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Interview With Mary Ann Walsh

Aired October 15, 2003 - 14:43   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of the faithful filled St. Peter's Square as Pope John Paul II presided over his weekly public audience. Observers say the 83-year-old pope appeared reasonably healthy considering his Parkinson's disease. The audience comes one day before the official celebration marking his 25 years as pontiff. He was elected in 1978 as the first Polish pope in 455 years.
Guess you could say he's a prophet, a pastor and a pilgrim. And as he celebrates his 25th anniversary as pope, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is publishing a remarkable new book. It's called "John Paul II: A Light For The World." It features 150 photo from official Vatican photographers.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh edited the book. She joins now live from Washington. Sister, thanks for being with us.

SISTER MARY ANN WALSH, "LIGHT FOR THE WORLD": Oh, you're very welcome. I'm pleased to be here.

PHILLIPS: Well, I read the book. It's a beautiful book. The photos are fantastic. I sort of picked 10 or 11 photos I thought sort of gave us a very diverse look at this pope. The first one was back in 1984. I saw this picture and I thought wow, he's so handsome, he has such an aura about him, he's walking through with his prayer beads. This is a man who is extremely prayerful.

WALSH: Oh, he's a man -- and the pictures make it so obvious. He's comfortable with prayer. He's comfortable with nature. And indeed, he goes to nature to be inspired. I think that picture you show is one fine example of that.

PHILLIPS: I tell you, he is inspiring. Looking at the next photo, the assassination attempt in 1981, even looking at his face here, so at peace. And then not long after that, he meets with the man that shot him and said, I forgive him. This man has a tremendous amount of, I guess, an incredible heart.

WALSH: He witnesses with his very life. And that's why we include those pictures, particularly. There was some hesitation. We have so many beautiful pictures of wonderful moments. We thought, do we want to put the assassination in? But we though it was too important a moment not to include, particularly when we could follow it up with the reconciliation picture. It was an example of forgiveness that the whole world will never forget.

PHILLIPS: No doubt. That's a point well made. Something else, too, as I was looking through this book. This photo of him spending time with the Native American community. And then as I flip through the book, a lot of pictures of him with the African-American community which leads me to when he made Katherine Drexel a saint. And I remember this well because this was an amazing woman. Way back before even the civil rights movement she was developing schools for African-American and Native American children. He really honors diversity, doesn't he?

WALSH: He absolutely does. Katherine Drexel was a fine example of an American saint who used the gift she had, the money she had from her family, in order to improve the life of others. And this is a message that the pope has for all of America. Use your talent, use all of the gifts that you have to improve the world.

You know, that one picture you showed of that darling little girl hugging the pope, she had said just beforehand when they told her she was going to meet the pope, she said, Can I call him Uncle Pope?

(LAUGHTER)

WALSH: That's one of my favorite pictures, just for that reason.

PHILLIPS: I don't know if we can bring that picture up again, if we're able to reverse the shots. But that was the same reason we picked it. It was compelling and it moved us, too.

All right, let's move along. The next photo with Fidel Castro. Talk about someone who really didn't see cultural or color barriers. Here's somebody under extreme scrutiny, Fidel Castro. Yet he was right there in his face saying I love you and I accept you, no matter if you're a communist leader or not.

WALSH: I think it's very important to realize that the Vatican's role -- the pope is the moral voice for the world. And he tries to bring everyone together. Countries that don't speak to one another can at least speak through the Vatican Diplomatic Corps and the Holy Father because he relates to all people.

PHILLIPS: Very good point. That moves into our next two pictures. This one is of the pope and the Dalai Lama. Just another amazing photograph. This is a pope that loves to hug, hold hands, show affection with everyone that he meets.

WALSH: I think that picture was take taken in Asisi. The pope twice called leaders to Asisi, the home of St. Francis of Asisi, the great spokesperson for peace of all time. And he did that because he believes that religion is what can bring people together, that real appreciation of who each person is as an individual.

I know one concern the Holy Father has is that very often in our modern society, we see people for what they do, rather than who they are. The religious leaders remind us to see people for who they are.

PHILLIPS: And he definitely felt that way about Mother Teresa. We see the photo of them together. What I love about this is that usually you see the pope advising everybody else. It seems like Mother Teresa is saying to the pope -- kind of giving him direction, telling him what he should do.

WALSH: There's a great affection between the Holy Father and Mother Teresa. They shared a common understanding of the need to stand with the poor to bring awareness of the poor to everyone.

I think that has been one of the great contributions of Mother Teresa, that she could let the world know that the poor are there, are will be to be helped and also have a message for us in their own lives.

PHILLIPS: Sister, the final picture we have is a candid picture of the pope. He's just smiling, he looks so relaxed. Just in a nonprofessional environment. You don't really see the pope smile very much anymore. He's kind of -- you kind of wonder how he's feeling and what he's thinking as he's getting older now.

WALSH: Well, you understand from all the reports that his mind is very clear. He does have the debilitating effects of Parkinson's.

When you say he's smiling, it reminded me of a year ago in Toronto. I was expecting the pope to, again, not be all that responsive. And he met with the young people and he was extremely responsive to the point where I said to his aides, has there been a change in the medicine? He seems different. They said, no, it's when he's with young people, the emotion of it, the love for them enables them to even break through the debilitating aspects of Parkinson's.

So there are many pictures of the smiling pope in the book. I hope people get to enjoy that.

PHILLIPS: We noticed it. Sister Mary Ann Walsh, I know he touched you tremendously. Thank you so much for sharing these pictures with us. And we hope that folks come out and get the book. We'll show the cover of it one more time, "John Paul II: A Light For The World." Sister Mary Ann Walsh, thank you.

