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Continuing Coverage Of Pope Francis' Inaugural Visit To America; Exclusive Interview With Iran's President; Brother Pushing For Iran To Release Journalist; Pope Voices Concern For World's Imprisoned; Fight Underway Over House Speaker Succession. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 27, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: The following is a CNN Special Report.

[14:00:00] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And good afternoon. We are in the final hours of Pope Francis' incredible trip to the United States and the big finish the city of brotherly love.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Philadelphia, pinnacle of the Holy Father's trip to America to meet the faithful. Over a million expected just for a glimpse of Pope Francis in person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the catholic jackpot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What a blessing for him to hold our child and kiss her.

COOPER: He attended a festival, made a historic speech in independence hall.

POPE FRANCIS, CATHOLIC CHURCH LEADER: Lord, bless you all.

COOPER: Now the final event, a mass and tickets running out in seconds. What surprises are in store for the thousands of faithful gathering on the city streets? You've seen the pontiff mingle with America's leaders. Now see him in the way he's known best -- the people's Pope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: And there you see the scene. Thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands gathering now waiting for the Pope's big moment today, the huge mass begins around 4:00 this afternoon just behind me on Benjamin Franklin parkway in Philadelphia. It is his final homily in the U.S. the final celebration of mass. Organizers say as many as a million people are hoping to see and hear Pope Francis deliver that service that will close the festival of families.

In the next hour or so the Pope will begin taking an open motorcade to the mass. We of course are going to be covering all of that for you live.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and watching around the world. I'm Anderson Cooper live in Philadelphia.

Amid all the events expected today, there was one that was never on the original public schedule, at least though as one of the most highly anticipated of the trip. Pope Francis met privately with five victims of sexual abuse. The Pope listened to each victim's testimony, all of them adults who as minors had been abused by clergy members, family members or teachers. Immediately following he addressed 150 seminarians and wept off script, confronting the crisis more strongly than we've heard in past speeches.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS (through translator): God weeps. For the sexual abuse of children. These cannot be maintained in secret. And I commit to a careful oversight to ensure that youth are protected. And that all responsible will be held accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: I should have said, he was talking to a crowd mostly of bishops.

Joining me to talk more about it is CNN religion editor Daniel Burke, also with me CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen, and Bruce Feiler, best-selling author, contributor for CNN, author of "walking the bible" and other books.

Daniel, let's start with you. Talk more about this meeting that the Pope had today.

DANIEL BURKE, CNN RELIGION EDITOR: Right. So we know that the Pope prayed with the victims. We know that he embraced them, we know that he listened to their stories. And I think perhaps most importantly he said that there would be justice for all victims harmed by the church and he promised responsibility -- that all of the people who were responsible for it would be punished, which is something that advocates for victims of sexual abuse have been asking for for years.

COOPER: We have heard from advocates of sexual abuse who have said, look, this is not enough that the Pope, this Pope has had meetings before. Other Popes have as well. In terms of what has actually been done, the church likes to kind of put this as something that occurred in the past. Is that where it is now, in the past?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Well, I mean, you're right. This is actually the seventh time a Pope has met with victims of sexual abuse. Benedict XVI had five such meetings, the first actually coming in the United States in 2008.

For the most part the cases of abuse we know about have occurred in the past. But there have been a handful of cases more recent. In some of those cases the church has been accused of not acting quickly enough. For example, there was a case in Kansas City just a few years ago in which a priest was accused of abusing children. And the bishop was informed of that and delayed a few months before reporting that to police, which led to a criminal conviction and ultimately to that bishop being removed.

Look, Anderson, I think the reality is that the church today in 2015 is in a very different place than it was say ten years ago. When I first started covering this story there was open denial of the most senior levels of the church. People were talking about this as an American problem, a media invention.

You don't hear that kind of thing anymore. They are officially committed to reform. The issue today is follow through in reform. There is no real system of accountability yet, not for the crime, but for the cover-up, and in addition to that, there is no uniform global standard. Policies in the United States and Europe are very different than they are in other parts of the world. And I think that's going to be the acid test of whether this meeting is more than a kind of emotive encounter but whether it leads to policy change.

[14:05:29] COOPER: And Bruce Feiler, that is the criticism from many survivors of clergy abuse who say this is public relations.

