same split in Catholic women as there always has been.
CAFFERTY: Well, you know, but the church's position on this stuff is this is what Jesus taught on this Earth 2,000 years ago.
HEMMER: Right. It's like take it or leave it.
CAFFERTY: These are his laws, his rules of living. If you don't choose to live by them, that's your choice.
COSTELLO: So Jesus said no birth control?
CAFFERTY: But that -- but you don't go around changing...
COSTELLO: I don't remember that in the bible.
CAFFERTY: You don't go around changing the doctrine of a 2,000- year-old church to accommodate a bunch of 21st century middle class American women. That's the church's position. I'm not saying whether it's right or wrong. But that's the way they come at it.
COSTELLO: Oh, because I was ready for this. I (INAUDIBLE) let's go outside.
HEMMER: It's almost as if some people are saying, too, let's have a smaller church as opposed to including everyone...
CAFFERTY: No.
HEMMER: ... with all these various viewpoints. This is what we...
CAFFERTY: Or go find a church that allows you to do this stuff. I mean there's a lot of churches out there. Go to California. There's a church on every corner. You can find one that'll allow anything.
COSTELLO: That's just cold, Jack.
CAFFERTY: But it's true. You don't like what this church teaches, go find one that has teachings that appeal to you.
COSTELLO: So you don't stay around and fight for your beliefs? You don't stay around and try to evoke change? That's wrong?
CAFFERTY: You can do whatever you want, but I'm...
COSTELLO: That makes you a bad person?
CAFFERTY: No, I'm not saying that. But I'm suggesting that it's an uphill fight and you're probably not going to win it. So if you can't...
COSTELLO: Not with this pope.
CAFFERTY: ... if you can't stand defeat, then go find someplace that's more practical.
HEMMER: I'll tell you, I also wonder if these cardinals, had they gone in a different direction, are they taking a bigger risk with the church coming off of 26 years of Pope John Paul II, the nod to him, the admiration they have for him and the service he has done?
CAFFERTY: Yes, but the other thing is...
HEMMER: This was -- they did not go out on a limb in any way.
COSTELLO: No.
CAFFERTY: John Paul II achieved some of the greatest growth in Catholicism in the last 100 years of the church in places like Africa and South America.
HEMMER: True.
CAFFERTY: He had a very positive impact on the membership rolls of the Catholic Church.
HEMMER: And, but the reverse is true in Central Europe, places like (INAUDIBLE)...
CAFFERTY: Do you know how tired people watching this show...
COSTELLO: And in the United States.
CAFFERTY: ... are of listening to us talk about this stuff?
HEMMER: We'll find out.
CAFFERTY: I bet they're just, their teeth are hurting.
COSTELLO: So we'll move it along.
Good work, Jack.
In a moment, say good-bye to the old food pyramid and say hello to the new one. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" about the new guidelines on what you should be eating. That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired April 20, 2005 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
And a promise this morning from the new pope. In his first mass as leader of the Catholic Church, Benedict XVI saying he will work to unify all Christians.
Meanwhile in Washington, a setback for the president coming from a Republican, as a key nomination suddenly running into trouble.
And slicing up that old food pyramid. New colors and new lines and maybe some new confusion, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning, everybody.
We are holding it together here.
I'm Bill Hemmer.
Soledad is off today.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: She is, indeed.
I'm Carol Costello.
HEMMER: In a moment here, a lot to talk about, too, with the new pope. Our Vatican analyst, John Allen, with us again today, looking at what this pontificate will bring. We'll also get more on this mixed message around the world and also what we're hearing from Europe today. So we'll get to that.
COSTELLO: Pretty controversial stuff. It's interesting.
Also, former G.E. Chairman Jack Welch is with us. His new book is called "Winning," and he says he can teach anyone how to do that, not just on their job, but in their life. And I'm going to be listening closely.
HEMMER: We all will.
What's up -- Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's my former boss, you know? I worked for him for 13 years or more.
