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Connect the World

Pope Benedict XVI Bids Farewell To the World; Luxor Governor Vows To Investigate Balloon Accident; Dow Up To Five Year High

Aired February 27, 2013 - 16:00   ET

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

BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: From Vatican City here in Rome to millions of Catholics around the world, the pope bids farewell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE BENEDICT XVI: I was deeply grateful for the understand, support and prayers of so many of you not only here in the room, but also (inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Live from Rome, this is Connect the World.

Also ahead, an Italian comic snubbed Beppe Grillo rules out a coalition with a rival as politics here remain in paralysis.

And as European stock markets bounce back after Italy's inconclusive election, the Dow surges again. We are live in New York.

The Catholic church and the Italian government are both at important crossroads tonight. And we're covering both stories for you with a special edition of Connect the World live from Rome.

First up, an emotional farewell at the Vatican. Pope Benedict gave his final public address before he steps down tomorrow. I joined the massive crowds of pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Making my way up to St. Peter's Square, I can already see there's an enormous crowd up here. I would say at least 100,000 if not more.

This is the pope's last general audience. And just behind me here they've got a road sort of cordoned off sort of all the way around St. Peter's Square. And these crowds here are waiting to see the pope, Pope Benedict XVI come past in his Popemobile. It really is a most extraordinary atmosphere. It's an absolutely beautiful day and there are flags from all over the world. You can see a Mexican flag there with the Vatican flag. There's a Chinese flag. I see Ukrainian flag just there in the crowd. And just a really peaceful atmosphere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We came from Mexico for this day here today.

ANDERSON: And how does it feel to be here today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, amazing, really.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amazing...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A really gorgeous experience, really.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It never is in your lifetime that a pope resigns, so it's only -- I think only once. So...

ANDERSON: 600 years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

ANDERSON: As the pope makes his way around St. Peter's Square in the pope mobile, I can only imagine what's going through his mind. He looks frail. He looks tired. He's an 85 year old man who has decided to stand down. And this is his last 24 hours as Pope Benedict XVI. He'll continue to be called his holiness.

BENEDICT XVI: The decision I have made after much prayers is vote of a (inaudible) trust in god's will and a deep love of Christ's church. I will continue to accompany the church with my prayers. And I ask each of you to pray for me and for the new pope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very happy to be here to express my love for Pope Benedict XVI, but at the same time I'm very sad that he's leaving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this is really unrepeatable occasion.

ANDERSON: And with the pope back in the Popemobile and leaving St. Peter's Square. I think it's fair to say this has been a day of quiet reflection for so many of the people gathered here in the crowd. A sense of pensiveness this day.

Becky Anderson, CNN, Vatican City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, let's bring in CNN's senior Vatican analyst John Action -- John Action -- sorry, John. John Allen for...

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: In action.

ANDERSON: In action -- with us tonight.

Your reflections on what was a historic day.

ALLEN: Well, my first reaction is that this was an extraordinarily unusual side of Benedict XVI. Earlier today I happened to bump in to archbishop Vincent Nichols from the UK. One of the charms of Rome in these days is that you'll bump into every Catholic you've ever met. And he said to me, I asked him his reaction. And he said this was the most unusual papal speech he will ever hear. And I think in many ways that nails it, because the thing is, you know, I have covered Benedict XVI from well before he was pope. I probably heard 500 speeches the man has given. I've never heard a speech like this, because unlike John Paul II, Benedict XVI is not one to wear his hear on his sleeve. He doesn't play his emotional register like a musical instrument. He rarely gives you insight into his inner life and yet that's what we got today.

ANDERSON: Why, then, why did we get that today, John?

ALLEN: Well, Becky, you have to bear mind that tomorrow Benedict will say goodbye to the college of cardinals and the people he's worked with in the Vatican. It's a sort of insider's farewell.

But today it was his farewell to the world, and in particular to those 1.2 billion Catholics around the world. I think he understands that he's going to be 86 in April. I mean, he's lived a long time, but he has just made the most momentous decision of that long and highly visible life. And I think he felt he owed the church and the world an explanation.

ANDERSON: CNN's Christiane Amanpour spoke, John, earlier today with Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who is of course the retired archbishop of Washington. He took part in the conclave that selected Pope Benedict eight years ago. The cardinal shared his thoughts with Christiane on the church's future. I just wanted you to have a listen to what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARRICK: This is going to be the great challenge of this conclave, I think. To be able to go back into the modality of the second Vatican council and found a brave courageous, brilliant man who said we've got to change the way we talk about things. We've got to change a lot of things - - not the doctrine, we're going to keep believing, we're going to keep following what Jesus Christ told us, but we're going to make sure that the people of this generation understand and that we help them to understand by the way we teach, by the way we preach, by the way we pray, and by the way we show we love them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: You can watch more of Christiane's interview in another special edition of Amanpour from the Vatican. That's coming up in less than an hour for viewers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa right here on CNN.

John, you're going to stay with me through the hour. Before we stop at this point, you saw the cardinals who were there stand up and applaud Pope Benedict XVI today. And amongst them could be the next leader.

ALLEN: Well, yes, that's right. I mean, the Vatican estimated there were 80 cardinals there today. So a good chunk of the 115 who are going to vote in the conclave, which we expect to take place some time late next week, the beginning of the next one.

So you're right. I mean, we may have looked not just at some princes of the church bidding farewell to the boss, but the guy who is going to be the next one to sit behind that desk.

ANDERSON: And we will talk about who we think that will be and why a little later in the hour. For the time being, John, thank you.

