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Global COVID-19 Cases Surging, Holiday Travel Disrupted; Archbishop Desmond Tutu Dies At Age 90; Former NYPD Commissioner Pledges To Post Subpoenaed Capitol Insurrection Documents Online; Unseasonable Temperatures Across The U.S.; Pope Reflects On Relationships In Pandemic Times. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired December 26, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST (voice-over): Very good day to you. Welcome to viewers in the United States and those joining us around the world. I'm Richard Quest in London.
Our breaking news, sad breaking news this morning. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has died at the age of 90. The man known as the Arch rose to prominence during the period of apartheid to political violence, when racial segregation was enforced by the minority white government in the country.
As the first Black archbishop of Cape Town, he preached nonviolent resistance to the situation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. David McKenzie reflects on Tutu's historic role.
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JUDA NGWENYA, PHOTOGRAPHER: You find your cousin had been killed --
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When we spoke to late photographer Juda Ngwenya in 2016, he remembered a different time.
NGWENYA: We've got funeral each week. People getting killed. And then you don't find one person; at five, six, seven, eight people, mass funeral happen.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): During the 1980s, the apartheid regime was at war with the Black majority. One of its goals: to turn the liberation movement against itself.
Neighbors betrayed neighbors, friends became informants. In this maelstrom, a diminutive Anglican bishop was ever present. Desmond Tutu was never afraid to step up to the racist regime, using his bully pulpit of peace.
MCKENZIE: During apartheid, Archbishop Tutu's position in the church gave him a semblance of protection and his deep faith gave him an unwavering moral compass, even when it was deeply unpopular.
BISHOP DESMOND TUTU, ANGLICAN CHURCH: I am not a politician, even if there are those who say so. I speak from the Bible.
NGWENYA: The car was standing down there.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): For Ngwenya, Tutu's defining moment came at a funeral.
NGWENYA: This is not what we wanted. We wanted to kill him.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Mourners wanted to throw a suspected informer into his burning car. But Tutu saved the man from the mob, saying he should be forgiven, that the struggle should rise above the violence of the state.
NGWENYA: Tutu is a man of God that talked the truth. And I think that's why the truth.
MCKENZIE: But people listened.
ENGUENIA: People listened to Tutu, no matter what.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): And during those dark days, with ANC leadership in jail or exiled, Tutu was the voice of the struggle. But after liberation, Tutu's embrace of the ruling ANC was awkward.
D. TUTU: You and your government don't represent (INAUDIBLE).
MCKENZIE (voice-over): When the rainbow nation faltered he spoke up on corruption, AIDS policy, diplomacy.
D. TUTU: One day we will stop praying for the defeat of the ANC government. You are disgraceful.
MPHO TUTU, DESMOND AND LEAH TUTU LEGACY FOUNDATION: He's an equal opportunity irritant.
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MCKENZIE (voice-over): But Tutu's daughter says, now that he's gone, South Africa will lose its conscience.
M. TUTU: South Africa will lose a champion and a coach.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): She says Tutu always cheered South Africa when it did the right thing and consistently called the country to task when it did not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: David McKenzie is with me now from South Africa.
Over the next few hours and days, we will hear many tributes from the great and the good. But the thing I always remember, every time I met Desmond Tutu, was his energy and that laugh, that infectious, overwhelming laugh. He drew you in.
MCKENZIE: That's right. And those of us that had the privilege of meeting Desmond Tutu, talking with him, interviewing him, even when it was very heavy, weighty matters in terms of South Africa's post liberation struggles --
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MCKENZIE: -- or global issues of peace and morality, there was always that laugh. The Anglican church just a short time ago calling it, no laugh but a cackle.
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MCKENZIE: The man had this boundless energy that he was able, as you say, Richard, to draw you in, to find common ground and have just limitless depths of empathy for others, Richard.
QUEST: David, within that construct, what he did during the apartheid years was absolutely extraordinary, remarkable, unique. But what he's done in the post years, particularly over the last 10 years, has been just as remarkable in its own way.
MCKENZIE: Well, that's right. Desmond Tutu was always deeply involved in politics. But as you saw him in the '80s; he was never a politician, he was a man of God, who believed that his role was in moral leadership.
And as he saw it, when the ANC, the ruling party in South Africa, lost its way, he spoke up. That is deeply unusual in post liberation countries and extremely unusual here in South Africa. He became a thorn in the side of some leaders of the ANC, who so greatly respected him but found him, as his daughter said, "an equal opportunity irritant."
