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Mourners Pay Respects to Pope; Book Collects Photos of Pope; Sergeant Who Died to Save Others to Receive Medal of Honor Posthumously
Aired April 04, 2005 - 13:00 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, CO-HOST: Live pictures now as crowds gather at the Vatican, waiting to pay their last respects to Pope John Paul II. We're live from the Vatican this hour.
BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: Also this hour, as the ritual of saying good-bye to a pope goes on, we will look ahead to one of tasks awaiting the cardinals, and that is picking the next man to lead the church.
PHILLIPS: A portrait of the priest who changed the world one life at a time, Pope John Paul II in pictures from a special Vatican collection.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips.
NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen in for Miles O'Brien today. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
PHILLIPS: Pope John Paul II once said he traveled to so many countries because his people, most of them anyway, couldn't come to him. Well, today they're coming.
Two hours before John Paul's body goes on public display in St. Peter's Basilica, tens of thousands of pilgrims, mourners, disciples are packed into the square outside. Two million are expected to pay their respects between now and John Paul's funeral on Friday, itself to definitely be, in the words of Rome's mayor, a moment without precedent.
We begin this hour's coverage with CNN's Bill Hemmer and Aaron Brown. Bill, let's start with you.
BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": Hey, Kyra, thank you. You're going to have to pack an awful lot of patience to get through this, because this is an absolutely extraordinary event, the number of people that have come out here in St. Peter's Square.
These people have been in line since 3 p.m. this afternoon. That's Rome time. That was about four hours ago. This is Maria, and you're from Brendezia (ph), is that right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, Brendezia (ph) is in...
HEMMER: You're from where, then? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Latina (ph), near Rome.
HEMMER: OK. From near Rome, OK. And you've been in line for four hours?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
HEMMER: How long will you wait in order to pay your respects?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Until we can see him.
HEMMER: Could that be all night?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know because I have last train for Latina (ph) at midnight, but if it happens I will stay here.
HEMMER: What does he mean to you in order for you to come out here and possibly spend the night?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't mind. I want to stay here. That's why. I want to see him and to feel this emotion.
HEMMER: What emotion do you feel?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope he could fly over his beloved mountains. I feel like that. I imagine him like a bird who can see anyone. And he could see his mountains, because he loved hem.
HEMMER: Good luck to you tonight, OK, and thanks for talking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
HEMMER: Kyra, we have seen people from India. We ran into a group of nuns from the Congo.
Benan (ph), come on over here. We'll show our viewers at home just this enormous crowd. And they have come from all over Italy, as well, and we've even found a few folks from New York City, I believe, right? How are you folks doing tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're doing well.
HEMMER: What time did you get in line?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About four hours ago.
HEMMER: About four, so about the same time that everybody else got in line here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
HEMMER: And how long are you willing to wait?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll wait all night if we have to. So it doesn't matter what time. We want to get in there and pay our respects. HEMMER: One thing I'm trying to understand from the people who are willing to take time out of their lives to do this, you live here in Rome at this point, right? You've not come here specifically come here for this. But what did he mean to you as pope?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He meant so much. He was such a wonderful pope. Traveled all over the world and brought so many people together that I just had to be here and pay my respects.
HEMMER: How about yourself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's been my pope my whole life. I have never known another pope, and he's just a great guy.
HEMMER: How old are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm 19.
HEMMER: Have you thought about what the church will be like, maybe what the world would be like without him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It'll be different. It will definitely be different.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We could just hope the next pope is as good as he is or was.
HEMMER: Good luck tonight. You didn't bring a blanket by chance, did you? You've got a sweater? What do you have?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think all I have is this -- this T-shirt, so hopefully we'll get some of that Mediterranean weather.
HEMMER: Good luck to you. Thank you.
The crowd started, Kyra, much further down the road than I'm able to show you with this camera here. And they really started gathering right around mid-afternoon. They were frozen in place in order for the procession to begin.
This procession when Pope John Paul II's body was brought out into St. Peter's Square and then eventually into the church, St. Peter's Basilica.
We expect the official public viewing to begin in about two hours from now. It's just about 7 p.m. in the evening. It will start around 9 p.m. local time. And it will go for 21 hours a day up until Friday at the end of this week.
Kyra, back to you now at the CNN center.
PHILLIPS: All right. Our Bill Hemmer there on the streets of Rome. Thanks so much.
NGUYEN: He made a lot of history, set a lot of records and broke a lot of molds. But the world's farewell to Pope John Paul II, a pope some are already calling John Paul the Great, is steeped in ritual and tradition.
CNN's Aaron Brown is in the thick of it with a bird's-eye view of history today -- Aaron.
AARON BROWN, HOST, "NEWSNIGHT": Betty, just we -- I was just thinking as Bill was talking. Let's say that the numbers are right, that two million people will come and see the pope's body and pay their respects in that way. That is infinitesimal to the number of people over the 26 years that the pope went to visit. More people saw this pope alive in person than had seen all of the popes in the history of the church combined.