BRUCE FEILER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I have to say it's been not very effective public relations this week. I think in a week in which the church has masterfully managed the schedule and the themes, that this has not been handled well. It's almost like hearing a politician change his story every day. We began with a speech to bishops congratulating them on their courage for getting through it, and while that may be true, perhaps we should have started with the victims. And I think I can't help wondering if we wouldn't be in this situation had there been women in the decision-making rooms when they planned this trip.

And that's really what this is about, Anderson, which is ultimately the subtext for this whole weekend is about women. Women, six of 10 people in the pews, women, are more interested in religion and ultimately if this church cannot convince catholic women, catholic moms in particular, to trust their children in the church, then the church is going to have a real serious problem going forward.

COOPER: As we mentioned, many critics, sexual abuse survivor groups are saying that the Pope Francis has not done enough for some context, the U.S. conference of catholic bishops found that more than 5,700 priests have been accused of sexual abuse and these incidents largely go unreported.

Furthermore, one bishop in this country has been convicted of ignoring sex abuse of a minor. In June, a Minnesota archdiocese was charged with six sex-abuse related crime, that case is awaiting trial.

I want to bring in Becky Ianni. She is a spokeswoman for the Survivors Network, those abused by priests, known as SNAP. She is also a survivor herself of clergy sexual abuse.

Becky, thanks for joining us. First your reaction to the Pope's comments this morning and the very fact he had a meeting.

BECKY IANNI, SURVIVORS NETWORK OF THOSE ABUSED BY PRIESTS (SNAP): Well, you know, I hope that those victim, all five of them, I hope they find healing and comfort from meeting with the Pope. But I hope the Pope takes their stories of suffering, their pain, and I hope that encourages not just to say that he's going to hold bishops accountable, not just say that, you know, he's going to do something about this, but to actually do it. And he has enormous power. He could do something today to protect a child.

COOPER: There are -- you do hear some complaints by you and members of clergy now who say they're being held to an unreasonable standard, statute of limitation, survivors want the statute of limitations in many states extended. They say if it is extended, it should be extended for all who have offended, not just for priests. Talk a little bit, if you can, about what happened to you because I know it took you understandably a very long period of time to see what -- to acknowledge what had happen to you and to come forward about it.

IANNI: Yes. I was told by my priest I would go to hell if I told anyone, so as a child there was no way I was going to tell anyone. And also the nuns told me that priests were sent by God. So I felt like I was being punished by God. I was the bad person. So it took me 40 years to come forward. And when I came forward, the statute of limitations had run out. And so, I couldn't do anything.

And my case is not that unusual. And we find that the church is lobbying against these laws instead of for them. And when you have a case, then perpetrators are exposed and when they're exposed and put in jail, children are safer. And that's what we all want.

COOPER: And we should point out that your abuser went on to abuse others and when finally revealed ended up killing himself. Correct?

IANNI: That is correct. Yes.

COOPER: Well, Becky Ianni, I appreciate talking with you this afternoon. We talked to you yesterday as well. Thank you for your strength and for talking with us today.

Again, I'm joined by CNN's Vatican correspondent Delia Gallagher.

Do you think today's meeting, Delia, is really going to change anything? Look, members of SNAP say, look, there have been these meetings in the past and nothing really changes.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think there's two levels to this -- to these meetings and the issue of sex abuse. One is to meet one-on-one with the survivors and to hear their stories and try to achieve a certain level of forgiveness and peace for them.

The other, of course, is the accountability issue for the priests that have abused and for the bishops, which is what a lot of the groups are calling for now and what Pope Francis has also mentioned many times that he wants to try and focus now on accountability for victims.

And at that level we've seen that he has started a committee for the protection of minors. That was one of the first things he did with Boston cardinal Sean O'Malley to focus on that question. That's what they are doing right now at the Vatican. This is where the kind of conversation has moved.

And what people are looking for is, you know, what concrete things are going to come out of that. And that is a very complex thing to figure out how to hold the bishops accountable not because they have abused but perhaps because they were aware of abuse or they moved people or so on. There is a tribunal at the Vatican that has been started by Pope Francis to address this issue, but we're still not there yet.

[14:10:38] COOPER: And why does it take so long? I mean, I know things move slowly in the Vatican, but, I mean, this issue has been going on since - I mean, I remember when I was a kid many the '80s this was an issue that was written about. It obviously got even more attention in the '90s and the 2000s. But, you know, to the point made by many sex abuse survivors, things do seem to be move very good slowly.

