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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Pontiff At Prayer Service. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired September 23, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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


[12:00:00] (PRAYER SERVICE VIDEO)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield with your coverage. I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN's special live coverage of the first full day of Pope Francis' first visit to the United States. And we are minutes away from the next big event on the pope's jam-packed schedule. A prayer service with American bishops at the cathedral of St. Matthew the apostle. It is just a few blocks north of the White House. This is the mother church of the archdiocese of Washington, named for the patron saint of civil servants. Pope John Paul II, now Saint John Paul II, celebrated mass here in 1979. President Kennedy's funeral mass took place here in 1963.

And if you tuned in this morning, or if you happened to be among the 11,000 specially selected, vetted and ticketed guests, you saw what has to have been the biggest and grandest welcome ever afforded to someone arriving in a Fiat. The pontiff, known for humility, was given all of the pageantry the White House has to off, during which he and President Obama addressed the crowd in English. English. A language that his holiness is not entirely comfortable speaking. Some in Washington may not have been entirely comfortable with some of what was spoken. Listen carefully.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS: Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution. Accepting - accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem we can no longer be left to our future generation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: For his part, the president, President Obama, touching on some sensitive topics as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You remind us that the Lord's most powerful message is mercy. That means welcoming the stranger with empathy and a truly open heart. From the refugee who flees war-torn lands, to the immigrant who leaves home in search of a better life.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BANFIELD: A meeting in the Oval Office followed this. And then, running just a bit behind schedule, a Popemobile spin around the ellipse. You may well have friends or family or coworkers or neighbors who were in this crowd. And I assure you, this is one of the biggest days of their lives. It was just a remarkable scene. True the form, the pope kissed and blessed children whom local police who lined the route sometimes attempted to keep away, but take a look at your screen on the right. The pope's own security detail knew all too well what to do with those children. Up they went, a kissing and a blessing and back they went to find their parents in those crowds. Look at this. A little baby brought over by the pope's people for the pope to bless, and then safely returned to their parents. Really just an incredible scene to witness. Even if you were watching on television, imagine what it would have been like had you been there.

So what we're watching now live in Washington, D.C., is the pope in front of about 300 U.S. bishops who have assembled for a mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral. This will be a prayer service that he will preside over. And there's the wider shot of the cathedral. This is - this is a stunning site. A beautiful facility for this to take place.

[12:05:16] And our Jim Sciutto has been watching all of this unfold this morning.

It has been sort of a remarkable four hours, and already a very busy day for the 78-year-old pontiff, Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No question, starting bright and early, but I'll say, I noted this earlier, Ashleigh, it starred a bit late here at the White House, 15 minutes. Why is that? That's because this pope, a pope of the people, made sure before he left the Vatican residence in northwest Washington to stop and meet and shake hands with supporters outside, even take a few selfies. That's always his focus, the emphasis more than the interactions with the luminaries. Important, certainly, but he loves to be with and among the people.

And I'll tell you, watching as that Popemobile went around the ellipse here, the distance that it had from the crowd, you know, part of the product, just the enormous security operation here, you can imagine this pope uncomfortable with it. He likes to get close to his supporters. And when you saw, as you noted, Ashleigh, some of his staff bring that baby over, it was a rare chance for him to reach out and touch.

He's going to have other opportunities certainly here and in New York and Philadelphia, but it's been remarkable to watch him and just the energy that he generates among people as they get close to him.

BANFIELD: I want to just touch on that energy, Jim Sciutto, because a lot of us wondered if he would bring that Popemobile to a halt. It did not happen. The babies came to him. But you could see the energy of this now contemplative man who's on the screen. He seemed to feed off of the energy of a jubilant crowd. He, himself, looked simply joyous.

SCIUTTO: No question. I'll tell you, the contrast, I don't know if you remember, Ashleigh, but when he first took the podium on the White House on the South Lawn, he looked a little tired. I was speaking to our own John Allen here, Vatican reporter, who said that his sciatica had acted up on - during the Cuba trip. It's hard for him to stand for a long time. It's tiring. But then you see his persona, his posture, just change when he gets close to the crowd, when he was in the Popemobile or earlier this morning at the residence, that's where he seems to draw his energy.

But that in no mean to diminish the very important meetings that took place today in the White House here. The president and the pope discussing just so many of the issues that are in the news today that are very present. The refugee issue, climate change, issues of religious freedom. They have a lot to discuss. Much they agree on, Ashleigh, but other issues, particularly with relations to the family, gay marriage, abortion, that they disagree on.