QUEST: On that point, the decision by the late president Mandela, to appoint him to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, that body, which has often attempted to be replicated in other wartorn areas but his role there and the fact he did that job was essential in many ways to the sort of South Africa of today.
MCKENZIE: It was essential. You saw the weight of many months of witness testimony, questioning of those who committed the atrocities of apartheid and lived through it, family disappeared because of apartheid.
I remember very clearly when Desmond Tutu, the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, himself broke down. He was a small man but he had broad shoulders in terms of dealing with the weight and the pain of events in South Africa, with an often light touch that allowed people to tell their stories.
He was a great reconciliator and great listener. He attempted to move past the atrocities of apartheid. He continued that voice, that moral voice, that he was never afraid of piping up. Because of a recent illness he retreated from public life. But as his
own book said, the rabble-rouser of peace, this man was a global celebrity for a reason. He took people into his confidence. He was able to capture a crowd.
And in the thick of apartheid in the '80s, everyone else was in prison or left the country in exile, there you had, in his church outfit, the small priest, at the front of the line of tens of thousands of people, marching for change.
QUEST: David McKenzie in South Africa, thank you.
Around the world we're getting reaction. The South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Twitter, "The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation's farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa."
Sir Richard Branson, who established the group called the elders, of which Desmond Tutu was a member, has said, "I am so sad that Archbishop Tutu has passed away. The world has lost a giant. He was a brave leader, a mischievous delight, a profound thinker and a dear friend."
Omicron is continuing to cast clouds over the Christmas holiday around the world and in the U.S.
In the U.S., COVID cases are soaring. New records are being set in various parts of the countries. And yet look at the new cases, 42 percent, call it that, but new deaths still higher at 16 percent. But the number of people in hospital is only, I say, forgive me, but 2.5 percent. Much lower than the peaks we saw earlier.
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QUEST: Health experts caution hospitalizations tend to lag behind the infection rate.
More than 1,000 flights have been canceled on Saturday and Sunday. And that's on top of nearly 700 on Christmas Eve. Airlines say too many flight crews have been sidelined either because they caught COVID or they're having to isolate because of a close contact.
Surging numbers are leading to long waits and disrupting professional sports. CNN's Alison Kosik reports.
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ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: More than just getting a last-minute Christmas gift, I think the bigger issue for many Americans for this Christmas has been how to get a COVID-19 test, because millions of Americans were hoping to travel or get together with family members.
From New York, where we saw long lines over the past week, people standing in the cold to get those COVID-19 tests, to Raleigh, North Carolina, where lines were a mile long on Christmas Eve, for some waiting up to two hours in traffic just to get to the testing site.
In Oahu, Hawaii, the line wrapped around several blocks, with some waiting 2.5 hours to get tests. COVID-19 also causing disruptions to sports and vacations. The NHL announced the regular schedule won't resume until Tuesday. Previously, the plan was to resume games on Monday following a pause in play.
On board a Carnival cruise ship, several people tested positive. The ship was denied entry into two ports. It departed Miami on December 18th and is expected to return ob December 26th.
All of this happening as we're seeing a spike in the number of cases in New York state, reporting, just on Friday, 44,000 new COVID-19 cases. That breaks the previous record of 38,000 cases.
Hospitalizations in New York are rising but at a lower rate. Data show hospitalizations rising 4.6 percent from Thursday to Friday just before Christmas. Amid all of this, the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, announcing that New York will shorten the quarantine time for people who have COVID-19 from 10 days to five days.
This shortened quarantine period for people who work in critical workforce, nurses, police, bartenders, wait staff. After a positive test, fully vaccinated people in the critical workforce can get back to work after five days after that COVID result, if they are asymptomatic and they agree to wear their mask.
Governor Hochul argued, having the 10 day rule unnecessarily caused staff shortages in those front line workers -- Alison Kosik, CNN, New York.
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QUEST: Italy and the United Kingdom are among those countries posting record number of cases. Scott McLean is in London and Barbie Nadeau is in Rome.
First of all, to Scott McLean, Scott, the situation in the U.K., we have large numbers of cases in the U.K. But the number of hospitalizations still remains low.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Richard. There aren't new numbers this weekend because of the holiday. But on Christmas Eve, this country set a new record for new infections.