ALLEN: Well, I mean, you know, Anderson, normally the working motto with the Vatican is talk to me on Wednesday and we'll get back to you in 300 years. I mean, that's just how they work. But on this issue, I think it's a perfectly fair question to ask, why is this taking so long, because we've seen in other areas, for example, the financial cleanup of the Vatican Pope Francis wanted, that has the moved at lightning speed. I mean, we already have entirely new structures, we have an entirely new accountability mechanism.

This one, while the Pope has said all the right things, and Delia, everything Delia just said is absolutely right, I would add, you know, he has publicly said that we must not take a step back on this issue, we must continue to move forward. When he first met with victims in July 2014 he promised there would be accountability. However, I think it is also fair to say that creating that system of accountability and also creating the uniform global standard I talked about moment ago has lagged behind.

I think that is one part cultural, because the people in the Vatican who have to work on this primarily are church lawyers, and they want to think very carefully before they start monkeying around with law. That's the sort of default setting of lawyers. I think another part has to do with the resources because this in many cases has to be done on the ground around the world, Africa, Asia, often there aren't resources. Now, these are explanations rather than excuses.

COOPER: Well, that's also been the criticism of Pope Francis when he was archbishop in Buenos Aires, that he did not meet with victims back then, that he wasn't -- when he was in a position on a more street- level position, that this wasn't as high a priority. I mean, that's a criticism that has been made.

ALLEN: Well sure, but I think the thing to be said about that is - I mean, first of all, you're right. However, I think we need to understand that the sex abuse crisis as you and I know it in the Catholic Church that is, you know, front-page news lawsuits, you know, huge public clamor, that crisis has not erupted in the same form in many other parts of the world. And I think in some ways Francis has been on a learning curve since he was elected Pope.

COOPER: There were people in the Vatican who almost viewed it as an American problem.

ALLEN: Well, ten years ago, listen. When I first started covering this, OK, the truth of it is that in most of the departments that mattered in the Vatican, the climate was absolute denial. This was seen as a media invention and as an American problem. As a footnote, the only guy many the Vatican who didn't feel that way ten years ago was Cardinal Joseph Rodsinger (ph) at the congregation for the doctrine of the faith who became Pope Benedict and has Pope decreed zero tolerance would then forth be the policy of the Catholic Church.

The point is I think Francis has been in a learning curve. And I think today is another moment in that learning curve. Because anybody who has been on this story will tell you there is simply no substitute for hearing firsthand the testimony of survivors.

COOPER: Yes. And we've heard more of that in recent years, obviously. And that is where the change really comes when you hear the details.

FEILER: I have to say I have a somewhat apostate view on all this. I think what Delia and John are describing, and the two of them are best in the world in understanding what's going on inside. We're talking about an internal process. We are standing here in front of hundreds - or sitting here in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Look at this beautiful stage behind us. There is no institution in history that has not been better at making grand symbolic gestures than the Catholic Church.

Let's respect the tribunals and the studies and the white papers, but where is the symbolism? Why aren't these meetings public? Why are they behind closed doors? Why are they not on the schedule? We have had big, grand symbolism. Where is that? And I want to just throw into this conversation, Hollywood's about to get involved. We are going to see the release of this movie "Spotlight" in the coming weeks which is about the story, as you all you know, of the battle between "the Boston Globe" --

ALLEN: Which is my newspaper, by the way.

FEILER: Exactly. And the church. "The Boston Globe" spent a million dollars defending itself and won a Pulitzer Prize. It is going to rekindle the situation.

COOPER: It is interesting because the church says, well, we want to give privacy to those who have been abused who we're meeting with. The counterargument to that is there are plenty of abuse survivor who is would be happy to meet publicly with the pontiff, who would be happy to have their stories told and want their stories told. We just met with one publicly, Becky. So you hear the argument from the church, but you hear a point of view, there are plenty of people they could meet who have been public.

