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CNN Sunday Morning

Gadhafi Son Reportedly Killed; Helping Tornado Survivors

Aired May 01, 2011 - 08:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is your CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could spend part of your weekend here with us.

I do want to get you caught up on a couple of stories that are developing for this morning.

One of them a direct hit by NATO airstrikes and the Libyan government saying that one of Moammar Gadhafi's sons and three of his grandchildren were killed and the government is now vowing to retaliate. We'll get to more of that in just a second.

Also, today has been declared a day of prayer in Alabama. This, of course, comes as search efforts continue for victims of the massive tornadoes that ripped through the South. We will be going there to Alabama here shortly.

But we do need to start with this issue in Libya, where members of Moammar Gadhafi's family have been allegedly killed. That is according to a Libyan government. A spokesman is saying that the Libyan leader's son and three grandchildren -- three grandsons were killed in a NATO airstrike -- also saying that Gadhafi and his wife were in that house at the time but survived the airstrike.

This news came with celebrations. Yes. That's what broke out at the rebel capital of Benghazi after they heard the news there, even though a Libyan rebel spokesperson disputed the claims of the deaths and saying that it's a desperate attempt by Gadhafi's government to try to get sympathy.

Our Frederik Pleitgen has been in that house. We are trying to get him on the line. He did go the scene where these airstrikes did take place. We'll talk to him as soon as he is available.

But, again, we have been unable to independently confirm whether or not deaths -- deaths did take place at that house even though our reporters and our crews have been able to at least visit the site.

Meanwhile, let me turn now on the line for our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. She's with me now.

Barbara, how does this look? Is at it bad look if the world -- if Libya thinks that the United States and the NATO forces are trying to take out -- trying to take out Moammar Gadhafi?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, there's no question about that, T.J. U.S. officials are worried about exactly that, the perception that they will be seen, along with NATO, as targeting Gadhafi's family. This word all emerged about the strike last night in the Washington.

I think it's worth talking about -- pardon me -- why there's so much confusion now hours later. What U.S. and NATO officials are telling us is: unless they see the remains, to be blunt, of those who were killed, how can they be certain that Gadhafi's son and the grandchildren, of course, were killed in this airstrike. They need to see the evidence. They are very aware of the reports.

(CROSSTALK)

STARR: They are following them very closely -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Sorry about that, Barbara, it sounds like we might be getting the telephone lines here cross, we could still hear you.

Our apologies to our viewers there.

One other thing to you here, though, Barbara, even though the U.S. at every opportunity making sure the world knows this is a NATO- led campaign there. Still, what has been, in the past days and weeks, even, the U.S. role in this -- in this operation since essentially handing over operations to NATO?

STARR: Well, the U.S. has been conducting some support missions, refueling, that type of thing. But make no mistake, you know, behind- the-scenes the U.S. is very involved in this campaign. What NATO has really been focusing on in recent days and weeks are these Gadhafi command and control communications facilities right in Tripoli.

What they have been trying to do is basically cut off Gadhafi's ability to communicate and direct his own forces. And by all accounts that was one of the targets last night, a command and control facility in Tripoli.

But in the case of Gadhafi's regime, these are sites that have multiple purposes and Gadhafi's own family is often at them and uses them as a safe haven, if you will. Gadhafi's family and Colonel Gadhafi well know that these sites were being targeted. So, if family members were there, perhaps not a surprise.

But NATO and the U.S. still say repeatedly they are not specifically targeting Gadhafi. I think, of course, you know, Colonel Gadhafi just happened to be in one of these places at the time NATO bombs hit, you know, sort of so be it.

But it's going to be a question, as you said, T.J., what will the perception be -- will it be that the U.S. and NATO conducted a strike against a man and his three children -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Our Barbara Starr, on the line -- we appreciate you hopping on for us this morning, Barbara. Thank you so much. I do want to turn now to our Fred Pleitgen, who got see the house, got to see that damage firsthand. He's on the line with me now from Tripoli.

Fred, first, set the scene for our audience. Exactly what is this place? We hear about houses and compounds and things like that. Was it a military facility or not? What exactly was this place?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): T.J., well, I'm actually standing inside the compound right now and looking on it. And basically what it is, it's a compound with three structures on it, one sort of main house which they say obviously is a civilian building and there's two sort of adjacent houses where they say one of them is a place that was -- an office area and one was sort of a leisure house that they had there.