HEMMER: Good enough.
COSTELLO: Do you have any choice words?
CAFFERTY: I like him.
COSTELLO: Oh?
CAFFERTY: Yes. He's a good guy.
Coming up in "The Cafferty File," it's Wednesday, time for "Things People Say." Lisa Marie Presley talking about being sucked in by Michael Jackson, which, for some reason, is a rather unpleasant thing to conjure.
A 911 dispatcher in Texas offers to come over and shoot a child.
And a rock band that proudly proclaims their bellybuttons are not pretty.
COSTELLO: Just the image of that kind of makes me nauseas.
CAFFERTY: Which one, the bellybuttons or the?
COSTELLO: Well, actually, all of it.
CAFFERTY: Well, that's why I'm here, Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand.
HEMMER: That's right, keep the air running.
CAFFERTY: Is the government -- is this the government's food pyramid thing you were teasing?
HEMMER: I know it's not yours.
CAFFERTY: I mean don't they have anything else to do?
HEMMER: Well, you know, there's that.
CAFFERTY: The diet they feed us is not anywhere in that food pyramid. It's found in the barnyard.
COSTELLO: Oh, man, we'll talk about that later.
Let's check the headlines now with Valerie Morris -- good morning.
VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi again, Carol and Bill and Jack.
Now in the news, at least two U.S. soldiers have been killed in a car bombing in Baghdad. The fatalities happened in one of three suicide car bombings in the area in the past 24 hours. The attacks apparently targeting Americans and Iraqi forces. The nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is on hold. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee delaying a scheduled vote Tuesday. The panel is scheduled to meet again next month. Bolton may be asked to come back for some additional testimony.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Moscow this morning, laying the groundwork for President Bush's visit there next month. Secretary Rice is meeting with Russia's foreign minister. She'll speak with President Vladimir Putin later today. And topping today's agenda, Russia's democratic development.
And it's football's turn. The congressional panel looking into the use of steroids in baseball is now going after the National Football League. The House Government Reform Committee has scheduled a hearing for next week. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is among those invited to testify.
That's the very latest news -- back to both of you.
HEMMER: And the NFL made a whole lot of cash this past week, too.
MORRIS: Didn't they, though? Ka ching many times.
HEMMER: Wow!
Ka ching, right.
Thank you, Valerie.
MORRIS: Sure.
HEMMER: The new pope is Benedict XVI. Outlining his path earlier today in his first mass as pontiff, he promised to follow the policies of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. The former cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger, says his primary task is to unify all Christians. He also says he wants to open a sincere dialogue with other religions, like his predecessor, as well.
John Allen is CNN's Vatican analyst.
He's also written a book called "Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith" -- John, hello from the Vatican.
JOHN ALLEN, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Hi, Bill.
How are you?
HEMMER: I'm doing just fine.
I know you've been working so many hours here.
You were listening earlier today for the mass.
Was there any message that you heard in here that was surprising or different, that perhaps you did not anticipate, being his biographer?
ALLEN: Well, it's not so much that I didn't anticipate. I mean I knew that Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, is nobody's fool. Obviously he is aware that his public reputation over the last 24 years as the Vatican's top doctrinal official has left some divisions in its wake. And I anticipated that he would want to use this first public platform to try to reassure people about where he intended to go.
But having said all that, I think some of the specific language that he chose -- and, of course, you just referred to a great deal of it -- the idea of dialogue, the idea of openness to other Christian churches and other religions. And he also talked about wanting to involve bishops and others in the decision-making here in Rome.
I mean, I think for all those who have a fear that this is going to be a kind of authoritarian, enclosed papacy, you know, his message this morning was you may be in for a surprise.
HEMMER: Yes. He's 78. He turned that this past weekend.
How is his health, John?
ALLEN: Basically it's OK. He did have a hemorrhage back in the early '90s which laid him down for a while, but he recovered from it. About two years ago, he was -- experienced some fatigue, but appears to have picked up from that. Everyone who has worked with him and seen him in recent months, including myself, would say that he appears to be in basically good health.