So while people will stream in here, and it will be a magnificent and moving moment, this papacy will be remembered not because of what happens over the last couple of days and the people who wait through the chilly nights and the long days, the long, warm days, but for all the people the pope himself went out to meet over the quarter century plus of his papacy.
There is some detail that has formed about how the next several days will play out. As Bill mentioned, the basilica itself will be virtually open all day except for three hours each night for people to view the body. At 10 local time, 4 Eastern Time in the United States on Friday, the mass will begin and will take place. President Bush will lead the American delegation. That will start that process.
We're in the midst of a process, as I think all of our viewers now understand, is one written over tens of -- centuries, in some respects, modified over time, but essentially now we are operating under strict -- the strict rules of the Catholic Church, a church that had to hold his funeral by the sixth day after the pope's passing, and although they could have held it earlier.
But we suspect -- we can't know this -- but we suspect that, given the number of people who want to come here, they moved it to the outer edges of that time frame. And so the funeral will be on Friday, and we will, of course, watch it and cover it.
And then begin the process of -- will then begin the process of selecting a new pope a few days after that, amidst all of the challenges, all of the complicated changes that the Roman Catholic Church faces all over the world.
We spend so much time, you and I and all of us who report on this, talking about the challenges the American branch of the church faces, whether it's this scandal or that issue, but, in fact, the church faces enormous issues in almost, literally, all corners of the planet, from Africa to Latin America to Europe, where church attendance is dwindling and church influence has dwindled.
So there are many, many challenges that await the cardinals as they come here to Rome to pay their respects, to say their good-byes and then to turn the church again forward to what is to come next.
NGUYEN: Definitely a lot that lies ahead as millions come out today to say their final good-byes. Aaron Brown, thank you, live from Rome for us -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, once it begins, the stream of mourners will flow through St. Peter's unabated for 21 hours a day through Friday morning. CNN Rome bureau chief Alessio Vinci joins us now from outside St. Peter's with his reflections and his impressions.
So much to talk to you about, Alessio. And I'm wondering if we should start by your special visit to see the pope earlier today.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, as you know for the last couple of days there was a private viewing of Pope John Paul II inside the apostolic palace, which has been for the last 26 years his home.
And in the Clementina room on the second floor of that palace, a beautiful, magnificent room over there, diplomatic -- members of the diplomatic corps as well as church officials, employees of the Vatican and some journalists have received a special invitation to be able to pay their last respects before the official public display and the lying in state begins in about two hours in St. Peter's Basilica.
It was a very emotional moment, Kyra, as we walked up the steps of this beautiful palace. We were surrounded by nuns, by priests, by laymen, by all sorts of people who spontaneously broke up in -- some in tears. Some people were praying. I've seen some of my colleagues actually crying.
I can tell you I've covered many stories, many difficult stories but to see journalists crying in such a peaceful place, it was really difficult to take. Last time I remember seeing journalists crying was on 9/11 in New York City, so that gives you a sense of -- about what the mood was inside the palace this morning -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, I want to ask you personally, I mean, so many people talked about when the pope was alive and when they had the chance to meet with him, just that they felt Christ. They felt the power of God. Now, this obviously was quite a different situation, but spiritually what did you feel? Did you feel that same power? Did you feel that movement in the room?
VINCI: A little bit. A little bit, Kyra, although, you know, it's really fast. I mean, you wait in line for 2 1/2 hours in the state (ph). This may have been a private viewing, but there were about 5,000 people ahead of us -- ahead of me to view -- to view the pope, so there was a lot of people.
And, you know, as you arrive there, you enter the room. I mean, there is, of course, you hear the rosary being recited. You hear the beautiful music. You approach the body of the pope. You spend there a maximum of 10, 15 seconds, if at all, because obviously church officials and those in charge of organizing all this were trying to move people quickly, because they had long lines and they knew that eventually a couple hours later they had to move the pope into the basilica because actually this is a people's pope and they wanted to return the pope to the people. And, therefore, when you are there, I mean, you spend just a few seconds -- I can tell you, I've had a chance to see the pope two or three times only sort of at close range, if you want. One of them was when I had an opportunity to fly back from Krakow in Poland into Rome. And we were given the opportunity, some journalists were brought in the front of the plane where the pope sat. And I was able to sit next to him for about maybe 10, 15 seconds.
At that moment, you know, having covered and said so many words about the pope, you felt that you wanted to say something really smart, something that really would be, you know, touching him, but I really didn't know what to say. So the only thing I could say is, "Sir, as a young man I would like to tell you that your strength and your endurance is really encouraging." It was the only thing I could say but I mean, I can tell you he didn't really answer, I think. But it was a very powerful moment and so to see him -- that was the last time I saw him at close range.
And then of course, to see him this morning without life inside him, it was a powerful moment. I must admit that.
PHILLIPS: No doubt. Probably pretty intimidating, I can just imagine. I'm jealous that you even had a few moments of his time. Alessio Vinci, live from Rome, thank you very much.