Now, the main structure inside that house is absolutely flattened by the ammunition that was obviously thrown on it. There's one very, very deep crater. And it appears to us as though the basement area seems to go several steps down. So, it appears there's several maybe bunker systems underneath it. It's very hard to tell from the vantage points that I have right now.

But, certainly, the Libyan authorities have sort of hung a carpet over that area to stop people from looking inside. It's very difficult to tell what's inside.

They obviously say that's purely a residential compound but it had no military significance. They even showed us the place where they say Saif Al-Arab Gadhafi was killed. They took to us a room where they showed us a little bit of blood and a lot of destruction that was in that area.

But they say it's purely a residential area and they say that this is a direct targeting of Moammar Gadhafi who, of course, they say was also inside the compound -- T.J.

HOLMES: But, again, Frederik, from what you're able to see and I assume it's pretty much an impossibility unless you saw bodies. But there's no way for you all, for CNN to be able to independently confirm who, if anybody, was actually killed there?

PLEITGEN: No, it's absolutely impossible. You're absolutely right. I mean, it's impossible to tell who was killed there. It's impossible also to tell what exactly this building is for.

There might be sort of little telltale signs. I mean, one of the things that you can see as I'm looking at this compound right now is that there appears to be a lot of steel and concrete. It seems to be very thick, which might indicate that it might have been used for some sort of military purpose. But, certainly, it seems to be a reinforced structure.

Now, it's not out of the question for the Gadhafi family to have bunkers underneath their houses for security reasons, and to also have reinforced roofs. So, that's -- it doesn't really tell whether or not this is a military facility. From the rubble that you have in there, it's also impossible to tell whether there was any sort of communications equipment in there, if there was any command or control infrastructure thing in there that could have been used to communicate with troops on front line. It's just simply impossible to tell.

And you're right the fact that there's no bodies in there, obviously makes it that much more difficult. But so far, there is no proof that Saif Al-Arab has been killed. The only thing that we're hearing is from neighbors who say that that they were in the area and then ran into the compound who say that they saw in there, that they tried to save them, but that he then died on the scene, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Our Frederik Pleitgen, again, literally, right now, reporting from us -- to us from the very compound that was hit by those NATO strikes that the Gadhafi government claims claimed the life of Gadhafi's son and three of his grandchildren.

We turn to the Vatican where we just saw an extraordinary few hours played out as Pope John Paul II became the Blessed John Paul.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HOLMES: And it was quite a ceremony this morning. It was the beatification of John Paul. He is now a step closer to sainthood. An estimated million-plus people were there at Vatican City and in Rome to witness the event.

John Paul is credited and has to be credit with at least one miracle in order to get this point of beatification. That miracle was healing a French nun who was suffering from Parkinson's. You can see her. That's her in white there. She's carrying a vial of the former pope's blood. That's part of that ceremony.

Just a bit from now, we will be joined by our Vatican analyst, John Allen, who's in Rome. We'll be talking to him about the next step, just the steps in this process and the festivities and ceremonies continue, I should say, there at the Vatican.

You're seeing inside St. Peter's Basilica where the coffin of John Paul II is now sitting in front of the main altar inside that basilica and thousands upon thousands of people are expected to file past and pay their respects. An extraordinary day today at the Vatican and in Rome.

And we turn back to the United States here now -- in particular, Alabama, where the governor there is declaring today a day of prayer for victims of Wednesday's deadly tornadoes.

The death toll now from six states, 339 people killed, 250 of those fatalities in Alabama alone. Also seven more counties in Alabama have received federal disaster relief declarations. This makes it easier for them to get financial aid.

Also, a little later today, top Obama administration officials are scheduled to tour tornado ravage sites in both Alabama and Mississippi. Now, the experts out there are saying insured losses could go as high as $5 billion. Again, insured losses. Not everybody out there, unfortunately, has insurance.

Reynolds Wolf is live in Tuscaloosa for us today.

Reynolds, you've been checking in, telling us all morning, really, people collecting some of those goods and telling us what they actually need. We heard that earlier that food right now is needed.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. There are so many things that people really require just try to get life back to normal. You know, it's amazing that the treasures that people give of themselves. It's also amazing, the services that people were provided.

One of the services was provided by this amazing person named Mary White.

Now, I got to tell you about her story. Now, America, you've got listen close to this.

Mary White is someone who had her home damaged by a tornado, which in Tuscaloosa is not unusual. But what makes it unusual is that her home was damaged two weeks before.

It gets better than that. The place where Mary works was also heavily destroyed by this storm. Then her car was also destroyed. The church that she attends was also damaged by this tornado.