We are going to take a short break while we're waiting for the Pope's open motorcade. There is other important news happening today including a CNN exclusive, our Christiane Amanpour sitting down with Iran's president. She asked him about what is going to take to release Americans held in Iran. Stay with us. We got answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:38] COOPER: And welcome back. You are watching CNN's special coverage of Pope Francis in America. His final day here in Philadelphia. What a two days it has been. In fact, we have just learned that Pope Francis has decided to make an extra stop today that was not on his itinerary. He is going to be visiting St. Joseph's University, which is a Jesuit college. Pope Francis is, of course, a Jesuit himself. He'll be meeting with students there and religious leaders. They'll also going to unveil a statue commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vatican to document that transform the relationship between the church and the Jewish faith.

And of course, we are going to be bringing you all of the Pope's motorcade because the streets here are just filled with hundreds of thousands of people waiting to get a glimpse of Pope Francis.

President Obama and other world leaders are speaking at a U.N. development summit today in New York. They are focusing on how to end poverty and hunger around the world.

There is a number of other stories we want to tell you about now. Iran's president Hassan Rouhani addressed the same U.N. summit yesterday. He also sat down for an exclusive television interview with our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour. Christiane joins me from New York.

So Rouhani talked about possibly releasing an American journalist. What did he have to say?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he did, Anderson. And he also talked about the Pope has been talking about, the war in Syria, the refugees, religious persecution. He said about the Russian movement into Syria that Putin told him about it and said he'd already told the Obama administration.

He also acknowledged that all sides now seem to believe that Assad is going to stay for the foreseeable future in the fight against ISIS. But in this part of the interview that we are going to see, he spoke about the GOP political reaction to the Iran nuclear deal and he also he did answer my question about whether we could see our colleague Jason (INAUDIBLE) and other Americans held in Iranian prisons released anytime soon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[14:20:39] HASSAN ROUHANI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT(through translator): First of all, what is spoken of here in the United States of America sometimes when I would have time, some of it was broadcast live and I would watch it. Some of it was quite laughable. It was very strange the things that they spoke of. Some of them wouldn't even know where Tehran was in relation to Iran. Some of them didn't know where Iran was geographically. So the people of Iran were looking at it as a form of entertainment, if you will, and found it laughable. The other issue is that, yes, certainly in the United States some are

opposed to it and some are for this agreement. However, the issue of the joint comprehensive plan of action is not just an issue of Iran and the United States. It's an international issue, it is an international agreement. So any government that replaces the current government must keep itself committed to the commitments of the previous administration otherwise that government that entire country will lose trust internationally.

AMANPOUR: Let's move on to something that is very, very concerning to the people of the United States of America. You hold four Americans. Some of them have dual citizenship including our colleague, Jason Rezaian. I would like to know whether you as a government feel that this legal process, whatever it might be, is expedited so that these people can be freed. And I speak particularly of my own colleague, Jason Rezaian.

ROUHANI (through translator): Now, being imprisoned in Iran has nothing to do with a nuclear negotiations and subsequent agreement. But he I'll ask you this. There are a number of Iranians in the United States who are imprisoned, who went to prison in result of activities related to the nuclear industry in Iran. And today the U.N. Security Council has agreed, according to resolution 2231, to lift those sanctions.

Once these sanctions have been lifted, why keep those folks in American prisons? So they must be freed. If the Americans take the appropriate steps and set them free, certainly the right environment will be open and the right circumstances will be created for us to do everything within our power and our purview to bring about the swiftest freedom for the Americans held in Iran as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So you see, Anderson, he's setting up sort of a prisoner swap, a prisoner exchange. We'll see how that goes. Obviously, the families of those American, including Rezaian, are desperate to get their loved ones back.

COOPER: Yes, no doubt about that. Christiane, appreciate that. Thanks very much. We will have more of that interview throughout the day.

Coming up next, we'll also talk to the brother of an American held in an Iranian prison. We will get his reaction to the message from Iran's president. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:12] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitefield at Atlanta right now. Live pictures of Philadelphia where in about an hour-and-a-half the Pope will be leading a mass there. We will get back to more of our special coverage of the Pope in America in a moment.

But first you just heard Iran's president in an exclusive television interview with Christiane Amanpour say that he wants to push for a quicker lease of citizens held in both Iran and the United States. And that's giving new hope to the family of "Washington Post" journalist Jason Rezaian who has been detained in Iran since July of 2014. He is charged with espionage and other serious crimes.

Joining me right now from New York is Jason's brother, Ali.