NGUYEN: I love the fact that he shared that with us.
Well, 117 cardinals set to decide who will lead the church. We will talk about some of the top contenders. That is ahead on LIVE FROM.
Also ahead, moments in time from a man with timeless appeal. We'll talk with a former member of the Vatican press corps who has put together an amazing collection of photographs from John Paul's papacy.
And also ahead, honoring the sacrifice of one man who gave his life so his platoon could make it out of Iraq alive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We talked a little about when he was a young child, the things that he was involved with. And I noticed one picture that you have in your book, and that's of John Paul II with Clint Eastwood. And I don't think a lot of people know that he was involved in drama clubs and speech team as a young kid.
SISTER MARY ANN WALSH, U.S. CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS: Oh, very much so, and I think that was an important part of preparation for his priesthood. You know, I have found, you know, if you go to mass, sometimes a preacher is particularly good, and often when I've looked into the person's background is he had training in drama.
You know, the liturgy is a drama. It's a dramatic representation or recreation of the death and resurrection of Jesus. And those who are comfortable with drama understand it and are able to convey it, maybe just even a little more adequately than others. And I think the pope had that.
PHILLIPS: Absolutely. And another important part of priesthood, and we talked about it before, of course, is prayer. And even as a young child his friends said he always had such a deep sense of prayer, an intense way of praying, as though he was in meditation for hours and hours.
How often did he pray? How long did he pray? These pictures -- there's a number of them in the book that are pretty powerful.
WALSH: Well, I think it was Archbishop Regali (ph) said that in St. Louis when the Holy Father visited there, and then he stayed at Archbishop Regali (ph) -- Cardinal Regali (ph) now, stayed at his residence, he began the day with 90 minutes of meditation. And I think the pope went into prayer many times during the day.
People who have been with him sometimes said it almost had a mystical quality. He could be so lost in prayer. And he died the day the -- before the Feast of Blessed Faustina, a mystic from Poland whom he had great admiration for.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about all the children that he met with throughout the 20 plus years and how he talked so much about family values. I mean, the love that he showed for children, just the way he embraced children was incredible.
WALSH: Oh, it was, and journalists used to -- not journalists, everybody, when they figured this out almost as a trick would have a little child with them and get to the front of the staging area, because they knew that would make the Holy Father come to them.
I think Tim Russert was shameless with doing that himself. He had his little boy, now he's a college student, but wearing a T-shirt with "Totus Tuus," the pope's motto.
PHILLIPS: You would know he'd get the exclusive if he had his son right up there in front.
WALSH: He had him right there with him.
PHILLIPS: Well, along with the children, he also worked with a lot of young couples and a lot of families. He counseled them.
WALSH: And college students, as well. I think one of the greatest parts of the legacy of John Paul II has been his work with young people.
You know, on World Youth Day in Denver in 1993, we realized that we'd been saying in the Catholic Church that the young people were the church of the future, and that World Youth Day when we saw them with the Holy Father, we thought they're the church of now. And the way he interacted with them was very moving. He could be very tired after a long day, and he would walk out onto that stage and see the young people. And it was as if he got young before your eyes. It was fascinating to watch. And he conveyed to them that he liked them and the young people conveyed back they appreciated that. He called them to ideals. You know, he said -- it wasn't be a "c" student in spirituality; it was aim for the top. And they responded to it. He believed they could do it and they believed they could do it.
PHILLIPS: He also met with so many world leaders. And you displayed this in your book. He talked about the meaning of a human being was Christ, and he saw Christ in everyone from Fidel Castro to Arafat to the Dalai Lama to Mother Teresa. It's unbelievable the people that he met with. He just never said no, and he always seemed to have words of encouragement for every single type of political leader.
WALSH: Oh, I think he felt that -- he felt he was pastor of the world, you know. All those visits around the world, the media and I was part of you, would tend to look at the political implications of them. But they were all primarily pastoral visits so he would see the -- even the leaders as being part of his pastoral visit to a country.
You know, and some of the leaders had beliefs that he would agree with wholeheartedly. Some, as you mentioned, would be the complete opposite.
I remember being moved when Gorbachev visited the Vatican. I thought, would we ever think we'd see that? But he could reach out to them, and they felt they could reach out to him.
PHILLIPS: His...
WALSH: The Vatican plays an interesting part in diplomacy. Many countries that don't talk to one another directly will talk to one another through the Vatican, through Vatican diplomacy, just a further extension of the mission of the church that the Holy Father so strongly believed in.
PHILLIPS: And not only diplomacy but, boy, was he creative and did he have a sense of humor? I loved the picture in the tipi when he went to go visit the American Indians. I believe it was in Santa Fe. He really respected cultures and traditions.
WALSH: Oh, he did. He did. And you see that when he went to African countries he would don aspects of African dress. In Asian countries, the same thing. I think it was part of his sense of enculturization, being one with the people. This is important to the people. It's important to let the people know that you identify with them and, as a master of symbol, he realized he could do that even through, you know, a piece of clothing, or visiting the tipi.