Mary is also a nurse. And she joins us right now.

And, Mary, I understand that the day the tornado struck, you happened to be here at this church. You came here for safety and you were able to tend -- able to help, I guess roughly 100 people, right?

MARY WHITE, CHURCH MEMBER: Yes, sir.

WOLF: Can you take me back to the day of the tornado and tell us how you got here?

WHITE: My daughter-in-law's home was damaged Wednesday morning of the storm. I have three grandchildren and she wanted a safe place for my grandchildren to be during the storm. So, she had asked me if we could come to the church and seek shelter. So, that's what we were doing here.

WOLF: Now, you've gone here an hour before storm took place. But there have been watches and warnings throughout the day.

WHITE: Yes, sir.

WOLF: So, you got here, you're here for an hour and then it hit.

WHITE: Yes, sir.

WOLF: Can you tell us about that?

WHITE: Yes, sir. We were -- my husband works for utility, public utility here in town and he had called me on the radio and said, you need to seek shelter now. You know, the tornado is headed your way. So, we had a safe place in the church that we had established, in the hall.

WOLF: Sure.

WHITE: There was a small hallway with some bathrooms that we established as a safe place. So, we were, you know --

WOLF: You said the building was shaking like crazy. You said things were going nuts. People were yelling. They were screaming. And then, all of a sudden, it was very quiet.

You mentioned that you came out into the parking lot, you saw the devastation and then you began to see people coming towards the church, right?

WHITE: Yes, sir.

WOLF: And they were injured?

WHITE: Yes. Some of them were injured. Some of them were just terrified, devastated. You know, they just didn't know what had happened.

But we did have cuts, abrasions, you know --

WOLF: And you had one lady who came in who was actually a church member and she was in such bad shape, they brought her in on a door, didn't they?

WHITE: Yes, sir.

WOLF: And you saw the diagnosis. They had her go to the hospital?

WHITE: Yes, sir. She was -- she was injured badly. So, I knew that we didn't have anything here that we could really help her with. So, we -- they loaded her into the back of the truck and carried her to.

WOLF: Now, when you say you didn't have anything to help her with. You didn't have any medical supplies. You were treating these people.

But what would you do if they had a broken arm? What would you in that case?

WHITE: We just took a piece of debris, a board and tied to it an arm and, you know -- just, you know, be stabilized the arm.

WOLF: Well, thank you so much for your amazing story. That is -- it's just remarkable. We're so lucky that you were here. So many people are helping people.

And, you know, it is amazing like that, T.J., how so many people in this community have come together, some just by happenstance, just at the right place at the right time -- not only saving their own lives but, of course, helping many others -- T.J.

HOLMES: Reynolds, thanks for grabbing her. Thanks for letting us hear her story this morning. We really appreciate that.

Reynolds Wolf for us in Tuscaloosa.

And also earlier this morning, I spoke to Clayton and Angela -- Clayton Smith and Angela Kelso. They are of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Newlyweds, tied the knot days before the tornado struck and now they are without a home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAYTON SMITH, NEWLYWED & TORNADO SURVIVOR: There's nothing left at all. Really the only thing left is about two interior walls and the closet that she was able to crouch down in and that's really it. The roof, everything inside is gone now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And, again, a number of people -- somewhere, the estimates around 40 people were killed in Tuscaloosa County alone.

To find out how can you help out our friend in the South, those tornado victims, you can visit our "Impact Your World" page. That's at CNN.com/Impact.

We need to turn to weather now and this is something -- given what we've seen over the past several days, Bonnie, nobody wants to hear -- tornado watch.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Well, we have to be used to that, unfortunately, T.J., because now we're in May. And May is the month we see the most tornadoes annually.

And, right now, there is a tornado watch. We don't have a tornado on the ground, but we have the potential for a tornado to come out of any of the severe thunderstorms you see here rolling across Texas, north of Dallas, severe thunderstorm warnings, as well as to the west city. And this area here into northeast Texas, and just a tiny piece of Arkansas into Oklahoma also under a tornado watch. This goes until the noon hour local time.

And these storms have a history -- overnight, we've been tracking them. And frequent lightning strikes, but also large hail. Reports -- numerous reports of golf ball-size hail with this storm system.

So, please be careful and take cover. And remember, a tornado watch means a tornado warning can be issued at any time. So, have your NOAA weather radio turned on and be listening, no matter what you're doing today, in case you have to take cover if a tornado warning is issued. In the meantime, heavy rain is working its way across Tennessee and this is not good news.