BANFIELD: We're going to continue to watch the entire day's proceedings on the right. You see what happened this morning on the left. Your live picture inside St. Matthews where a welcoming from Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Archbishop Kurtz will take place. A prayer service with all of those bishops also underway. We're going to continue to follow this. We're going to fit in a quick break and be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:11:55] BANFIELD: Welcome back. Our coverage continues of Pope Francis' first visit to the United States and his first official mass here as well. We are live in Washington, D.C., at St. Matthews where he is about to conduct a mass in front of hundreds of bishops who are in the audience.

And while we know what he's going to say, we can't tell you the words he's going to use, but the words will be significant.

Father Edward Beck is here live with me, CNN religion commentator.

Father Beck, this has the potential, once he stands and delivers his address, to be somewhat uncomfortable for many who are seated in this cathedral.

FATHER EDWARD BECK, CNN RELIGION COMMENTATOR: And it would probably be more uncomfortable if he was not speaking in English, because in Cuba, when he met with the bishops and seminarians and priests, he threw the script away and he stood there and he spoke from his heart to all of them. And what he focused on was, forgive everyone. Let mercy flow from you. Do not withhold forgiveness. And he challenged them not to be bureaucrats, but to be real shepherds and ministers of the people. And it is a, I think, with one of the most remarkable moments in Cuba because he put the text aside, spoke from his heart.

BANFIELD: Does he do that very often, just sort of do away with the printed word?

BECK: He's -

BANFIELD: In such a formidable visit, would he do that?

BECK: Well, he did there. He did it twice. He did it with the youth in Cuba as well, but he was speaking in Spanish, you see. He's comfortable.

BANFIELD: Mother tongue, yes.

BECK: Right. Now, we saw this morning, he's not that great in English, so he's a little more tied to the text.

BANFIELD: And isn't today's address before these bishops, this mass, it will be in Latin, correct?

BECK: No, he will speak in English.

BANFIELD: He will speak in English again?

BECK: Yes.

BANFIELD: In this - not the entire service, I can imagine.

BECK: In the address he will speak in English to the -

BANFIELD: He will?

BECK: Yes.

BANFIELD: All right. That's phenomenal. Well, we're going to be covering it entirely live.

So the other - the other issue is the sex abuse scandal. He has a plan, if he follows the script, he has a plan to discuss this amongst these bishops, in this venerable venue. Some people will say he's not going to go far enough. Others will say this was painful and perhaps they' even go so far as to say not necessary.

BECK: He's probably going to encouraging them. It's been a very wounded time in the church, and certainly for the victims, and it's been a hard time to be a priest. It's been a hard time to be bishops as well, to go through all of that. And so I think what he wants to say to the leadership of the church, remember, these are the leaders of each diocese throughout the country, so they kind of set the directives for their diocese. H e's going to encouraging them to be healers, compassionate healer, attentive, though, to whom they're ministering to. So, of course, victims are top on that list.

BANFIELD: Top on that list and it will be interesting to see what their reaction is to the tenor in which this topic is brought up before these 300 bishops.

As we wait for this - for the prayer ceremony to sort of gets underway in earnest, and for the pope's own words, we already have the pope's own words from the White House. He gave a shorter address and by many accounts it will not be as forceful as what you're going to hear in the next hour here at St. Matthews, but he did address some political issues. He addressed climate change which is a big tenet of where he stands right now and what he feels with regard to how, you know, humanity is treating this earth. And he also invoked Martin Luther King. I want to play that so that while we await his words in - at St. Matthews, we can hear what he said just earlier at the White House.

[12:15:38] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS: Mr. President, I am finding it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution. Accepting - accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem we can no longer be left to our future generations.

When it comes to the care of our common home, we are living at a critical moment of history. We still have time to make the change needed to bring about a sustainable and integral (INAUDIBLE) for we know that things can change. Such - such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition, not only of the kind of the world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them.

Our common home has been part of this group of the excludes, which casts out to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities, our societies. To use a telling phrase of the Reverend Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: We have defaulted on our promissory note, he said at the White House.

Just so I can get you up to speed in the order of events here at the cathedral of St. Matthews, this is, of course, a mass before 300 catholic bishops here in the nation's capital. But it's also being called a meeting with the bishops of the United States of America. And as such, it is an opportunity for this pope, in the words he's about to deliver, to really give these bishops a sense of what he feels about their work, what he feels about the church and I should be - I should correct - rather than mass, I should call this a prayer service. Mass will be held later today, but this is a very significant prayer service with a very significant address to these bishops.

And as we just are in the midst of a moment of silence, I want to bring in Father Edward Beck again.

By the way, may I say, happy birthday. This is quite a day for you.

BECK: Thank you very much. Nice way to celebrate it.