PHILLIPS: Well, speaking of master of symbol, we're going to end on picture of the day here, Sister Mary. And that is with the koala when he went to Australia. Definitely showing true symbolism and his sense of humor.
WALSH: That was kind of controversial with the book. Some people said that's a silly picture, but that absolutely captured me, very funny and reflecting the sense of humor that I saw in the Holy Father.
PHILLIPS: That indeed. Sister Mary Ann Walsh, thank you so much. Once again, the book "The Light for the World." Beautiful collection of Vatican pictures and reflections, beautiful essays in there about personal relationships with the pope. Thanks for your time today, live from Rome.
WALSH: Thank you.
NGUYEN: President Bush will be among scores of world leaders who will attend the funeral of a fellow head of state in the largest church in Christendom.
Today, though, Mr. Bush is hosting and toasting another colleague, the recently dramatically elected Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko. The two met reporters after Oval Office talks on Iraq, Eastern Europe and weapons proliferation. But there, too, their thoughts turned to the pope.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He will go -- he will show people that one man can make a difference in people's lives. He's a courageous person. He's a moral person. He was a godly person.
And he's had huge influence, Steve, not only amongst, for example, young people in America but around the world. One of his great legacies will be the influence he had on the young.
He spoke to the poor. He spoke to morality and, of course, he was a man of peace and he didn't like -- he didn't like war. And I fully understood that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And we are just learning that President Bush will be leaving on Wednesday to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II, which will take place on Friday in Rome.
Now, the next order of business for Mr. Bush today is presenting the Medal of Honor, America's highest military award, to a G.I. killed two years ago today in Iraq. Eleven-year-old David Smith will stand in for his dad, Army Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith in a White House ceremony two hours from now.
CNN's Rick Sanchez reports on the act of bravery behind the first Medal of Honor from the Iraq war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Specialist Michael Seaman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Echo Company, 27 Infantry Battalion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Specialist of the United States Army. SGT. MATTHEW KELLER, U.S. ARMY: Sergeant Matthew Keller, 27 infantry.
RICK SANCHEZ, CO-HOST, "CNN LIVE TODAY" (voice-over): Four names, four soldiers, four lives that could have ended but not for the courage of one man.
(on camera) You'd say he may have saved the lives of some 40 men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
KELLER: I remember flying all around. I could hear them zipping by my ears. At one point in time, RPG blasts knocked me to the ground. They were doing whatever they could to kill us.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): April 2003. The men of the 11th Engineer Battalion find themselves on the outskirts of Baghdad near the airport with orders to build a jail for Iraqi prisoners. Suddenly, this rather routine job turns into a hellish nightmare.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look out!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They started throwing hand grenades over the walls, and that's when -- that's when the main part of the battle started.
SPEC. JOHN MELE, U.S. ARMY: We were taking extremely heavy fire. There was mortar rounds. I saw mortar rounds land prior to the one that landed on my vehicle.
SANCHEZ: The G.I.'s were a small force compared to the more than 100 Iraqis attacking them. The odds were not in the Americans' favor, and they were about to get even worse. The Bradley fighting vehicle they thought would defend them suddenly runs out of ammo.
KELLER: That kind of left the entryway into the courtyard vulnerable for the enemy to overtake if they were to advance.
SANCHEZ: One heavy gun still remained. It was a .50 caliber machine gun manned by Sergeant Louis Berwarld.
SGT. LOUIS BERWARLD, U.S. ARMY: I was firing my weapon and all of a sudden, I was extremely stunned. I looked at my arm and my hand, and there was quite a bit of blood. And I started to get light- headed. And I dropped down inside of my vehicle.
SANCHEZ: Someone had to grab the gun. It was do or die. Sergeant Paul Smith did both.
MELE: And instead of having just any other soldier that all of us knew how to man a .50 cal, he could have had any one of his soldiers get up there, but instead he put his life on the line to protect us, the fellow soldiers in his platoon.
SANCHEZ: This one soldier's decision, made in just a split second, is the place where courage and destiny come together, a moment that determined the fate of his fellow soldiers.
(on camera) He saved their lives?
MELE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: How many people's lives would you have said? How many soldiers were down there on the ground?
MELE: Probably about 40 out of the 50 that were there.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): After an exhaustive firefight, Smith died from a gunshot wound to the head. He was 33 years old.
A million Americans have served in Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11. Only Sergeant Paul Ray Smith comes away with a Congressional Medal of Honor. An important tribute, no doubt, but not important enough for the men he led.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can keep the Medal of Honor. We'd rather have Sergeant Smith back.
SANCHEZ: Rick Sanchez, CNN, Ft. Stewart, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, who will be the next pope? Will he be from Africa? From Latin America? We'll go in-depth on the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
Later on LIVE FROM, Pope John Paul II reached out to Asia, home to millions of Catholics. How that region could help shape the future of Catholicism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired April 4, 2005 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Live pictures now as crowds gather at the Vatican, waiting to pay their last respects to Pope John Paul II. We're live from the Vatican this hour.
BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: Also this hour, as the ritual of saying good-bye to a pope goes on, we will look ahead to one of tasks awaiting the cardinals, and that is picking the next man to lead the church.
PHILLIPS: A portrait of the priest who changed the world one life at a time, Pope John Paul II in pictures from a special Vatican collection.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips.
NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen in for Miles O'Brien today. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
PHILLIPS: Pope John Paul II once said he traveled to so many countries because his people, most of them anyway, couldn't come to him. Well, today they're coming.
Two hours before John Paul's body goes on public display in St. Peter's Basilica, tens of thousands of pilgrims, mourners, disciples are packed into the square outside. Two million are expected to pay their respects between now and John Paul's funeral on Friday, itself to definitely be, in the words of Rome's mayor, a moment without precedent.
We begin this hour's coverage with CNN's Bill Hemmer and Aaron Brown. Bill, let's start with you.
BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": Hey, Kyra, thank you. You're going to have to pack an awful lot of patience to get through this, because this is an absolutely extraordinary event, the number of people that have come out here in St. Peter's Square.
These people have been in line since 3 p.m. this afternoon. That's Rome time. That was about four hours ago. This is Maria, and you're from Brendezia (ph), is that right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, Brendezia (ph) is in...
HEMMER: You're from where, then? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Latina (ph), near Rome.
HEMMER: OK. From near Rome, OK. And you've been in line for four hours?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
HEMMER: How long will you wait in order to pay your respects?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Until we can see him.
HEMMER: Could that be all night?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know because I have last train for Latina (ph) at midnight, but if it happens I will stay here.
HEMMER: What does he mean to you in order for you to come out here and possibly spend the night?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't mind. I want to stay here. That's why. I want to see him and to feel this emotion.
HEMMER: What emotion do you feel?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope he could fly over his beloved mountains. I feel like that. I imagine him like a bird who can see anyone. And he could see his mountains, because he loved hem.
HEMMER: Good luck to you tonight, OK, and thanks for talking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
HEMMER: Kyra, we have seen people from India. We ran into a group of nuns from the Congo.
Benan (ph), come on over here. We'll show our viewers at home just this enormous crowd. And they have come from all over Italy, as well, and we've even found a few folks from New York City, I believe, right? How are you folks doing tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're doing well.
HEMMER: What time did you get in line?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About four hours ago.
HEMMER: About four, so about the same time that everybody else got in line here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
HEMMER: And how long are you willing to wait?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll wait all night if we have to. So it doesn't matter what time. We want to get in there and pay our respects. HEMMER: One thing I'm trying to understand from the people who are willing to take time out of their lives to do this, you live here in Rome at this point, right? You've not come here specifically come here for this. But what did he mean to you as pope?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He meant so much. He was such a wonderful pope. Traveled all over the world and brought so many people together that I just had to be here and pay my respects.
HEMMER: How about yourself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's been my pope my whole life. I have never known another pope, and he's just a great guy.
HEMMER: How old are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm 19.
HEMMER: Have you thought about what the church will be like, maybe what the world would be like without him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It'll be different. It will definitely be different.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We could just hope the next pope is as good as he is or was.
HEMMER: Good luck tonight. You didn't bring a blanket by chance, did you? You've got a sweater? What do you have?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think all I have is this -- this T-shirt, so hopefully we'll get some of that Mediterranean weather.
HEMMER: Good luck to you. Thank you.
The crowd started, Kyra, much further down the road than I'm able to show you with this camera here. And they really started gathering right around mid-afternoon. They were frozen in place in order for the procession to begin.
This procession when Pope John Paul II's body was brought out into St. Peter's Square and then eventually into the church, St. Peter's Basilica.
We expect the official public viewing to begin in about two hours from now. It's just about 7 p.m. in the evening. It will start around 9 p.m. local time. And it will go for 21 hours a day up until Friday at the end of this week.
Kyra, back to you now at the CNN center.
PHILLIPS: All right. Our Bill Hemmer there on the streets of Rome. Thanks so much.
NGUYEN: He made a lot of history, set a lot of records and broke a lot of molds. But the world's farewell to Pope John Paul II, a pope some are already calling John Paul the Great, is steeped in ritual and tradition.
CNN's Aaron Brown is in the thick of it with a bird's-eye view of history today -- Aaron.
AARON BROWN, HOST, "NEWSNIGHT": Betty, just we -- I was just thinking as Bill was talking. Let's say that the numbers are right, that two million people will come and see the pope's body and pay their respects in that way. That is infinitesimal to the number of people over the 26 years that the pope went to visit. More people saw this pope alive in person than had seen all of the popes in the history of the church combined.