We had flood warnings across most of the state of Tennessee and much of the Midwest. It's going to be just wet and, unfortunately, flooding -- the flood risk will continue straight into this week, T.J.

These are all warnings you see here into Arkansas and Tennessee. So, very dangerous situation emerging there.

HOLMES: All right. Bonnie Schneider on it for us this morning -- Bonnie, we appreciate you as always.

We've seen a lot of remarkable stories come out of the NFL draft. We got another one for you now. A young man, a standout, he found out he had cancer, pretty much gave up his dream on playing in the NFL -- but not so fast. A remarkable story did unfold at the NFL draft.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HOLMES: You know, quite frankly, a lot of people around this country, around the world maybe can't really find a reason to laugh. But a whole day has been set aside to laugh. And I assure you it's not just a laughing matter.

Seventeen minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twenty minutes past the hour now.

Bring in my buddy, Ray D'Alessio, from HLN sports.

A lot going on in football right now and a lot of it, the headlines aren't good.

RAY D'ALESSIO, HLN SPORTS: No.

HOLMES: Nice to see this story. It makes you feel good. Young man who thought his dream of playing in the NFL was over because of a cancer.

D'ALESSIO: Yes. We're talking about former TCU offensive lineman Marcus Cannon, T.J. And let me tell you, at the combine back in February -- I mean, this guy just had NFL scouts drilling. He's a big guy, 6'5" -- over 350 pounds.

At the time of the combine, he was projected to be a second or third round pick. But during the examination, the routine examination that the players go through at the combine, doctors discovered, you know, something is not right. They ordered up some tests and dome find out that he has non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Well, he underwent his first round of chemotherapy this week. Two days later, he gets taken by the Patriots in the fifth round. Patriots, obviously, you not concerned about his medical condition and neither is he. He says, so far, he's not feeling any side effects of the chemotherapy. He doesn't expect it. Not sure if he's going to be able to play next season, but still, if everything goes well and this guy can play for the Patriots.

So, it's certainly provide the protection that they need for their prized position in Tom Brady.

HOLMES: What are the doctors telling him about that prognosis long term? They think he's going to be OK?

D'ALESSIO: Ninety percent recovery rate. Ninety percent recovery rate. So, that's good.

HOLMES: He had no signs of anything was wrong. He had no idea, had to have been shocked.

D'ALESSIO: In years earlier, he had -- he discovered a benign tumor in his groin area, but kind of, just, you know, forgot about it. Or not forgot about it, but just kind of, you know, didn't worry about it because it was benign. And then, all of a sudden, it comes back here you know at the combine, that sure enough, he's got the non- Hodgkin's lymphoma.

HOLMES: That's all right. The Patriots, sometimes, they surprise with some of the things they do.

D'ALESSIO: Yes, they do.

HOLMES: But that's great story for the young man.

Another story here, NFL-related, but it's not a nasty NFL story, if you will. It's kind of an NFL player, you know, just stepping up, just taking it upon himself to do quite frankly what this young man needed.

D'ALESSIO: Well, I think a lot of people, of course, they know the story last month, a mother who drove her car into the Hudson River, killing three kids. The lone survivor, 10-year-old La'Shaun Armstrong, able to crawl out that window. Well, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis hears of the story, he thinks to himself, you know what? This man -- this young courageous man cannot go through life alone.

So, he reaches out to the young La'Shaun. They finally meet this week. They went bowling together. Here they were last night, Ray Lewis having a fundraiser for La'Shaun.

And he says it's not going to end here, T.J. He says that he plans to be a part of the young boy's life. With the help of Lewis' foundation, they plan to provide him with mentors, counselors and torturing.

HOLMES: And he is going to need all that.

D'ALESSIO: He's going to need all that. He really is.

But, you know, again, just a great, you know, great gesture on the part of Ray Lewis. Obviously, a lot of people remember Ray Lewis back, you know, in 2000 with the whole trial. Since then, he's really done a lot of things, you know, humanitarian-wise, that have really made him stand out from the rest of these players.

HOLMES: All right. I like the feel good NFL stories that you are able to bring me.

D'ALESSIO: Absolutely.

HOLMES: Next week, we'll get back to the lockout.

D'ALESSIO: There we go. All right, man, good to see you.

HOLMES: Good to see you, buddy. Thanks so much.