But, on the other hand, Bill, let's not kid ourselves. At 78 years of age, it is unlikely we are going to see another 26 year pontificate from Pope Benedict XVI. And, in fact, Ratzinger himself, when he explained inside the conclave to the cardinals the logic for taking the name Benedict XVI, he mentioned several different points. But one of the things he alluded to is the fact that Benedict XV, the last pope to have that name, had one of the shortest pontificates of the 20th century.
So I think he has a very keen sense that this may not be a very long pontificate and there's an awful lot to do.
HEMMER: Yes.
What does that suggest to you, within the College of Cardinals? One of the shortest conclaves ever, for that matter.
ALLEN: Well, Bill, here I don't think we have to do a whole lot of tea leave reading. I think it's quite obvious that Ratzinger went in with a large base of support and it continued to climb. And nobody else came along as a credible contender.
Now, in talking with several cardinals this morning -- and, of course, you remember, Bill, their press blackout is now lifted and so they can talk to us again. In speaking to several of them, they seemed to make the point that basically the logic of this election boils down to two points.
One, they were talking all along about secularism as an issue. That is, how does the church engage with this heavily secularized, almost post-Christian culture in the developed West? Well, Joseph Ratzinger is a man who has spent more time studying the Western intellectual tradition than anyone else on the public stage in the Catholic Church.
Secondly, he towered over this interregnum from the death of Pope John Paul II to his own election as supreme pontiff. He led those daily general congregation meetings every day when the cardinals got together. He presided at the funeral mass. He presided at the final mass before they went into the conclave. And most of the cardinals I've talked to thought he did a masterful job.
You put those two things together and it's not hard to figure out why Joseph Ratzinger today is Pope Benedict XVI.
HEMMER: Are you suggesting the past week got him this job?
ALLEN: Well, no. I mean, I think, you know, had he been a nobody prior to the past week, had he never written a book, given a lecture or had a conversation with another cardinal, it's unlikely the events of the past week by themselves would have put him over the top.
HEMMER: OK.
ALLEN: What I am suggesting is that that previous logic, that he is the man to deal with secularism, combined with the fact that any doubts cardinals may have had about him were reassured during this week, I think that's the thing that engineered his candidacy.
HEMMER: John, thanks.
We'll talk again.
John Allen from the Vatican there.
Also, the new pope's brother thinks that the job is too much for a 78-year-old man. Those comments, however, were made before the election on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORG RATZINGER, POPE BENEDICT XVI'S BROTHER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Let me put it this way, I am convinced that he will be spared. I don't think -- I am convinced my brother will be spared from this (INAUDIBLE). At age 78, it's not good to take on such a job, which challenges the entire person and the physical and mental existence. At an age when you approach 80, it's no longer guaranteed that one is able to work and get up the next day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The two of them met in the seminary together back in the 1940s. A CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll sampling American Catholics about the pope's age. Seventy-two percent say it did not bother them -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
The former Cardinal Ratzinger gained his hard line image while he was the right hand man to Pope John Paul II. But how much of that hardliner will we see now that he's become pope?
The archbishop of San Francisco, William Joseph Levada, worked closely with the former Cardinal Ratzinger at the Vatican.
Archbishop Levada is in San Francisco this morning and he joins us live.
Good morning, sir.
WILLIAM LEVADA, ARCHBISHOP OF SAN FRANCISCO: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Cardinal Ratzinger's first words as pope, he describes himself as a simple, humble worker in god's vineyard. But many describe him differently. They describe him as deeply intellectual and unyielding. You know him well.
Which is more accurate?
LEVADA: Well, he certainly is intellectually qualified. He's a wonderful theologian. But he's also a very kind and gracious man. Anybody who knows him, meets with him on any regular basis, would be able to tell you that.