So Ali, good to see you. What is your reaction to what President Rouhani said about this notion of a prisoner swap?

ALI REZAIAN, BROTHER OF JASON REZAIAN, DETAINED JOURNALIST IN IRAN: Well, you know, I think that what President Rouhani said is kind of odd. He did say correctly that Jason's case has nothing to do with the nuclear talks and the deal. But the fact of the matter is they set for 14 months that they though Jason did something wrong. They ran a trial. They haven't convicted him of anything that held him illegally and Jason's guilt or innocence has nothing to do with people being held in America. They've claimed that they have evidence. They did not present any evidence to support their case at the trial. And they just held him, you know, breaking their own laws.

WHITFIELD: You've been working hard to win the release of your brother to maintain some attention so that your brother could potentially be released. But this perhaps is the most hopeful sign, is it not, from President Rouhani to say that considerations would be made on the condition that?

REZAIAN: You know, I think I'm for anything that's going to get any brother out. He doesn't deserve to be held in prison in Iran. He's been held in isolation for 14 months. He should be set home and there should be no quid pro quo. But if that's what it takes I'm not going to stop it.

WHITFIELD: Is it your ambition to try to meet with yourself President Rouhani while in New York?

REZAIAN: You know, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to see President Rouhani speak tomorrow at the U.N. I've contacted the Iranian mission to the U.N. and they haven't responded to any of my outreach through a variety of channels.

WHITFIELD: But you still are holding out hope that it could potentially happen?

REZAIAN: I'd certainly talk to him if we ran into each other in the hallway.

WHITFIELD: So tell me about your brother, Jason, what you understand his condition to be. We know reportedly sometimes he's been in solitaire confinement, he has been interrogated reportedly as well. What's your understanding about what his treatment has been like, what it has been like for him in prison overall?

REZAIAN: You know, I think it's really been very difficult for him both, you know, physically -- he's been kind of ignored, he has had health issues that have been ongoing. But psychologically he's been held in virtual isolation. He basically spent time with the one person during the day.

[14:30:02] He doesn't have access to anybody else other than a couple phone calls and meetings with his wife a week. But the rest of the time, 24 hours a day he's essentially by himself. He's very, very depressed.

He knows about what's going on, about the UNGA, because he can hear about it from Iranian news. And it's just a roller coaster for him every day.

WHITFIELD: Is there any real clarity on the charges that he's facing in your view? We know espionage, spying among them. What is your understanding?

REZAIAN: You know, they have four charges against Jason that they've brought. Again, his lawyer, who has reviewed the entire case file, seen all the evidence that was presented, was in the trial the whole time, says there's no evidence to support the charges at all.

You know, there are things like, you know, communicating with the American government because he sent some e-mails to the government. It's just patently absurd. He hasn't done anything and they've held him for 14 months.

He should be released because he's innocent and not for any other reason. It's just wrong to claim that the United States should have to do something before, you know, Jason, an Iranian citizen and American citizen.

Born in California and raised, but you know, should be treated like an Iranian citizen by their laws and should be released because he's innocent.

WHITFIELD: What does your gut say about why he was targeted and apprehended and arrested in the first place? He's married to his Iranian wife after moving to Iran to be part of a documentary.

We saw the still photos with me and Anthony Bourdain, who was also focused in one of Anthony's hours. But what is your understanding as to why he was targeted and the timing in which he was targeted?

REZAIAN: We really don't know. Jason was very, very cautious. He didn't push the boundaries of the types of things he could report or do anything wrong. He was a credentialed journalist acting legally within the country. It's amazing they would do this and be able to get away with it for this long without more outcry from around the world.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ali Rezaian, thank so much and keep us posted on your potential -- you know, on your efforts to potentially meet with President Rhouhani.

REZAIAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, and of course, you can catch more of Christiane Amanpour's interview tomorrow morning on NEW DAY starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. And of course you can watch the full interview on "AMANPOUR" on CNN International.

When we come back, more of CNN's live coverage of Pope Francis in Philadelphia as we await his arrival at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway within the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:23]

COOPER: Welcome back to our continuing coverage of Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphie. I'm Anderson Cooper live in Philadelphia with our special coverage of all the activities today.

Today is the final day of Pope Francis' historic visit to the United States. In just a little over an hour from now he is going to close out the World Meeting of Families with a mass celebrating mass in front of hundreds of thousands.