Well, in Washington, lately they haven't had a lot to laugh about. Last night, they had jokes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH MEYERS, COMEDIAN: And then, of course, there's Donald Trump. Donald Trump has been saying that he will run for president as a Republican, which is surprising, since I just assumed he was running as a joke.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: That's pretty good. We're going hear more of the political jabs from Washington, D.C. last night. If that joke from Seth Meyers did make you laugh, and, listen up, after this, we serve up a healthy dose of laughter and how it actually helps you and the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Twenty-six minutes past the hour.

Here with Nadia Bilchik, who has a very important story for us that is going to make us laugh. Now, it's not necessarily funny, though.

Set up this clip for me that we're about to see. Who was this guy?

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: We are about to see, the Swiss finance minister, uncontrollable. He is talking about cured meats. And take a look.

HOLMES: OK. Let's listen here.

BILCHIK: I'm laughing thinking about it.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

BILCHIK: I mean, this is a grown man, you understand. He's talking about a very serious matter.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HOLMES: OK, Nadia, that is outstanding. We've all been there. Sometimes, you just can't help yourself.

BILCHIK: But you notice how other people are laughing.

HOLMES: You're watching this and it's making me feel better already. But today is World Laughter Day, seriously?

BILCHIK: It's World Laughter Day.

HOLMES: OK.

BILCHIK: An Indian physician and yogi, Dr. Madan Kataria, saw the physiological benefits of laughter and he initiated a worldwide day for world peace to get together to have people laughed in celebration. Now, some people actually get together on a daily basis and groups get together and what they do they go -- ho, ho, ho, ha, ha, ha, very good, very good. And they actually combine. (INAUDIBLE).

It reduces stress. It increases immunity. And it actually releases the same kind of hormone that you would if you were running.

HOLMES: OK. Now, do these people get together? It looks like they are forcing themselves to laugh or is this something triggering it.

BILCHIK: Very good question. Exactly that.

He says you can start off with forced laughter so I thought we would try it. But -- you know, so, we start it and just going --

(CROSSTALK)

BILCHIK: He says you get the same effect if you start out with forced laughter. He's known as the guru of giggling.

But think what happens when you see somebody laugh. So, if you and I was to yawn right now, I yawn, you probably yawn.

HOLMES: Yawn as well.

BILCHIK: So, I was in the newsroom the other day talking about this and I just started trying to fabricate a false laugh. And in next minute, someone looked up and laughed. So, World Laughter Day is a way of uniting people in laughter. Let's all get together and solve the worst problems with laughter.

HOLMES: Now, what does he say about people who, quite frankly, are going through something. Maybe they don't feel like they have something to laugh about. What does he recommend for those folks?

BILCHIK: He recommends that you start out with a fabricated laugh. And it's actually all about the breath. So, you start breathing -- laughing. And what he says is if you have a gutsy, what he calls a yoga laugh, it's almost impossible once you get into a real laugh to have negative emotions simultaneously.

HOLMES: That is very interesting. Well, we all need something to laugh at. One of the favorite things to say, you got to laugh to keep from crying sometimes. So --

BILCHIK: Absolutely. Now, that President Obama made you laugh last night.

HOLMES: Yes. And we're going to be seeing more of that. Very segue. I appreciate that. I don't even have to segue to it.

Did you all see some of this last night? Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITES STATES: Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Oh that's -- that's cold. The President -- kind of let Donald Trump have it last night and Donald Trump was not necessarily laughing. You'll hear more of this in just a few minutes.

It was a remarkable day in Rome and the Vatican today and it continues. You're seeing a live picture inside St. Peter's Basilica. That right in the middle there is the coffin of Pope John Paul II who is now the Blessed John Paul II. And thousands upon thousands of people are expected to go by and pay their respects on the day that he moves one step closer to becoming a saint.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 34 minutes the hour now.

The death toll from the tornado outbreak that devastated the south continues to rise; 339 people now confirmed dead, 250 of those in Alabama alone. Seven more counties in Alabama have been designated for federal disaster assistance.

A mandatory evacuation in effect in the southwestern Illinois town of Cairo, it's being threatened by the swollen Mississippi River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers considering blowing a hole in a levee to reduce pressure on the river. People on both sides of the river, Missouri and Illinois, are worried about where that water will go.

And the Libyan government says Moammar Gadhafi's son and three grandchildren died in a NATO air strike. NATO disputes that claim. Our crews have been to the scene but not able to confirm any deaths there.

