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CNN Sunday Morning
Pope John Paul II Proclaims Five New Spanish Saints
Aired May 04, 2003 - 08:10 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: As we mentioned before, Pope John Paul II is in Madrid, Spain today for a canonization mass. He proclaimed five new Spanish saints during an open air Mass attended by about a million people.
Our Jim Bittermann joins us now from Madrid, Spain -- Jim.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Anderson. Yes, those million people are pretty much on their way home. Although, a few of them are hanging out here in the piazza -- the Plaza de Cologne, the Columbus Plaza here in the center of Madrid, just visiting, having lunch and talking with each other. The kind of thing you might see in any square in any Spanish town or village.
Except, this isn't any town or village, this is Madrid and it was a papal Mass. It was held before a million people or more. We're not sure exactly. The police haven't come up with an estimate yet, but they're talking about at least a million people that were in this square. This is the major intersection of two large boulevards and it basically blocked of the center of town, so that the pope can come out here and have this open air Mass, and as you mentioned, canonize five new Spanish saints.
Now, this is the kind of thing the pope does in a lot of different countries where he goes. His thinking is that if you bring to the fore very devout Christians and very devout Catholics in front of the local populations, it will give them a chance to identify perhaps with the saints. And perhaps encourage them to lead a little better life. In fact, one of the big banners in the square says, "You, too, can be a saint."
Pope right now is having lunch with the bishops of Spain. He's going to have a meeting with the royal family here a later on in the afternoon and then head for the airport out of town, leaving behind a couple of different messages. One, the message he preached to young people last night. A very strong message about peace and urging them to be against war, and then the message today -- to the crowds today about not forgetting their Christian roots. That in a country that many people say is becoming very secular, losing that sort of image of the Catholic Spain, which you remember from maybe a few decades ago -- Anderson.
COOPER: Jim, does the pope have any more trips planned that at least have been publicly announced?
BITTERMANN: Well, there is a couple that are in the offing. We are pretty sure there's going to be a trip to Croatia. There's a trip to Bosnia also being talked about. One that's still in the sketching stages, but they're talking about a trip to Mongolia later on in this summer. So, there are some trips in the offing.
And some of the Spanish newspapers were saying this morning, that this trip here, as short as it was, 31 hours was really kind of a rehearsal for some of those other trips, to see after nine months of not traveling, to see if the pope can travel. And especially can use some of these new devices that we have seen in played this morning, this rolling throne that he has. A rolling hydraulic throne, which allows him to celebrate Mass from a sitting position. And by all the evidence we saw this morning, I think they would say that things went very well indeed.
COOPER: All right. Jim Bittermann, thanks very much.
Now, in October on the 25 anniversary of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II will beatify Mother Teresa. She qualified after it was determined she was responsible for a miracle. Mother Teresa, who died in 1997, is in line now to become the seventh Saint Teresa.
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 May 4, 2003 - 08:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: As we mentioned before, Pope John Paul II is in Madrid, Spain today for a canonization mass. He proclaimed five new Spanish saints during an open air Mass attended by about a million people.
Our Jim Bittermann joins us now from Madrid, Spain -- Jim.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Anderson. Yes, those million people are pretty much on their way home. Although, a few of them are hanging out here in the piazza -- the Plaza de Cologne, the Columbus Plaza here in the center of Madrid, just visiting, having lunch and talking with each other. The kind of thing you might see in any square in any Spanish town or village.
Except, this isn't any town or village, this is Madrid and it was a papal Mass. It was held before a million people or more. We're not sure exactly. The police haven't come up with an estimate yet, but they're talking about at least a million people that were in this square. This is the major intersection of two large boulevards and it basically blocked of the center of town, so that the pope can come out here and have this open air Mass, and as you mentioned, canonize five new Spanish saints.
Now, this is the kind of thing the pope does in a lot of different countries where he goes. His thinking is that if you bring to the fore very devout Christians and very devout Catholics in front of the local populations, it will give them a chance to identify perhaps with the saints. And perhaps encourage them to lead a little better life. In fact, one of the big banners in the square says, "You, too, can be a saint."
Pope right now is having lunch with the bishops of Spain. He's going to have a meeting with the royal family here a later on in the afternoon and then head for the airport out of town, leaving behind a couple of different messages. One, the message he preached to young people last night. A very strong message about peace and urging them to be against war, and then the message today -- to the crowds today about not forgetting their Christian roots. That in a country that many people say is becoming very secular, losing that sort of image of the Catholic Spain, which you remember from maybe a few decades ago -- Anderson.
COOPER: Jim, does the pope have any more trips planned that at least have been publicly announced?
BITTERMANN: Well, there is a couple that are in the offing. We are pretty sure there's going to be a trip to Croatia. There's a trip to Bosnia also being talked about. One that's still in the sketching stages, but they're talking about a trip to Mongolia later on in this summer. So, there are some trips in the offing.
And some of the Spanish newspapers were saying this morning, that this trip here, as short as it was, 31 hours was really kind of a rehearsal for some of those other trips, to see after nine months of not traveling, to see if the pope can travel. And especially can use some of these new devices that we have seen in played this morning, this rolling throne that he has. A rolling hydraulic throne, which allows him to celebrate Mass from a sitting position. And by all the evidence we saw this morning, I think they would say that things went very well indeed.
COOPER: All right. Jim Bittermann, thanks very much.
Now, in October on the 25 anniversary of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II will beatify Mother Teresa. She qualified after it was determined she was responsible for a miracle. Mother Teresa, who died in 1997, is in line now to become the seventh Saint Teresa.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