The latest government estimates show that one in 35 people in England has the virus right now. In London, that number is even higher, one in 20. London is undoubtedly the Omicron epicenter. It also has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country as well.
Part of the concern is, even if it is less severe, some say it is, you could have enough cases that you could have pressure on the health care system. More concerning, if you look at the number of health care workers who are calling in sick, take the end of November, for instance, in London, there are about 1,000 health care workers calling in sick that day. Fast forward to about a week ago, that number had quadrupled. Almost
4,000 workers calling out sick because of the coronavirus alone.
You're starting to see new restrictions piling up in Scotland, in Wales. In London they've canceled the New Year's Eve celebration. Some Premier League games have been canceled as well.
But there's not really any action from the British government to take further restrictions from England. You can understand why, yes, new cases, they're shooting straight up.
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MCLEAN: But when you look at deaths, they are flat or declining. Hospitalizations are flat, maybe rising ever so slightly. But this is not a health care emergency at this point by any stretch of the imagination. For now, at least, it's wait and see.
QUEST: Thank you, Scott McLean.
Barbie Nadeau, continental European countries are taking a different view. Italy and France, particularly, they have introduced some quite stringent measures instead of the wait and see, say, for example, of England.
Why is that?
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think continental Europe was hit so hard early on, the very first wave of the pandemic in March 2020, and they just don't want to go back to that.
They are trying to do everything they can to avoid a full lockdown. If that means canceling New Year's Eve celebrations, if that means making it very difficult to go into a restaurant unless you've been vaccinated, they will do everything they can to not cripple the economy.
They've turned a blind eye to Christmas. There weren't a lot of restrictions. But New Year's Eve is canceled. Every celebration is prohibited on some level in the coming week. They're trying to do that to stem the spread of this, even though, as Scott said, we're not seeing here as well death rates climb and things like that.
Hospitalizations are slowly inching up but nothing like we saw in the last several waves. Still, though, the fear is, just avoid the lockdowns, avoid hurting economies any more than they have, Richard.
QUEST: I presume there is still the great call for booster shots. Israel is sort of playing around with the idea of a fourth. Others are talking about that.
Is there any talk of a fourth for the vulnerable that you've heard in Europe?
NADEAU: One of the things we're doing is these health passes. You have to have health passes, a super health pass in Italy. In other places, you have the booster. That only lasts six months. That would imply it lasts six months.
Not everyone here is boosted. That program got off to a slow start. You know, they're talking about an expiration date on the health pass. So that means you'll have to have another booster, Richard.
QUEST: Barbie Nadeau in Rome this morning.
As we continue in the NEWSROOM, rioters on January 6th tried to push through a tunnel. Policemen struggled to hold them back. We have newly released video. Just look at it. It shows one of the most violent confrontations at the U.S. Capitol.
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D. TUTU: This is the only world we have. If this world disappears, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are free or oppressed, the fate is the same for all of us. We either survive together or we are going to be damned together.
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QUEST: That simplicity shows the beauty of the messages from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who has died today at 90. There he was expressing the sort of philosophy that made him a moral giant. And as we continue in this hour, we will consider more of his life and legacy in a moment.
Other news I must bring to you this morning.
The military junta in Myanmar is being accused of a Christmas massacre. A local human rights group says more than 30 people were killed in an area between the capital and the Thai border.
The group says the victims' charred remains were found on Saturday. Aid groups say the children says two of its staff are missing after their car was attacked and burned. Military controlled media reported an attack on what they called terrorists. Fighting has flared in the past few days between the junta and armed groups opposing military rule.
The sheer brutality of the January 6th insurrection is now on full display. In a video released by the Justice Department this week, I must warn you, the footage you're about to see is graphic.
It shows, as you'll see, officers trying to hold the line against the pro Trump mob, which is trying to push through the Capitol's lower west entrance. Some officers were viciously beaten. It was one of the most violent confrontations seen that day. CNN's Jessica Schneider with this report.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A three hour video, just released by the Justice Department after CNN and other outlets sued for access, shows one of the most violent and prolonged battles between Capitol Police and the pro-Trump mob.
The video, taken from a Capitol security camera on a lower west terrace, does not have sound but it shows how dozens of rioters moved in on Capitol Police, spraying the cops who stood guard with pepper spray, pointing strobing flashlights at them, striking them with batons and flagpoles.
More than an hour in, when police pushed back, you can see a helmet knocked off of one officer's head.