Also in Libya, people in the city of Mesrata report heavy shelling by Gadhafi forces. They say the artillery fire picked up when news that Gadhafi's son had died in an airstrike began to spring. Well, this morning in our "Faces of Faith". Solemn yet joyous event, a remarkable event in Rome: Pope John Paul II's beatification ceremony.

That is the portrait being unveiled at the ceremony for the late; this was just a few hours ago happening at the Vatican. But still you hear it, beatification. And how does that really relate to sainthood? What does this all mean as we look at the live picture inside Saint Peter's Basilica? And in the middle there you see the coffin of John Paul II, now the Blessed John Paul as thousands upon thousands of pilgrims are expected today to go past and pay some respects.

Let's get all the answers here, kind of a sainthood and beatification 101 from our Vatican analyst who knows it all, literally, John Allen, he joins me now from Rome.

John good to have you here again; let's just start with the basics, we hear saint all the time. What exactly is a saint? What does it mean to the Catholic Church?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Well, in Catholic theology T.J., a saint is somebody who is already in heaven with God and who is capable of receiving prayers from people who can bring their worries, their troubles, their needs to that saint and then, that saint will sort of -- will intercede with God to -- to try get them some help.

So if you like, this is a way of introducing a new friend in heaven to the Catholic world. You know, we talk about having friend in high places, T.J. It's about as high as it gets.

HOLMES: Literally. How many are there and how often do we get new ones?

ALLEN: Well, actually the -- the -- the number -- the total number of saints is impossible to calculate. But in terms of those who have been formally canonized, best estimate is there are somewhere around 2,200 in the Catholic Church. And in terms of how we get them, it's a -- it's a process that begins with a grassroots conviction that somebody lived a holy life. Then the church comes in to investigate and it takes one miracle to be beatified and one more miracle to be canonized.

HOLMES: All right, tell us his one miracle.

ALLEN: This was the healing of a 49-year-old French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre Normand (ph) who in 2001 was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Parkinson's disease. And as you know, T.J., there is a nice poetic art there because that's the same disease that John Paul suffered from.

In 2005 after the Pope died she prayed to him for help and on June 3rd, 2005 she reports that she was healed and has been healed ever since.

HOLMES: All right and for a lot of folks, Pope John Paul II died in 2005, here were are in 2011 and he has gotten beyond this step now, being beatified. That seems pretty quick. Is this the way it usually goes?

ALLEN: No, T.J., it isn't. I mean, my -- my joke about that is that usually in the Vatican it takes almost six years to open the mail. So the fact that you can get from John Paul's death to his beatification this quickly is extraordinary. Of course Pope Benedict set aside the normal five-year waiting period.

Other than that the Vatican will tell you that the official process was followed but clearly I think there was a strong desire here to get this done. In part because they were responding to the clear will of the people at the grassroots and, of course, you saw that popular affection for John Paul.

Here and in Rome this morning more than a million people turning out to -- to celebrate his life and his legacy.

HOLMES: How difficult is to it confirm these miracles?

HOLMES: Well, the Vatican has a pretty rigorous process actually. I mean they say for a healing to count as a miracle it has to be instantaneous, it has to be permanent. It has to be scientifically inexplicable.

And they have a bank of medical doctors in what's called the Congregation for the Causes of the Saint. It's about more than 60 doctors actually who are convened to look into these miracle reports. And if they sign off then they have a panel of theologians that look into it. Then there's a body of cardinals and archbishops that have to vote on it. And then, the Pope himself has to sign off.

So they obviously worked pretty hard T.J., to make sure that this is the real deal.

HOLMES: All right. Sainthood 101 with our professor: John Allen our Vatican analyst who is there, who has been part of really an extraordinary day. John we couldn't have made it through all of this without you, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

ALLEN: You bet, T.J.

HOLMES: All right, you can always find out much more about sainthood on the CNN Web site. You can go to CNN.com/belief. Our belief-a-blog there -- that's where religion is always a topic of conversation.

Well the topic of conversation last night, jokes. The President had an opportunity to make fun at us, the media, some of his critics and he really got back at some folks. Had some one-liners from the Annual White House Correspondent's Dinner we'll share with you in just a few minutes.

Also the politics of high gas prices is just one of the topics our Candy Crowley is going to be tackling at the top of the hour. But before she gets to the top of the hour, she's going to come, hang with me. That's in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. It is just about 18 minutes to the top of the hour. You know what time is, this is my favorite part of CNN SUNDAY MORNING. That's Candy Crowley "STATE OF THE UNION" host. She's coming up at the top of the hour.