BANFIELD: What a - what a birthday present. And I want you to just - if you can, in the spirit of this being your birthday and this being something for you that you've probably waited your whole life for, this will be an opportunity to bring about a strict message of change for this pope. How strict will he be with his words?

BECK: Well, he - I don't think he's going to wag his finger at them. I think he wants to be encouraging with them. He'll be challenging, but he comes really as their shepherd. He's bishop of Rome. So he sees himself as one of them. He kind of echoes (ph) the title vicar of Christ. He likes bishop of Rome. So he is a brother with them.

[12:20:04] So I wouldn't expect a lot of finger wagging, but he's going to challenge them certainly. He did it to the bishops and the priests in Havana and he's going to do it again here. He's always hardest on his own. He's much more merciful when he's talking to the people, his flock. But those who minister with them, he challenges them, don't grow tired, he keeps telling them. Do what you're supposed to do as ministers. Be shepherds. Go out to the periphery. Don't stay in your rectories. Don't stay in your diocese. Don't be airport bishops is a term he has used.

BANFIELD: Get in your Fiat.

BECK: Get in your Fiat or whatever you need.

BANFIELD: And hug it to the crowd.

BECK: Or on your feet.

BANFIELD: Or your smart car.

BECK Or your smart car. So we'll hear him tell that to them again, I think.

BANFIELD: And I want to also bring in John Allen, if I may, CNN's senior Vatican analyst. I'm not sure if he is with us. What I wanted to ask of him, and perhaps if I can't get him, I'll ask you, Father Beck, that he left the Vatican for this trip and probably left in his wake a lot of consternation, those who are conservative within the Vatican ranks. How will they be watching this? I mean this won't be a surprise to them what he's about to say.

BECK: No. And I think they'll cheer some of it internally and some of it they will dismiss as they have. Again, with that - with that speech we heard this morning, we have conservatives who cheered certain thing and liberals who cheered other thing, but this pope doesn't take and partisan bend in any of this. He talks about what he wants to talk about. And I think what we're seeing is, you can fall -

BANFIELD: He takes a partisan bend, but then he switches to the other side and takes the other partisan. I mean -

BECK: Which means it's non-partisan.

BANFIELD: Which is - yes, I suppose you could say that. And I like to say, I'm an equal opportunity offender in that respect as well. But what he's about to tackle are, you know, some very, very uncomfortable, difficult topics he is going to tackle in this address, abortion, hunger, bombings, immigrants who, you know, are literally dying to try to seek a better life, drug trafficking, terrorism, wars and the environment. And there are myriad views on how to cope and tackle each and every one of those topics.

BECK: There are, and especially focused on the immigration, because he began his address at the White House by saying, "I am the son of an immigrant family." Those were his first words to us. So you can be sure that he's going to bring up immigration and the way we welcome or do not welcome immigrants.

BANFIELD: I want to listen in. Can you just briefly tell me where we are in this service and what he's doing.

BECK: It's the introductory part of this afternoon prayer service. And it's just welcoming and the introductory prayer.

BANFIELD: Let's listen.

(PRAYER SERVICE - IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CARDINAL DONALD WUERL: Holy Father, it is a great honor and joy to welcome you to the archdiocese of Washington and its cathedral. Our mother church bears the name of St. Matthew the apostle, whose experience of God's love and call are expressed in your own motto, (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE). In the future, when we look at the great mosaic of St. Matthew, we will be reminded of your concern for us as you begin your pastoral visit to our nation and this archdiocese. The archdiocese of Washington just celebrated its 75th anniversary with its own synod.

BANFIELD: Cardinal Donald Wuerl is doing the welcoming remarks to the pope right now in English. The pope began this service in Latin.

We are going to take a break in English. And when we come back, we are hopefully going to hear the pope himself address the bishops.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:28:28] BANFIELD: So you're hearing applause here in Washington, D.C., in the cathedral of St. Matthews. The pope is being welcomed by - and here is some common parlance for you - two big wigs in the United States and the catholic church. The first welcome was from Cardinal Donald Wuerl and the second welcome just during the commercial break that led to this applause is from the archbishop, Joseph Kurtz. Both have said welcome to this pope.

Speaking of the highlights that the United States and its Constitution and its Bill of Rights has to offer its citizenry and we are now just moving towards what will be the prayer service and the pope's address to these 300 bishops that are assembled before him.

And just as he gets ready to deliver his address, he started in Latin, but we expect some English. Let's listen.

[12:29:29] POPE FRANCIS (through translator): First of all, I would like to send my greetings to the Hebrew community, to our Jewish brothers for whom today is a sacred day, Yom Kippur. I hope the Lord brings down his blessings of peace and will keep them in life and holiness according to the word of the Lord we have heard - heard today.