The video release comes as the House Committee investigating January 6th prepares to ramp up its probe in the new year. Chairman Bennie Thompson tells "The Washington Post" he's focusing on then President Trump's actions, zeroing in on this video he released, 187 minutes after the riot began.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You have to go home now.
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SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Thompson telling "The Post," "It appears that he tried to do a taping several times but he wouldn't say the right thing."
Thompson now saying Trump's delayed response could be a factor in deciding whether to make a criminal referral, possibly for obstructing the Electoral College proceedings, and that other Trump officials could also face referrals for pressuring local and state election officials to overturn the results.
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BERNIE KERIK, FORMER NYC POLICE COMMISSIONER: The men and women of the New York City Police Department --
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SCHNEIDER: Former New York City police commissioner and Trump ally Bernie Kerik is saying any cooperation he provides to the committee must be made public.
Kerik now says he'll post subpoenaed documents online and that he wants to testify at a public hearing. Kerik worked alongside Trump's former attorney, Rudy Giuliani, after the election, to discredit the result and attended a meeting at the Willard Hotel with other Trump allies on January 5th to discuss how to keep Trump in office. Meanwhile, committee member Pete Aguilar says they hope the Supreme Court acts fast to rule on releasing documents from Trump's White House.
REP. PETE AGUILAR (D-CA): So the courts have already ruled in our favor. Our anticipation is that the Supreme Court will uphold that ruling in an expedited manner.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): No word on how quickly the Supreme Court will decide -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: An unusual start to Christmas for the British royal family. Police say an armed intruder was arrested on Saturday on the grounds of Windsor Castle. A 19-year-old man was taken into custody shortly after entering the area.
The security scare didn't stop Prince Charles and his wife and other members of the family from attending a Christmas church service in Windsor a few hours later. The queen, in her Christmas message, remembered her late husband, Prince Philip.
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ELIZABETH II, QUEEN OF ENGLAND: Christmas can be hard for those who have lost loved ones. This year especially I understand why. But for me, in the months since the death of my beloved Philip, I have drawn great comfort from the warmth and affection of the many tributes to his life and work from around the country, the commonwealth and the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Her Majesty also urged people to use her upcoming platinum jubilee, 70 years on the throne, as a reason to come together.
COVID cases driven by Omicron show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. An infectious diseases expert will help us understand what to expect in the coming days and weeks.
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QUEST: Allow me to update you, please, on the news we're following, the sad news this morning, that Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who helped lead South Africa's antiapartheid movement, has passed away at 90, confirmed by president Cyril Ramaphosa.
Tutu was the first Black Anglican archbishop of Cape Town. He came in as The Arch. In 1984, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts and, nearly a decade later, he witnessed the end of the regime of white minority rule in South Africa.
The Arch went on to serve a key role in the post apartheid era, chairing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission under then president Nelson Mandela. We are joined from Nairobi in Kenya by Larry Madowo.
He was -- it's not overstating it, as a clerical leader but he was also a force and those who came up against him felt that force.
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He was a tour de force, Richard, not just across South Africa but around the continent and around the world. That's why he won the Nobel prize in 1984, a full decade before apartheid ended.
Back then, his message was powerful beyond the pulpit. He was an Anglican priest but he was nonviolently opposed and he could go in places where lots of other people, politicians, clerics could not.
That's why, for instance, he is considered, among many Africans who are mourning him, one of the greatest Africans that ever lived, not as powerful as Mandela but close. He has always been this figure who spoke very strongly, sometimes brought people to tears, sometimes brought them to laughter.
But he was never equivocal. He was quite strongly opposed to apartheid and, even after the end of apartheid, he spoke out on all sorts of issues; against the Iraq War, for instance. He spoke out against any discrimination against LGBTQ people in South Africa which is controversial across the African continent.
That's the man he was beyond his message as a cleric.
QUEST: Larry Madowo, thank you.
I'm now joined by John Battersby on the phone, co-author of the book "Nelson Mandela: A Life in Photographs" and ambassador of the Tutu Foundation UK.
We appear to have lost that line.
Larry might still with be us.
No?
We will return to both of those gentlemen as time moves on. So in that time, we will bring you up to date on other stories.
New COVID cases are surging and it's driven in part by the rapidly spreading Omicron. France for the first time is reporting 100,000 new cases, doubled from a week ago.
South Korea is reporting the fourth straight day of record high numbers in ICU. Omicron upended holiday travel, as COVID related staff shortages forced airlines to cancel or delay thousands of flights.