Candy, let me just thank you for being here. I know you had a -- one of your wild Candy Crowley night last night.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": It was my wild and crazy night. Yes, just me and the President --

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Yes.

CROWLEY: -- and Paula Abdul are just hanging out.

HOLMES: Just hanging out.

CROWLEY: Yes, right.

HOLMES: What was --

(CROSSTALK)

CROWLEY: And 2,000 other people.

HOLMES: You know what, let me ask you this. And we're not supposed to be talking about the dinner but it's -- we're going to be showing some clips in a second. What really was -- it's so much, it's politics, yes, but it's so much celebrity these days now.

CROWLEY: It is.

HOLMES: What is -- what was the highlight for you last night, if there was one?

CROWLEY: You know, you -- I --

HOLMES: Oh, oh.

CROWLEY: It's -- you know, it's funny because I have to give you kind of my local answer to that.

HOLMES: Ok.

CROWLEY: There's a man named Leon Harris who used to work at CNN --

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Yes.

CROWLEY: -- who now is a local anchor here in Washington, D.C.

HOLMES: Yes.

CROWLEY: And I adore the man. And it's the first time I had seen him in a long time. So that was a highlight to me. But then I'm sort of geeky that way.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: You know --

CROWLEY: But I sat -- I sat at the table with Paula Abdul and you know.

HOLMES: That's cool.

CROWLEY: So I mean it was good (INAUDIBLE). But the highlight was seeing Leon.

HOLMES: Oh you know what, he will be so happy. I'll -- I'm going to send him a text. I stay in touch with Leon as well. And he will be pleased to know that you sat with Paula Abdul but he was actually the highlight.

Let's move on to some -- to some politics here, though. Gas prices go up. Approval ratings go down for the president. We're seeing that happen once again.

CROWLEY: Yes, we are and with very little for him to do about it.

HOLMES: Yes.

CROWLEY: Right now the big talk in this town is hey, listen here's what we ought to do. We ought to take away subsidies for the oil companies because there's sort of a double whammy going on here that's making consumers angry. One is what they're seeing at the gas pump and the other is that the top oil companies are reporting amazing profits. I mean one of them, over 50 percent increase in profit.

So those two things make for pretty angry voters at this point so there's a lot of talk now in Washington, about -- well, let's end the oil company subsidies, about $8 billion a year in tax breaks et cetera.

HOLMES: Right.

CROWLEY: So that's been a pretty hot topic and Congress is as you know is coming back and they've got debt ceilings and gas prices and budgets.

HOLMES: Yes.

That is one easy indicator for American people. You can talk about all these other things that economists can pull out this indicator what the economy doing this or that. People go outside and they have to fill up those tanks and they see those gas prices and that resonates with people more so than anything. They can see that.

The other thing here and we're not talking about this enough in the country, education.

CROWLEY: Yes. And we -- we have a great panel that we brought together: teachers unions, school principal, Senators Lamar Alexander and Michael Bennett, both of whom had been involved in education outside the Senate, to say ok, what is the problem here. And as always you get four really dedicated people around a table who all want the same thing, better education. And they differ so widely on how to go about that and that's always the sticking point.

HOLMES: I guess it's always a good place to start at least if everybody's heart is in the right and same place.

CROWLEY: Right.

HOLMES: Candy Crowley, just about 14 minutes and 45 seconds away at the top of the hour, "STATE OF THE UNION". You grab that coffee and get ready for that show. I know it's a long night for you hanging out with Leon Harris (ph).

But we'll see you in just a second, Candy. Thanks so much.

CROWLEY: Ok.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, you think there's nothing funny going on these days in Washington? Well, see if you change your mind once you see this. Some of the highlights from last night's White House Correspondents Dinner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH MEYERS, COMEDIAN: And then of course, there's Donald Trump. Donald Trump has been saying that he will run for president as a Republican, which is surprising since I just assumed he was running as a joke.

Donald Trump owns the Miss USA Pageant which is great for Republicans because it will stream line their search for a vice president.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Michele Bachmann is here, though, I understand. And she's thinking about running for president which is weird because I hear she was born in Canada. Yes, Michele, this is how it starts.

Tim Pawlenty, he seems all American, but if you heard his real middle name, Tim Hosni Pawlenty.

No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald. That's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter. Like did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggy and Tupac.