WALSH: Thank you.

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 October 15, 2003 - 14:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of the faithful filled St. Peter's Square as Pope John Paul II presided over his weekly public audience. Observers say the 83-year-old pope appeared reasonably healthy considering his Parkinson's disease. The audience comes one day before the official celebration marking his 25 years as pontiff. He was elected in 1978 as the first Polish pope in 455 years.
Guess you could say he's a prophet, a pastor and a pilgrim. And as he celebrates his 25th anniversary as pope, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is publishing a remarkable new book. It's called "John Paul II: A Light For The World." It features 150 photo from official Vatican photographers.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh edited the book. She joins now live from Washington. Sister, thanks for being with us.

SISTER MARY ANN WALSH, "LIGHT FOR THE WORLD": Oh, you're very welcome. I'm pleased to be here.

PHILLIPS: Well, I read the book. It's a beautiful book. The photos are fantastic. I sort of picked 10 or 11 photos I thought sort of gave us a very diverse look at this pope. The first one was back in 1984. I saw this picture and I thought wow, he's so handsome, he has such an aura about him, he's walking through with his prayer beads. This is a man who is extremely prayerful.

WALSH: Oh, he's a man -- and the pictures make it so obvious. He's comfortable with prayer. He's comfortable with nature. And indeed, he goes to nature to be inspired. I think that picture you show is one fine example of that.

PHILLIPS: I tell you, he is inspiring. Looking at the next photo, the assassination attempt in 1981, even looking at his face here, so at peace. And then not long after that, he meets with the man that shot him and said, I forgive him. This man has a tremendous amount of, I guess, an incredible heart.

WALSH: He witnesses with his very life. And that's why we include those pictures, particularly. There was some hesitation. We have so many beautiful pictures of wonderful moments. We thought, do we want to put the assassination in? But we though it was too important a moment not to include, particularly when we could follow it up with the reconciliation picture. It was an example of forgiveness that the whole world will never forget.

PHILLIPS: No doubt. That's a point well made. Something else, too, as I was looking through this book. This photo of him spending time with the Native American community. And then as I flip through the book, a lot of pictures of him with the African-American community which leads me to when he made Katherine Drexel a saint. And I remember this well because this was an amazing woman. Way back before even the civil rights movement she was developing schools for African-American and Native American children. He really honors diversity, doesn't he?

WALSH: He absolutely does. Katherine Drexel was a fine example of an American saint who used the gift she had, the money she had from her family, in order to improve the life of others. And this is a message that the pope has for all of America. Use your talent, use all of the gifts that you have to improve the world.

You know, that one picture you showed of that darling little girl hugging the pope, she had said just beforehand when they told her she was going to meet the pope, she said, Can I call him Uncle Pope?

(LAUGHTER)

WALSH: That's one of my favorite pictures, just for that reason.

PHILLIPS: I don't know if we can bring that picture up again, if we're able to reverse the shots. But that was the same reason we picked it. It was compelling and it moved us, too.

All right, let's move along. The next photo with Fidel Castro. Talk about someone who really didn't see cultural or color barriers. Here's somebody under extreme scrutiny, Fidel Castro. Yet he was right there in his face saying I love you and I accept you, no matter if you're a communist leader or not.

WALSH: I think it's very important to realize that the Vatican's role -- the pope is the moral voice for the world. And he tries to bring everyone together. Countries that don't speak to one another can at least speak through the Vatican Diplomatic Corps and the Holy Father because he relates to all people.

PHILLIPS: Very good point. That moves into our next two pictures. This one is of the pope and the Dalai Lama. Just another amazing photograph. This is a pope that loves to hug, hold hands, show affection with everyone that he meets.

WALSH: I think that picture was take taken in Asisi. The pope twice called leaders to Asisi, the home of St. Francis of Asisi, the great spokesperson for peace of all time. And he did that because he believes that religion is what can bring people together, that real appreciation of who each person is as an individual.

I know one concern the Holy Father has is that very often in our modern society, we see people for what they do, rather than who they are. The religious leaders remind us to see people for who they are.

PHILLIPS: And he definitely felt that way about Mother Teresa. We see the photo of them together. What I love about this is that usually you see the pope advising everybody else. It seems like Mother Teresa is saying to the pope -- kind of giving him direction, telling him what he should do.

WALSH: There's a great affection between the Holy Father and Mother Teresa. They shared a common understanding of the need to stand with the poor to bring awareness of the poor to everyone.

I think that has been one of the great contributions of Mother Teresa, that she could let the world know that the poor are there, are will be to be helped and also have a message for us in their own lives.

PHILLIPS: Sister, the final picture we have is a candid picture of the pope. He's just smiling, he looks so relaxed. Just in a nonprofessional environment. You don't really see the pope smile very much anymore. He's kind of -- you kind of wonder how he's feeling and what he's thinking as he's getting older now.

WALSH: Well, you understand from all the reports that his mind is very clear. He does have the debilitating effects of Parkinson's.

When you say he's smiling, it reminded me of a year ago in Toronto. I was expecting the pope to, again, not be all that responsive. And he met with the young people and he was extremely responsive to the point where I said to his aides, has there been a change in the medicine? He seems different. They said, no, it's when he's with young people, the emotion of it, the love for them enables them to even break through the debilitating aspects of Parkinson's.

So there are many pictures of the smiling pope in the book. I hope people get to enjoy that.

PHILLIPS: We noticed it. Sister Mary Ann Walsh, I know he touched you tremendously. Thank you so much for sharing these pictures with us. And we hope that folks come out and get the book. We'll show the cover of it one more time, "John Paul II: A Light For The World." Sister Mary Ann Walsh, thank you.

WALSH: Thank you.

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