So while people will stream in here, and it will be a magnificent and moving moment, this papacy will be remembered not because of what happens over the last couple of days and the people who wait through the chilly nights and the long days, the long, warm days, but for all the people the pope himself went out to meet over the quarter century plus of his papacy.
There is some detail that has formed about how the next several days will play out. As Bill mentioned, the basilica itself will be virtually open all day except for three hours each night for people to view the body. At 10 local time, 4 Eastern Time in the United States on Friday, the mass will begin and will take place. President Bush will lead the American delegation. That will start that process.
We're in the midst of a process, as I think all of our viewers now understand, is one written over tens of -- centuries, in some respects, modified over time, but essentially now we are operating under strict -- the strict rules of the Catholic Church, a church that had to hold his funeral by the sixth day after the pope's passing, and although they could have held it earlier.
But we suspect -- we can't know this -- but we suspect that, given the number of people who want to come here, they moved it to the outer edges of that time frame. And so the funeral will be on Friday, and we will, of course, watch it and cover it.
And then begin the process of -- will then begin the process of selecting a new pope a few days after that, amidst all of the challenges, all of the complicated changes that the Roman Catholic Church faces all over the world.
We spend so much time, you and I and all of us who report on this, talking about the challenges the American branch of the church faces, whether it's this scandal or that issue, but, in fact, the church faces enormous issues in almost, literally, all corners of the planet, from Africa to Latin America to Europe, where church attendance is dwindling and church influence has dwindled.
So there are many, many challenges that await the cardinals as they come here to Rome to pay their respects, to say their good-byes and then to turn the church again forward to what is to come next.
NGUYEN: Definitely a lot that lies ahead as millions come out today to say their final good-byes. Aaron Brown, thank you, live from Rome for us -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, once it begins, the stream of mourners will flow through St. Peter's unabated for 21 hours a day through Friday morning. CNN Rome bureau chief Alessio Vinci joins us now from outside St. Peter's with his reflections and his impressions.
So much to talk to you about, Alessio. And I'm wondering if we should start by your special visit to see the pope earlier today.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, as you know for the last couple of days there was a private viewing of Pope John Paul II inside the apostolic palace, which has been for the last 26 years his home.
And in the Clementina room on the second floor of that palace, a beautiful, magnificent room over there, diplomatic -- members of the diplomatic corps as well as church officials, employees of the Vatican and some journalists have received a special invitation to be able to pay their last respects before the official public display and the lying in state begins in about two hours in St. Peter's Basilica.
It was a very emotional moment, Kyra, as we walked up the steps of this beautiful palace. We were surrounded by nuns, by priests, by laymen, by all sorts of people who spontaneously broke up in -- some in tears. Some people were praying. I've seen some of my colleagues actually crying.
I can tell you I've covered many stories, many difficult stories but to see journalists crying in such a peaceful place, it was really difficult to take. Last time I remember seeing journalists crying was on 9/11 in New York City, so that gives you a sense of -- about what the mood was inside the palace this morning -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, I want to ask you personally, I mean, so many people talked about when the pope was alive and when they had the chance to meet with him, just that they felt Christ. They felt the power of God. Now, this obviously was quite a different situation, but spiritually what did you feel? Did you feel that same power? Did you feel that movement in the room?
VINCI: A little bit. A little bit, Kyra, although, you know, it's really fast. I mean, you wait in line for 2 1/2 hours in the state (ph). This may have been a private viewing, but there were about 5,000 people ahead of us -- ahead of me to view -- to view the pope, so there was a lot of people.
And, you know, as you arrive there, you enter the room. I mean, there is, of course, you hear the rosary being recited. You hear the beautiful music. You approach the body of the pope. You spend there a maximum of 10, 15 seconds, if at all, because obviously church officials and those in charge of organizing all this were trying to move people quickly, because they had long lines and they knew that eventually a couple hours later they had to move the pope into the basilica because actually this is a people's pope and they wanted to return the pope to the people. And, therefore, when you are there, I mean, you spend just a few seconds -- I can tell you, I've had a chance to see the pope two or three times only sort of at close range, if you want. One of them was when I had an opportunity to fly back from Krakow in Poland into Rome. And we were given the opportunity, some journalists were brought in the front of the plane where the pope sat. And I was able to sit next to him for about maybe 10, 15 seconds.
At that moment, you know, having covered and said so many words about the pope, you felt that you wanted to say something really smart, something that really would be, you know, touching him, but I really didn't know what to say. So the only thing I could say is, "Sir, as a young man I would like to tell you that your strength and your endurance is really encouraging." It was the only thing I could say but I mean, I can tell you he didn't really answer, I think. But it was a very powerful moment and so to see him -- that was the last time I saw him at close range.
And then of course, to see him this morning without life inside him, it was a powerful moment. I must admit that.
PHILLIPS: No doubt. Probably pretty intimidating, I can just imagine. I'm jealous that you even had a few moments of his time. Alessio Vinci, live from Rome, thank you very much.
NGUYEN: I love the fact that he shared that with us.