Just the other day, Matt Damon, I love Matt Damon. Love the guy. Matt Damon said he was disappointed in my performance. Well, Matt, I just saw "The Adjustment Bureau" so, right back at you, buddy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: You know, if the Donald can figure out what happened to Biggy and Tupac I would actually -- I might vote for him in that case.

Well, it's about 10 minutes to the top of the hour. You know it's just a joke folks.

Sony is getting back to the gaming business after a major security breach shut down services for more than a week. Details on what the company is doing to get your business back.

Plus, it's the new normal for millions of people who survived those deadly tornadoes in the south. Lives are changing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right.

Need to keep you updated to what's happening to our friends in the south right now in the aftermath of that deadly tornado outbreak; 339 confirmed dead, 250 of those in Alabama alone. As you can imagine, for many of these survivors life is changing immensely now. People are living in temporary shelters, counting on the help from strangers.

Bettina Boateng from CNN affiliate WVTM, with one family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETTINA BOATING, WVTM REPORTER: Holding on if you only knew what these eyes saw just days ago when epic destruction caused by deadly storms changed so many lives forcing families here at Birmingham to Boutwell Auditorium.

The sounds and sights here are of those who have been hit hard, left with nothing but --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left with this: soap and toothpaste, toothbrush and all that.

BOATENG: What they can get here at this 24-hour shelter staffed by Red Cross volunteers and those who stop by to help is support. There are families here with children like the Binder family of hard hit Pratt City.

CAMERON HUDSON, 11-YEAR-OLD STORM VICTIM: All I can do is cry because I miss my house.

BOATENG: It was his home, 11-year-old Cameron will never forget Wednesday's tornado. HUDSON: Everybody crying and shouting. I mean this is devastation.

BOATENG: What did you hope for, wish for right now?

HUDSON: Well, I don't know. Wish for it didn't happen.

BOATENG: Cameron and his brothers are now doing what his parents are trying to do, cope in a place where among rows of cots others have a similar story. And now share this place where hot meals and even a place where children play as the road towards recovery gets under way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Let me turn immediately to Bonnie Schneider now. Bonnie keeping an eye on actual tornado watches. Nobody wants to hear that right now.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, unfortunately, T.J. But in northeast Texas, the tornado watch continues and it will continue straight until the noon hour local time.

Let's take a closer look because the thunderstorms are really firing up just north of Dallas. I've been tracking these storms all morning. Some of them have been producing golf ball size hail. That would really damage your car. And you can see some of the severe thunderstorm warnings just north of Dallas and then two more that are popping up just west of the city. That means we're going to see more storms rolling eastward. These storms are moving at about 30-miles- per-hour.

Also some intense weather into parts of Oklahoma with heavy downpours of rain, and if that's not enough, Nashville just getting slammed with storms at this hour. This is all moving into eastern Tennessee; eastern Tennessee hit hard by the tornadoes last week. So heavy rain and strong winds really the last thing that they need in this part of the country.

And not to mention that with all the heavy rain the flood watches are going to be a problem. The warnings are posted well into Arkansas because we already have grounds that are saturated. The rivers are swollen. And unfortunately, what we're looking at going forward is more rain to come in to the forecast over the next few days. So we're forecasting some heavy amounts of rain, possibly several more inches. And that's why you can see we have the warnings posted for Tennessee and into Arkansas straight into the rest of this week.

We're going to be watching this.

Unfortunately, we're monitoring a lot of severe weather here. We'll have a lot more straight ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Once again a live picture inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. That is the coffin of John Paul II who today becomes the Blessed John Paul II, moving him one step closer to sainthood. He has officially been beatified and for the next several hours, we're expecting thousands of people to file past and pay their respects.

Now, I want to give you a look at some of the stories making headlines. The Libyan government claiming an overnight NATO strike has, in fact, killed one of the sons of Moammar Gadhafi and also a grandson, excuse me, three grandchildren. CNN now able to confirm that, but the bombs destroyed a house in Tripoli. Gadhafi and his wife were there at the time but a government spokesman also saying that they are in good health.

Also, the death toll from tornadoes that bore through the south now at 339 in six states; a day of prayer declared for the victims in Alabama today where at least 249 people were killed.

Also NASA could decide this morning if it will launch space shuttle Endeavor tomorrow. We should know in about 90 minutes at the space agency's morning news conference.

And game on for Sony's PlayStation after a huge security breach that allowed the theft of personal information for millions of gamers. Today the company announced that parts of the PlayStation network will be back online this week.

Thank you so much for being here with me on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Right now, Candy, it's all yours.