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Pope Makes 100th International Journey

Aired June 05, 2003 - 14:18   ET

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

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


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Pope John Paul II is in Croatia marking a special moment in his papacy. It is the pontiff's 100th international journey. He's marking the occasion by calling for healing in that war-torn nation.
CNN's Alessio Vinci is covering the trip. He joins us live now from Croatia wearing some Vatican yellow. Good to see you, Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Miles. Well, there is definitely a feeling here tonight in Croatian that this is a trip like no others in the past. It is indeed, as you said, the 100th trip that he makes in his 25 years as the pope, and the people of Croatia here definitely feel honored that the pope has chosen Croatia as the location to make this very special and landmark trip.

Croatians feel that the pope has a special place in his heart for this country. It is indeed a country that is predominantly Catholic. More than 80 percent of the people here are declared Catholics. It is one of two mainly Catholic countries in the Slavic world, the other one of course being the native country of the pope, Poland.

And, it was indeed this pope and the Vatican back in 1992 that among the first was to recognize Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia, so definitely here a feeling that this pope has a special place in the heart for Croatia.

But for this pope, the most traveled pontiff in the history, Miles, incredible numbers here issued by the Vatican Radio, 179 trips abroad in 25 years visiting some 600 cities, some of them even more than once, 2,300 speeches all in all he made, more than 2,300 speeches, and Vatican Radio even calculating that he has traveled at least 700,000 miles.

That's 29 times around the world. That's three times the distance between here and the moon. I'm telling you even just telling you these numbers it is really incredible to believe that a man 83 years old has managed to do so much in 25 years of his papacy.

Here in Croatia, security of course extremely tight. There is a lot of concern for his safety. Police officials telling us that a third of the entire police force of this country has been mobilized to protect him throughout his five days here in Croatia, five days he will visit five different cities in including Dubrovnik in the south and Osijek in the eastern part of the country, back to you Miles.

O'BRIEN: Alessio, John Paul has forever changed the papacy by the way he has traveled. I'm curious what compels him to be so itinerate?

VINCI: Well, I think that he understands very well how the media works. He knows that a traveling pope, a pope that travels that much is followed by the media and his message then is more covered and he also can bring that message directly to the people on the ground.

When you see him traveling, when he hits the crowd, you can really see from early on, and even today that he's a little bit sick, but he tries to see eye contact with the people. He really wants to feel the crowd. He really wants to feel the people and make sure that this message comes directly from him.

He doesn't want to sit back at the Vatican signing documents and issue religious statements and leave it up to the religious leaders on the ground to do the work for him. He wants to travel himself and tell the people what he thinks himself. He thinks that that's the best way to preach the message around the world - Miles.

O'BRIEN: And we couldn't get away without asking about is health. How is he doing?

VINCI: Look he's doing much better than he was, for example, a year ago. I traveled this time a year ago with him to (unintelligible) and Bulgaria. He looked really bad. He looks a little bit better now. The Cardinal Angelo Sadan (ph) of the secretary of state just told us that it is not the papaya as many have speculated but rather more physical therapy and more rest.

The pope is resting really a lot. I mean he's spending here five days. He has one major event every day but then he rests. He spends the rest of his time really resting and recuperating of his energies. Also to see the pictures from today, the pope doesn't walk anymore.

Everywhere he goes he's either rolled, lifted, or pushed. I mean he doesn't really move that much so he really can keep his energies for doing what he likes the best, which is talk to the people and meet the crowd - Miles.

O'BRIEN: Alessio Vinci with the pope on his 100th international journey.

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






Aired June 5, 2003 - 14:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Pope John Paul II is in Croatia marking a special moment in his papacy. It is the pontiff's 100th international journey. He's marking the occasion by calling for healing in that war-torn nation.
CNN's Alessio Vinci is covering the trip. He joins us live now from Croatia wearing some Vatican yellow. Good to see you, Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Miles. Well, there is definitely a feeling here tonight in Croatian that this is a trip like no others in the past. It is indeed, as you said, the 100th trip that he makes in his 25 years as the pope, and the people of Croatia here definitely feel honored that the pope has chosen Croatia as the location to make this very special and landmark trip.

Croatians feel that the pope has a special place in his heart for this country. It is indeed a country that is predominantly Catholic. More than 80 percent of the people here are declared Catholics. It is one of two mainly Catholic countries in the Slavic world, the other one of course being the native country of the pope, Poland.

And, it was indeed this pope and the Vatican back in 1992 that among the first was to recognize Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia, so definitely here a feeling that this pope has a special place in the heart for Croatia.

But for this pope, the most traveled pontiff in the history, Miles, incredible numbers here issued by the Vatican Radio, 179 trips abroad in 25 years visiting some 600 cities, some of them even more than once, 2,300 speeches all in all he made, more than 2,300 speeches, and Vatican Radio even calculating that he has traveled at least 700,000 miles.

That's 29 times around the world. That's three times the distance between here and the moon. I'm telling you even just telling you these numbers it is really incredible to believe that a man 83 years old has managed to do so much in 25 years of his papacy.

Here in Croatia, security of course extremely tight. There is a lot of concern for his safety. Police officials telling us that a third of the entire police force of this country has been mobilized to protect him throughout his five days here in Croatia, five days he will visit five different cities in including Dubrovnik in the south and Osijek in the eastern part of the country, back to you Miles.

O'BRIEN: Alessio, John Paul has forever changed the papacy by the way he has traveled. I'm curious what compels him to be so itinerate?

VINCI: Well, I think that he understands very well how the media works. He knows that a traveling pope, a pope that travels that much is followed by the media and his message then is more covered and he also can bring that message directly to the people on the ground.

When you see him traveling, when he hits the crowd, you can really see from early on, and even today that he's a little bit sick, but he tries to see eye contact with the people. He really wants to feel the crowd. He really wants to feel the people and make sure that this message comes directly from him.

He doesn't want to sit back at the Vatican signing documents and issue religious statements and leave it up to the religious leaders on the ground to do the work for him. He wants to travel himself and tell the people what he thinks himself. He thinks that that's the best way to preach the message around the world - Miles.

O'BRIEN: And we couldn't get away without asking about is health. How is he doing?

VINCI: Look he's doing much better than he was, for example, a year ago. I traveled this time a year ago with him to (unintelligible) and Bulgaria. He looked really bad. He looks a little bit better now. The Cardinal Angelo Sadan (ph) of the secretary of state just told us that it is not the papaya as many have speculated but rather more physical therapy and more rest.

The pope is resting really a lot. I mean he's spending here five days. He has one major event every day but then he rests. He spends the rest of his time really resting and recuperating of his energies. Also to see the pictures from today, the pope doesn't walk anymore.

Everywhere he goes he's either rolled, lifted, or pushed. I mean he doesn't really move that much so he really can keep his energies for doing what he likes the best, which is talk to the people and meet the crowd - Miles.

O'BRIEN: Alessio Vinci with the pope on his 100th international journey.

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