After that mass, the pope will then head to the airport. He'll be greeted by Vice President Joe Biden and his family. He'll also greet some 500 members of the World Meeting of Families. The pontiff is expected to speak to the audience in English and offer his blessings.

He's scheduled to leave for Rome at about 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. Vice President Biden, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and the mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, will bid Pope Francis a fond farewell.

This morning the pope had a very different audience, some of Philadelphia's prisoners. He visited the Curran Frommehold Correctional Facility, the first time a pope has ever visited a U.S. Prison. In his speech, the pope expressed his concern for the world's imprisoned and offered a message of hope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS (through translator): When you see prison systems which are not concerned to care for wounds, to soothe pain, to offer new possibilities. The Lord tells us this clearly with a sign. He washes our feet so we can come back to the table, the table from which he wishes no one to be excluded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: He also met with corrections officers at that facility. Joining me now is the deputy commissioner for restorative and transitional services at the prison, Blanche Carney. How was it to have the pope at your facility today?

BLANCHE CARNEY, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF PRISON'S TRANSITIONAL SERVICES: It was amazing. Just to receive the pope and his manner of humility, it was just an awesome experience. It was well received by the inmates, staff, and visitors. You could just see the look on the faces as they looked

attentively to his words of encouragement, hope, inspiration, and the message of hope and inclusion. It was just amazing. I'm still reeling from it.

COOPER: How were the inmates, how were they actually selected to attend?

CARNEY: The inmates were selected that have demonstrated their just engagement of programming and services that we have available at the PPS here. Also they actively attend religious services and there were various faiths in attendance. That's how we selected these inmates.

COOPER: Do you think it will make any kind of a difference in the lives of some of these inmates?

CARNEY: Yes, I do. I really do, because we have inmates here serving a variety of charges, and this is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And this is a time for self-reflection.

It's just not locking someone away in a cell, but definitely with Pope Francis delivering that very personal message to them, that brings inspiration to them their lives can change and they can make positive changes that once they leave here they can become productive citizens.

COOPER: Deputy Commissioner Blanche Carney, I appreciate your time. I know it's been a busy day for you. Thank you so much for joining us.

We are going to have more coverage of Pope Francis' visit just ahead. That motorcade should be coming down and start to be visible here. We'll bring that to you live because there are a lot of very excited people here waiting to get their glimpse at Pope Francis.

[14:40:07] House Speaker John Boehner is lashing out at members of his own party just days after announcing he's resigning from Congress. You'll hear ahead what he calls some of them false prophets next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We all await the pope's motorcade to make its way down to Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. We'll get back to our live coverage of Pope Francis in America in just a few minutes.

But first the battle over who will succeed House Speaker John Boehner. That fight is heating up on Capitol Hill two days after the speaker announced his plans to resign.

And today for the first time since that announcement, Boehner openly blasted some conservative Republicans for pushing an unrealistic political agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Change comes slowly and obviously too slowly for some.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are they unrealistic about what can be done in government?

BOEHNER: Absolutely they're unrealistic. But, you know, the bible says beware of false prophets. There are people out there, you know, spreading noise about how much can get done. I mean, this whole idea that we're going to shut down the government to get rid of Obamacare in 2013, this plan never had a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining me right now is Mark Lampkin, Boehner's former general counsel. Good to see you.

MARC LAMPKIN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good to see you.

[14:45:07] WHITFIELD: You heard that the speaker calling GOP conservatives on the hill false prophets, a pretty strong language. Do you feel he is feeling just a bit more liberated to speak his mind now?

LAMPKIN: I think certainly there's liberation but there's also the truth. What we've got in Washington are a group of people, both elected officials as well as kind of interested parties that create these false stops.

These false fight where they want to lead the party, lead the Congress to run down an alley that is not with no plan for how they're going to achieve success or what they're going to do at the end game.

I think the speaker in his tenure then you'll see moving forward would like to provide some light on those issues to make sure people understand that, you know, there's divided government.

And it is very difficult to bend the will of a sitting president and so incremental battles are the things that we should be looking forward to as opposed to these false hopes.

WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk about the race for the White House and this new poll on the 2016 race for the GOP nomination. NBC's poll showing Donald Trump and Ben Carson neck and neck. What's behind this in your view?