COSTELLO: I hear your words, but some definitely would disagree with you, since his role in the church was to defend the Catholic faith. His nickname is God's Rottweiler.
With his past, how will he be able to reach out to those who have strayed?
LEVADA: Well, certainly he's -- his work has been that of preserving, handing on the tradition that comes to us from the scriptures. We believe that it's an important work. I think he's done it very well. Apparently the cardinals also agreed that he was the man to lead us for the future as our new pope, Benedict XVI.
I think he'll be a wonderful pope. I really am delighted.
COSTELLO: But here's the thing. Catholic women, some Catholic women, Cardinal Ratzinger, now pope, he's come out against feminism, birth control, against women having powerful roles in the church.
If I'm Catholic and a female, what does he offer me?
LEVADA: Well, he offers you a fellow Christian believer, one who is a discipline of Jesus Christ, tries to follow that as best he can and as best we all should. So I know many women who think he's a wonderful person and I think they'll find he's a good pope.
COSTELLO: That he chose the name he did, of a moderate pope from the past, does that say anything about how he will, that he, too, will change and become less conservative, perhaps?
LEVADA: Well, maybe. I mean I, for me, conservative isn't a bad word, so I'm not too keen on having him change his colors, his spots. But I do think that having chosen this name of Benedict -- I heard the earlier report about the comparison with Benedict XV. My thoughts went immediately to Saint Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism and a great figure in the first millennium of Christianity.
So I'm sure he has his reasons that he'll be able to explain to us as the days of this papacy move along.
COSTELLO: Is it safe to assume there will be no change in church doctrine as it applies to birth control for women or women in more powerful roles within the church?
LEVADA: Well, of course, it's hard to play the prophet on these things. When you're talking about women's roles and more powerful roles, I think that people in charge of dioceses and I think even at the Vatican, will look for opportunities for women to serve at high levels. I don't expect to see any change in the question of the ordination of women.
COSTELLO: Archbishop of San Francisco, William Levada.
Thank you for joining AMERICAN MORNING this morning.
LEVADA: It's good to be with you.
HEMMER: Catholics around the world celebrating, reacting to the election of Pope Benedict XVI. But in the church's fastest growing flock, there is some disappointment. A closer look at that angle, in a moment -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Also, re-inventing the food pyramid. The government comes out with new guidelines on what you should be eating. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" to sort it all out.
HEMMER: And legendary CEO Jack Welch sharing his secrets of success with us today. How some life changing events affected his outlook on winning, and that's what the book is all about. Jack Welch our guest in a moment, when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Jack Welch's name has become synonymous with success. He led General Electric as chairman and CEO for 10 years and during that time the company's stock value increased by billions of dollars. And today Welch advises CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. He's also out with a book. His business knowledge into a new book called "Winning."
And Jack Welch is my guest here in our studios in New York.
Nice to see you again.
JACK WELCH, AUTHOR, "WINNING," FORMER CHAIRMAN/CEO OF G.E.: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Good morning.
Let me go ahead and pick through some of this stuff.
You say candor is the biggest little dirty secret in business.
How so?
WELCH: People just don't, don't just say it like it is. How many people really know where they stand at the workplace? And I think that letting people know what they're doing well and how they can improve is a critical element of managing and it just doesn't live out there.
HEMMER: Is that part of winning? Is that what comes under that category?
WELCH: Absolutely. You move faster. You build better teams. All those things are results of candor.
HEMMER: Yes.
As you go through this book, too, you've had some life changing events.
WELCH: Yes.
HEMMER: I am told that you're a softer former CEO now, maybe a more gentle CEO now.
WELCH: I don't think so. I don't think anything has changed. I don't play golf. I had a back surgery. I don't think I've changed personally. I think I'm still a tough-minded and compassionate guy.
HEMMER: You went through some health issues, too. A heart attack.
WELCH: Ten years ago, yes.
HEMMER: Yes, and you also came through a tough marriage...
WELCH: A tough marriage.