Well, 117 cardinals set to decide who will lead the church. We will talk about some of the top contenders. That is ahead on LIVE FROM.
Also ahead, moments in time from a man with timeless appeal. We'll talk with a former member of the Vatican press corps who has put together an amazing collection of photographs from John Paul's papacy.
And also ahead, honoring the sacrifice of one man who gave his life so his platoon could make it out of Iraq alive.
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PHILLIPS: We talked a little about when he was a young child, the things that he was involved with. And I noticed one picture that you have in your book, and that's of John Paul II with Clint Eastwood. And I don't think a lot of people know that he was involved in drama clubs and speech team as a young kid.
SISTER MARY ANN WALSH, U.S. CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS: Oh, very much so, and I think that was an important part of preparation for his priesthood. You know, I have found, you know, if you go to mass, sometimes a preacher is particularly good, and often when I've looked into the person's background is he had training in drama.
You know, the liturgy is a drama. It's a dramatic representation or recreation of the death and resurrection of Jesus. And those who are comfortable with drama understand it and are able to convey it, maybe just even a little more adequately than others. And I think the pope had that.
PHILLIPS: Absolutely. And another important part of priesthood, and we talked about it before, of course, is prayer. And even as a young child his friends said he always had such a deep sense of prayer, an intense way of praying, as though he was in meditation for hours and hours.
How often did he pray? How long did he pray? These pictures -- there's a number of them in the book that are pretty powerful.
WALSH: Well, I think it was Archbishop Regali (ph) said that in St. Louis when the Holy Father visited there, and then he stayed at Archbishop Regali (ph) -- Cardinal Regali (ph) now, stayed at his residence, he began the day with 90 minutes of meditation. And I think the pope went into prayer many times during the day.
People who have been with him sometimes said it almost had a mystical quality. He could be so lost in prayer. And he died the day the -- before the Feast of Blessed Faustina, a mystic from Poland whom he had great admiration for.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about all the children that he met with throughout the 20 plus years and how he talked so much about family values. I mean, the love that he showed for children, just the way he embraced children was incredible.
WALSH: Oh, it was, and journalists used to -- not journalists, everybody, when they figured this out almost as a trick would have a little child with them and get to the front of the staging area, because they knew that would make the Holy Father come to them.
I think Tim Russert was shameless with doing that himself. He had his little boy, now he's a college student, but wearing a T-shirt with "Totus Tuus," the pope's motto.
PHILLIPS: You would know he'd get the exclusive if he had his son right up there in front.
WALSH: He had him right there with him.
PHILLIPS: Well, along with the children, he also worked with a lot of young couples and a lot of families. He counseled them.
WALSH: And college students, as well. I think one of the greatest parts of the legacy of John Paul II has been his work with young people.
You know, on World Youth Day in Denver in 1993, we realized that we'd been saying in the Catholic Church that the young people were the church of the future, and that World Youth Day when we saw them with the Holy Father, we thought they're the church of now. And the way he interacted with them was very moving. He could be very tired after a long day, and he would walk out onto that stage and see the young people. And it was as if he got young before your eyes. It was fascinating to watch. And he conveyed to them that he liked them and the young people conveyed back they appreciated that. He called them to ideals. You know, he said -- it wasn't be a "c" student in spirituality; it was aim for the top. And they responded to it. He believed they could do it and they believed they could do it.
PHILLIPS: He also met with so many world leaders. And you displayed this in your book. He talked about the meaning of a human being was Christ, and he saw Christ in everyone from Fidel Castro to Arafat to the Dalai Lama to Mother Teresa. It's unbelievable the people that he met with. He just never said no, and he always seemed to have words of encouragement for every single type of political leader.
WALSH: Oh, I think he felt that -- he felt he was pastor of the world, you know. All those visits around the world, the media and I was part of you, would tend to look at the political implications of them. But they were all primarily pastoral visits so he would see the -- even the leaders as being part of his pastoral visit to a country.
You know, and some of the leaders had beliefs that he would agree with wholeheartedly. Some, as you mentioned, would be the complete opposite.
I remember being moved when Gorbachev visited the Vatican. I thought, would we ever think we'd see that? But he could reach out to them, and they felt they could reach out to him.
PHILLIPS: His...
WALSH: The Vatican plays an interesting part in diplomacy. Many countries that don't talk to one another directly will talk to one another through the Vatican, through Vatican diplomacy, just a further extension of the mission of the church that the Holy Father so strongly believed in.
PHILLIPS: And not only diplomacy but, boy, was he creative and did he have a sense of humor? I loved the picture in the tipi when he went to go visit the American Indians. I believe it was in Santa Fe. He really respected cultures and traditions.
WALSH: Oh, he did. He did. And you see that when he went to African countries he would don aspects of African dress. In Asian countries, the same thing. I think it was part of his sense of enculturization, being one with the people. This is important to the people. It's important to let the people know that you identify with them and, as a master of symbol, he realized he could do that even through, you know, a piece of clothing, or visiting the tipi.