LAMPKIN: Well, I think we've seen throughout the primary process, on the Democrat side, on the Republican side, there's a lot of anxiety and frustration with the American electorate. They want people speaking with a different voice with a different perspective.

And I think Trump and Carson like Bernie Sanders on the Democrat side are providing a different tone. They don't want people who are just going to give the same poll tested standard off the shelf answers to questions.

I think the challenge to all candidates, the usual suspects, is to provide the American public with a different tone and voice and different answers on how to attack the problems we face in Washington and across the country.

WHITFIELD: All right, Marc Lampkin, good to see you again. Thanks so much.

LAMPKIN: Good to see you. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, tomorrow night more talk about the focus of the presidential race. Don't miss Donald Trump live on CNN tomorrow night. He is going to be talking about his tax plans on "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.

Next, the pope is due to arrive at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway within 30 minutes, this after a surprise visit to St. Joseph's University. We'll head out to the massive crowds ling the route in Philadelphia.

And how would you describe the pope in three words? Tweet your responses with #popeinthreewords and we'll show you some of your responses a bit later.

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[14:52:04]

COOPER: I'm Anderson Cooper live in Philadelphia. You see the scene there, streets crowded with people waiting to celebrate the last mass of Pope Francis' trip.

Let's go to CNN's Miguel Marquez, who is among the crowds who showed up along Benjamin Franklin Parkway, some as early as 4:00 in the morning. You see people with blankets trying to catch some sleep, a lot of tired but excited people.

Miguel, they've talked about upwards of a million people today for this final mass. I find that hard to believe given all the security precautions. It's very difficult to get around. But what's the mood like where you are?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Strange you should mention security because that's exactly what we want to show you right now. The numbers trying to get in here. This is the magnetometers that people are trying to get through.

We're talking to people who are coming through now. It has taken them 3 to 3-1/2 hours. As far as the eye can see you can see people and the folks we've just spoken to who have come through here said it's about a half block further than that.

So it's just an incredible number of people. I have some people who have just come through that security cordon, the Higgins/Mills family. How long did it take you, and is it worth it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It took us three hours and 20 minutes and absolutely.

MARQUEZ: It sounds like you counted every minute of that. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yep. Yep. We had it on a timer.

MARQUEZ: This is a special night. You have tickets so you can get a little closer to the stage if you can because it is extraordinarily crowded up there. Your son is singing in the choir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right. My son, Zachary, is performing today as part of the choir, which is a great honor.

MARQUEZ: This has touched everybody in Philadelphia. This is such a great event for the world but certainly this city. What does it mean to have this pope in your city on this day?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think Francis is such a message of pope and acceptance for our world and for all of us and my siblings and I were all here when John Paul came in 1979 and we're all here again, which is really amazing day when you think about it.

MARQUEZ: It has been a tough time for the Catholic Church in Philadelphia over the last ten years or so? Does this pope change things?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think this pope represents mercy and forgiveness and the chance for a fresh start for a lot of people who had maybe been disenchanted with the church. So I really do believe this is a very important time and a very positive time for us.

MARQUEZ: All right. Higgins-Mills, you're through security. Go try to get to a place where you can see something. Take care. Absolutely, amazing how long it's taking. We look at the security areas along this strip.

Every single one of them has a line that long. It's not clear that people are going to get in in time enough, forget about seeing the pope go back and north the pope mobile, in time for the mass itself -- Anderson.

[14:55:04] COOPER: I've never seen people who have stood in line for security for three hours and 20 minutes who are still smiling on the other end of that experience. Miguel Marquez just gives you a sense of the excitement that is out there today.

We're hearing the pope is on the move. He's left the seminary where he has been staying. We're told he's made an unscheduled stop on his way to his final mass here in the United States. We're going to bring all of that to you live.

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COOPER: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Pope Francis arriving at St. Joseph's University, which is a Jesuit institution, a lot of excitement there.

Good afternoon. I'm Anderson Cooper in Philadelphia for our special coverage of Pope Francis' visit to America, his final day in Philadelphia. Tonight the pope delivers his final homily in the U.S. capping off what many believe here has been a spectacular week, a papal firsts, moving moments.

The pope has arrived at St. Joseph's. It was an unscheduled stop on his to his final mass in the United States, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands flocking here.