HEMMER: ... that was played out publicly, as well.
WELCH: Yes.
HEMMER: A public divorce.
Did that change you in any way?
WELCH: Not that I know of. I'll have to go look in the mirror. But I think I'm the same person. It's no fun to go through those things, as you might imagine. But you always come out the other side better for it.
HEMMER: Yes.
So you went from golf to pilates? That's a change.
WELCH: Yes, that's a hell of a change.
HEMMER: Yes. You see where I'm going with on this now?
WELCH: Yes, but that isn't softer, that's just trying to be able to get around. I mean when your kiss goes, it's a pain in the neck.
HEMMER: A couple of things here.
You say come up with a big aha.
WELCH: Yes.
HEMMER: That's what you talk about in your book.
What is a big aha? Is that a light bulb or more than that?
WELCH: It's a light bulb going off for an idea to start something. Let's take strategy. Gurus come out with big books, talk about it forever. And O'Hara's, a pizza joint down the street from us in Boston, it's packed all day, upper crust pizza, one bench. You go in there, they've got the best. What's their strategy? Great sauce.
You've got a drugstore competing with big drugstores in the area. All they do is deliver in 45 minutes. Great people. They stock everything. They killed the big chain store right next to them with service.
I saw a guy in Atlanta this week who started a company three years ago. He took it to $100 million in three years cleaning, deicing airplanes. A crappy industry. He goes, starts an industry and builds a great business fast.
HEMMER: Well, that's interesting.
WELCH: He had the heart.
HEMMER: You say put the right people in the right jobs. And we hear this consistently.
How did you do it?
WELCH: By candor. Appraising people, telling them where they stand, what they have to do to improve. And then, look, the business team, business is like sports -- the team that fields the best players wins. And that's why you've got to do it. You can't carry dead weight.
HEMMER: Seek out the best practices. What does that mean?
WELCH: Go everywhere for an idea. If you've got an idea here, "The Today Show" ought to be looking at it and taking it, or "Good Morning America" should. Back and forth with ideas, always looking for a best practice, who can come up with the best practice and take it and be open to ideas from everywhere.
HEMMER: Yes, a final thing here.
Who is this book for? Is this for a CEO?
WELCH: It's for every...
HEMMER: Is this for somebody working in a mailroom?
WELCH: It's for anybody in business. It's anybody graduating from college. It's the perfect graduation thing. It's a Father's Day thing. It's everything to do with advice. It's not for CEOs. There's a couple of chapters...
(CROSSTALK)
WELCH: ... it's for how to get a job, how to get promoted, all about that damn boss. There's a chapter on that. If you've got a lousy boss, what do you do? It's all the practical things of life, Bill.
HEMMER: Yes.
WELCH: Thanks a lot.
HEMMER: Nice to see you.
WELCH: Thank you.
Thanks a lot for having me.
HEMMER: Jack Welch.
WELCH: Good to see you.
HEMMER: You've got it.
The book is called "Winning."
Nice to see you, too.
Here's Carol again -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Bill.
The faithful flock to what some say is a miracle under a highway. Is it a holy phenomenon or something a whole lot simpler? Take a look at that image on the wall.
We'll have more just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is time to check in with Jack and the Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Carol.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger would probably not have been the first choice for pope from many of America's Catholics. Pope Benedict XVI spent the past quarter century as a Vatican conservative, a staunch defender of traditional church doctrine and a fierce opponent of liberalism or modernism, as it's called. America's so-called cafeteria Catholics probably would be disappointed. It's unlikely that this man will yield on women priests, gay rights, birth control and other traditional issues.
So the question this morning is this -- what does the new pope have to do to unite the Catholic Church?
An Episcopal priest, Reverend Eric in Medina, Ohio, writes: "There's nothing the new pope can do to unite the church. The unity of the church depends on tolerance and flexibility around a core of belief. Tolerance and flexibility are not the hallmarks of Benedict XVI, who, for years, has confused uniformity with unity."