PHILLIPS: Well, speaking of master of symbol, we're going to end on picture of the day here, Sister Mary. And that is with the koala when he went to Australia. Definitely showing true symbolism and his sense of humor.
WALSH: That was kind of controversial with the book. Some people said that's a silly picture, but that absolutely captured me, very funny and reflecting the sense of humor that I saw in the Holy Father.
PHILLIPS: That indeed. Sister Mary Ann Walsh, thank you so much. Once again, the book "The Light for the World." Beautiful collection of Vatican pictures and reflections, beautiful essays in there about personal relationships with the pope. Thanks for your time today, live from Rome.
WALSH: Thank you.
NGUYEN: President Bush will be among scores of world leaders who will attend the funeral of a fellow head of state in the largest church in Christendom.
Today, though, Mr. Bush is hosting and toasting another colleague, the recently dramatically elected Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko. The two met reporters after Oval Office talks on Iraq, Eastern Europe and weapons proliferation. But there, too, their thoughts turned to the pope.
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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He will go -- he will show people that one man can make a difference in people's lives. He's a courageous person. He's a moral person. He was a godly person.
And he's had huge influence, Steve, not only amongst, for example, young people in America but around the world. One of his great legacies will be the influence he had on the young.
He spoke to the poor. He spoke to morality and, of course, he was a man of peace and he didn't like -- he didn't like war. And I fully understood that.
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NGUYEN: And we are just learning that President Bush will be leaving on Wednesday to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II, which will take place on Friday in Rome.
Now, the next order of business for Mr. Bush today is presenting the Medal of Honor, America's highest military award, to a G.I. killed two years ago today in Iraq. Eleven-year-old David Smith will stand in for his dad, Army Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith in a White House ceremony two hours from now.
CNN's Rick Sanchez reports on the act of bravery behind the first Medal of Honor from the Iraq war.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Specialist Michael Seaman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Echo Company, 27 Infantry Battalion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Specialist of the United States Army. SGT. MATTHEW KELLER, U.S. ARMY: Sergeant Matthew Keller, 27 infantry.
RICK SANCHEZ, CO-HOST, "CNN LIVE TODAY" (voice-over): Four names, four soldiers, four lives that could have ended but not for the courage of one man.
(on camera) You'd say he may have saved the lives of some 40 men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
KELLER: I remember flying all around. I could hear them zipping by my ears. At one point in time, RPG blasts knocked me to the ground. They were doing whatever they could to kill us.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): April 2003. The men of the 11th Engineer Battalion find themselves on the outskirts of Baghdad near the airport with orders to build a jail for Iraqi prisoners. Suddenly, this rather routine job turns into a hellish nightmare.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look out!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They started throwing hand grenades over the walls, and that's when -- that's when the main part of the battle started.
SPEC. JOHN MELE, U.S. ARMY: We were taking extremely heavy fire. There was mortar rounds. I saw mortar rounds land prior to the one that landed on my vehicle.
SANCHEZ: The G.I.'s were a small force compared to the more than 100 Iraqis attacking them. The odds were not in the Americans' favor, and they were about to get even worse. The Bradley fighting vehicle they thought would defend them suddenly runs out of ammo.
KELLER: That kind of left the entryway into the courtyard vulnerable for the enemy to overtake if they were to advance.
SANCHEZ: One heavy gun still remained. It was a .50 caliber machine gun manned by Sergeant Louis Berwarld.
SGT. LOUIS BERWARLD, U.S. ARMY: I was firing my weapon and all of a sudden, I was extremely stunned. I looked at my arm and my hand, and there was quite a bit of blood. And I started to get light- headed. And I dropped down inside of my vehicle.
SANCHEZ: Someone had to grab the gun. It was do or die. Sergeant Paul Smith did both.
MELE: And instead of having just any other soldier that all of us knew how to man a .50 cal, he could have had any one of his soldiers get up there, but instead he put his life on the line to protect us, the fellow soldiers in his platoon.
SANCHEZ: This one soldier's decision, made in just a split second, is the place where courage and destiny come together, a moment that determined the fate of his fellow soldiers.
(on camera) He saved their lives?
MELE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: How many people's lives would you have said? How many soldiers were down there on the ground?
MELE: Probably about 40 out of the 50 that were there.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): After an exhaustive firefight, Smith died from a gunshot wound to the head. He was 33 years old.
A million Americans have served in Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11. Only Sergeant Paul Ray Smith comes away with a Congressional Medal of Honor. An important tribute, no doubt, but not important enough for the men he led.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can keep the Medal of Honor. We'd rather have Sergeant Smith back.
SANCHEZ: Rick Sanchez, CNN, Ft. Stewart, Georgia.
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PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, who will be the next pope? Will he be from Africa? From Latin America? We'll go in-depth on the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
Later on LIVE FROM, Pope John Paul II reached out to Asia, home to millions of Catholics. How that region could help shape the future of Catholicism.
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