Dr. Sian Griffiths is emeritus professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She joins me now from Oxford, England. We're getting a good idea of,
to some extent, that the level of death and hospitalization means this is not COVID redux from previous spikes. South Africa's numbers seem to suggest the same.
When do you think we are out of the woods?
DR. SIAN GRIFFITHS, CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: Good morning. I think it's always very difficult to answer a question like that, because we see variants behaving in different ways in different places.
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GRIFFITHS: Omicron is spreading rapidly across Europe. Most European countries are bringing in some form of regulation, particularly as we come toward New Year's Eve celebrations.
We know Omicron is very transmissible. There's a huge spike in London but, at the same time, if you're vaccinated or you have immunity, you are less likely to have severe disease and be admitted to hospital.
However, if you've got large numbers of people with the infection, that still means it puts pressure on them. So it's a disease that is probably -- and I say that probably because it's only early research we're looking at -- probably less serious than the previous variants.
But it's just the volume and the number of cases which make it carry such a risk, not only to individuals' health but also to social --
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QUEST: Thinking about the conversations around our Christmas table yesterday with family, double vaccinated, boosted, tested that morning with a lateral flow test, to make sure, as I'm sure similar in your own household, but thinking about the conversation, people were talking about -- family was talking about, is this the future?
Where we have to live with it, so it's no longer pandemic, it's endemic; we have a testing regime and you just get on with it?
GRIFFITHS: There is an element of thinking that takes us along that line. But I hope we don't have to just get on with it, with the levels of disease we have at the current time. I think just getting on with, is we recognize COVID isn't going to go away. It's part of being immunized, part of what we put up with or what we accept in our lives, just as we accept flu vaccination, for example.
I think we know COVID isn't about to disappear but at the same time I think very high levels, such as the ones we're seeing at the current time in the U.K., in Europe, are such that do require controls in our lives, which we probably don't want to see in the longer period, longer term.
So it is a matter of the scientific developments, recognizing the problems as they come along very early, recognizing when we're about to hit a spike and getting measures into place. No, I think it's a sort of, yes, we're going to live with it but actually not at this level.
QUEST: Doctor, following on that line, forgive me for looking down, I'm looking at the latest numbers. The latest numbers in the United States show single dose, 73 percent; fully vaxed, 62 percent say; booster given, 19.5 percent.
Now if -- extrapolate from that. If the U.S. is already behind in terms of, you know, just geographically and chronologically for Omicron but only has a 19 percent booster rate -- and we know Omicron can defeat the others, although a lesser effect, should the U.S. be worried?
GRIFFITHS: Well, 19 percent is very low for third vaccine dose. We know from the research in the U.K., for example, that it is the third dose that boosts the immunity, it pushes it back up. After two doses, immunity starts to wane. If you have the third booster dose, it pushes up. It pushes up the immunity up into the 90 percent.
So I think that that is a very low level. And that it will be really very -- I expect that public health people across the U.S. are pushing boosters very hard, just as we are in the U.K.
We have a booster drive in the U.K. at the current time, really trying to get people who come to the first vaccination to come forward, to get people who have had two to get their boosters. And there are a lot of working clinics during the holiday period.
QUEST: Which is extraordinary in its own right. Vaccine on Christmas Day. Thank you.
GRIFFITHS: Thank you.
Have a good Boxing Day. A reminder to wish many of you a good Boxing Day. There's 1,001 reasons why it's called Boxing Day, none of which I'm going to go into now.
As you and I continue from cold in the West to spring-like temperatures in the South, the dangerous conditions in the Upper Plains. In the weather center we will be for the latest on the forecast.
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ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, ANGLICAN CHURCH: I am glad I was around when he was around. He's been an extraordinary -- I mean phenomenal. And you can see what one person is able to accomplish. (END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The former archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, talking there about president Nelson Mandela. Joining me now, we are able to talk to John Battersby, the co-author of the book, "Nelson Mandela: A Life in Photographs," and ambassador for the Tutu Foundation in the U.K.
It's too simplistic, is it not, just to really talk about the way he led the apartheid movement when others were in prison because, at the end of the day, without him, things could have lasted a great deal longer.
JOHN BATTERSBY, TUTU FOUNDATION UK: Yes, absolutely. I mean, Archbishop Tutu was literally a torch bearer for the liberation leaders, for Nelson Mandela and his colleagues from that generation.