Betty Anne in Freehold, New Jersey: "I'm not sure what responsibility should be put solely on the pope. We as Catholics have a responsibility to the church, to follow doctrine. No one promised us an easy path to eternal life."
Cheryl in Michigan writes: "Teach the truth. Eternal truth does not change. Jesus didn't qualify or amend his teachings to please the critics of his time. They were free to accept or reject what he taught. That's why they crucified him."
And Michael in Virginia writes two words: "Communion Margaritas."
COSTELLO: That would surely unite everyone.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Everybody has an idea of how to get this done.
COSTELLO: I just -- I was sitting with a group of Catholic women, by the way, when the announcement of the new pope came and you should have seen their faces -- crestfallen.
CAFFERTY: Really?
COSTELLO: Really.
HEMMER: Is that so? Who were they hoping for?
COSTELLO: Someone other than Cardinal Ratzinger.
CAFFERTY: Yes. COSTELLO: Because they know he's conservative. They know there will be no change. The birth control rules will not change. Nothing will change. It'll be the same. And there'll be the same split in Catholic women as there always has been.
CAFFERTY: Well, you know, but the church's position on this stuff is this is what Jesus taught on this Earth 2,000 years ago.
HEMMER: Right. It's like take it or leave it.
CAFFERTY: These are his laws, his rules of living. If you don't choose to live by them, that's your choice.
COSTELLO: So Jesus said no birth control?
CAFFERTY: But that -- but you don't go around changing...
COSTELLO: I don't remember that in the bible.
CAFFERTY: You don't go around changing the doctrine of a 2,000- year-old church to accommodate a bunch of 21st century middle class American women. That's the church's position. I'm not saying whether it's right or wrong. But that's the way they come at it.
COSTELLO: Oh, because I was ready for this. I (INAUDIBLE) let's go outside.
HEMMER: It's almost as if some people are saying, too, let's have a smaller church as opposed to including everyone...
CAFFERTY: No.
HEMMER: ... with all these various viewpoints. This is what we...
CAFFERTY: Or go find a church that allows you to do this stuff. I mean there's a lot of churches out there. Go to California. There's a church on every corner. You can find one that'll allow anything.
COSTELLO: That's just cold, Jack.
CAFFERTY: But it's true. You don't like what this church teaches, go find one that has teachings that appeal to you.
COSTELLO: So you don't stay around and fight for your beliefs? You don't stay around and try to evoke change? That's wrong?
CAFFERTY: You can do whatever you want, but I'm...
COSTELLO: That makes you a bad person?
CAFFERTY: No, I'm not saying that. But I'm suggesting that it's an uphill fight and you're probably not going to win it. So if you can't...
COSTELLO: Not with this pope.
CAFFERTY: ... if you can't stand defeat, then go find someplace that's more practical.
HEMMER: I'll tell you, I also wonder if these cardinals, had they gone in a different direction, are they taking a bigger risk with the church coming off of 26 years of Pope John Paul II, the nod to him, the admiration they have for him and the service he has done?
CAFFERTY: Yes, but the other thing is...
HEMMER: This was -- they did not go out on a limb in any way.
COSTELLO: No.
CAFFERTY: John Paul II achieved some of the greatest growth in Catholicism in the last 100 years of the church in places like Africa and South America.
HEMMER: True.
CAFFERTY: He had a very positive impact on the membership rolls of the Catholic Church.
HEMMER: And, but the reverse is true in Central Europe, places like (INAUDIBLE)...
CAFFERTY: Do you know how tired people watching this show...
COSTELLO: And in the United States.
CAFFERTY: ... are of listening to us talk about this stuff?
HEMMER: We'll find out.
CAFFERTY: I bet they're just, their teeth are hurting.
COSTELLO: So we'll move it along.
Good work, Jack.
In a moment, say good-bye to the old food pyramid and say hello to the new one. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" about the new guidelines on what you should be eating. That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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