He led marches through the streets of Cape Town. He was right out in front when the leaders could not speak, because they were either banned or imprisoned. He always said that, once we achieve liberation, you will see me fade into the background.
And he did exactly that except, of course, the background is a relative term. But he stood back for the liberation leaders and he held up then a torch for justice and freedom where he was as critical of the liberation leaders, when things started to go wrong in South Africa, than he had been of the apartheid leaders.
QUEST: Why did he do it against apartheid?
There were plenty of clerical leaders who kept quiet. Even though he was the first Black archbishop of Cape Town, he could -- not have turned the other way but been more muted.
When you spoke to him or heard from him, he always said it was the right thing to do.
But why did he go so far?
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BATTERSBY: I think he had that flame of justice and freedom and the yearning for liberation throughout his career, from the time he was bishop of Johannesburg and as he progressed as a cleric.
So he became more and more involved in the political struggle but he always -- he always -- he never became a politician. He was always a man of the cloth, who was there for justice and freedom.
And I think it was the circumstances of his life and having experienced firsthand the inhumanity and degradation that came with apartheid that he felt it his mission to represent -- to be the voice of the voiceless in South Africa.
QUEST: And later on, of course, not just South Africa but in his work with the elders, which was originally put forward by Sir Richard Branson, Desmond Tutu was one of the elders. And he continued in this spirit of this seeking -- I was going to say seeking justice but it was more than that; it was seeking justice with reconciliation.
BATTERSBY: Yes, absolutely. I mean, he was -- you know, he coined the term "the rainbow nation" in South Africa. and he spoke -- he sat down, you know, and spoke to the apartheid leaders.
He spoke to leaders from every area. When South Africa was going through the most painful times during the liberation struggle, when there were so-called necklacing taking place, of suspected collaborators, where they put the tire around the neck of some unsuspecting young activists, who were suspected of being a spy for the apartheid government, and setting them alight.
And it was Desmond Tutu who would be there and actually go into the crowd while this horror was taking place and call for calm.
And so many times he wept and cried and then, of course, when he led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was an absolutely towering achievement of his -- over those years that it took place, he had to listen to pain -- the pain and suffering of the oppressed every day.
And this is what forged him and this is what made him a custodian of the liberation struggle in South Africa.
QUEST: John, I'm grateful this morning, this Boxing Day morning that you're taking time to reflect and remember. Thank you, sir.
Other news that I need to bring to your attention. It wouldn't be Christmas if it wasn't a story of weather. Whether the weather, says the meteorologist. Karen Maginnis will be with us later to talk to us about the weather and bring us up to date, exactly where it is and what we are expecting after the break. We'll be back after this.
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QUEST: Before we go, a look at the pope's annual Christmas Day message, where Pope Francis reflected on the importance of connection and healthy social relationships, especially during the pandemic. John Allen is in Rome.
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JOHN ALLEN, CNN SR. VATICAN ANALYST: It was a clearly somber and yet still hopeful Pope Francis, who celebrated Christmas in the Vatican under a rainy, gray Roman sky. The pontiff delivered his annual Urbi et Orbi message, that's "to the city and to the world."
[04:55:00] ALLEN: Usually a 180 degree review of the global situation.
And, of course, the pope concentrated in a particular way on the coronavirus pandemic, not only repeating his frequent calls for global justice and access to vaccines but also expressing concern for the social impact of the pandemic; that is, women who were being abused because they're trapped at home, children being bullied, elderly people who were isolated, alone and afraid.
In response to that, the pope called for a culture of dialogue and encounter; that is, reaching out to people and listening to what's on their hearts and minds, trying to be present to them. And the pope insisted that, if you do that, even in the era of Omicron, there is still hope -- for CNN, this is John Allen in Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: That question of hope was absolutely the story of this TSA officer, saving a baby's life. If you've already seen it, you'll want to see it again. If you haven't, you'll want to see it.
It's the security video from Newark airport. Cecilia Morales, there she is at the bottom of the screen, she jumps over the conveyor belt at a security checkpoint. She's helping a 2-month-old baby boy, who was choking.
Morales served as an EMT, emergency medical technician, for 10 years before joining the TSA in late October. She was the right person in the right place at exactly the right time and she knew her duty and exactly what to do. There you see it. Well worth it.
I am Richard Quest in London. I will have more in the CNN NEWSROOM as we continue. This is CNN.