Like the world's Roman Catholics, Italians also face uncertainty over their next leader and future direction. Inconclusive elections, of course, in Italy producing a political deadlock that appears to be deepening. Pier Luigi Bersani's center-left coalition won the most votes barely, but not enough to form a government. He may as well forget about reaching out to Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment party which did much better than expected.

The comedian turned politicians says he won't endorse Bersani's coalition, even calling him a, quote, "dead man talking" on his webpage today.

Well, Grillo capitalized on voter backlash against aggressive belt tightening, a reminder that the battle here in Italy is really a tug of war over austerity, a dilemma shared, of course, by many countries around the world at present.

CNN's Richard Quest will have more on that after this short break.

And on the other side of the Atlantic, austerity cuts don't seem to be holding back the markets. Take a look at the big board. We're going to have more on the Dow's surge to what is a new five year high.

And also ahead, back to the classroom, Prince Harry spends time with death, school, children in Lesotho. All the details of his trip are just ahead.

This is a special edition of Connect the World live from Rome.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Right. Leaders across Europe are keeping a nervous eye on Italy as its political impasse deepens. The election deadlock here caused big drops on European markets yesterday, but they have now bounced back from those fairly heavy losses. You're going to see how they ended the day.

Italy's main index closing up 1.7 percent, not bad there. The Xetra DAC up 1 percent. The FTSE there at 1.7 as well. And Paris nearly at 2 -- I'm sorry, the FTSE up about .8 percent.

More good news. Italy managed to sell more than $5 billion worth of 10 year bonds earlier. Yields were up, though demand was strong.

Well, here in Italy, there is a real political struggle between those in favor of austerity and those fighting for growth. And that same tug of war is happening in countries all across the world as Richard Quest explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The battle across Europe between austerity and spending is raging. The Italian voters viewed as anti-austerity, a pro-growth movement. Beppe Grillo winning a quarter of the vote. But in the UK, the government is going the other way. They believe still in austerity, even though the economy contracted late last year. The prime minister says the UK must cut its deficit further and faster.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The decision of the ratings agency is a reminder of the debt and the deficit problem that this country faces. And frankly it is a warning to anyone who thinks we can walk away from it. It is absolutely vital that we continue with the work of this government that has cut the deficit by a quarter, that has a million extra private sector jobs and has interest rates at record low levels.

QUEST: Backward and forward this goes between austerity and spending. Greece, for example, voters caught between the two options. Firstly, going towards growth with Syriza, but eventually coming back to austerity in the election rerun.

How about the French voters, which went in exactly the opposite direction? Francois Hollande saying austerity is no longer inevitable and voting for growth.

The United States is having its own battle. It's not just in Europe. The Democrats and the Republicans going between austerity and spending over the latest automatic cuts to come into effect this week. Sequestration is on the cards. You can think of it as a tug of war on both sides of the Atlantic. It continues to this day.

Richard Quest, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Always, Richard, brilliantly explained there.

The U.S. is just days away from its own austerity deadline. Barring an 11th hour deal on Friday, the government there will be forced to bring in wide ranging budget cuts. And that doesn't seem to be effecting U.S. stock markets, at least, with the Dow closing at its highest for five years. Felicia Taylor joining me now from New York. And just shy, Felicia, of its all-time high.

What was behind this move higher today?

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, when Ben Bernanke speaks, Wall Street listens. And he spoke very loud today basically saying the quantitative easing, or this stimulus that we've had for the last couple of years is going to stay in place, because he doesn't anticipate that unemployment rates are going to drop to 6.5 percent for another three years, until 2016. So that's what really propped up the marketplace.

I mean, that's exactly what Wall Street wants to hear is that they're still going to get the stimulus that they've enjoyed, which doesn't really speak well for the economy, because it doesn't mean that the economy is doing any better. So it's kind of a mixed, you know, double edged sword on that one.

ANDERSON: I've never really thought that these markets acted on economic numbers or any of the sort of normal things that sort of rational -- rational people would adhere to. It's a lot of short-term buying and selling.

(LAUGHTER)

ANDERSON: Am I being an old cynic tonight?

Listen, Friday, though, is a big day for the United States. What do you see happening?

TAYLOR: Well, obviously we've got the sequestration that's going to go into place, but the thing that -- you know, I don't know if a lot of people understand that actually these budget cuts really won't take effect for a couple of weeks. So the market has already priced it in. It's not really anticipating anything serious happening for at least 14 days, because you have to obviously get the numbers to trickle into the marketplace for them to actually take effect. So it's priced it in. It doesn't anticipate that there's going to be any kind of movement. It's called punting. And the date has just been moved to a separate date and that's what Wall Street believes.

So as far as Wall Street is concerned, it's going to be a nonevent.

ANDERSON: All right. The all-time closing -- I'm just looking at this. You're closing out there around about 14,075. The all-time closing high 14,164, so just shy of that as we've said. I would, if I was a betting girl hazard a guess that if you reach that point, there might be a bit of a selloff as people see that as a sort of technical level. But who am I to say? And I'm not a betting girl anyway.

TAYLOR: You're a smart girl.

ANDERSON: ...out of New York for you this evening. Felicia out of New York for you this evening.

Buying on the rumors, selling on the fact. I do watch that market. It may drop a little after Friday.

All right, live from Rome, this is Connect the World. Coming up, remembering the victims of Tuesday's hot air balloon crash. We're going to have more on that ongoing investigation in Egypt. Do stay with us. This is a special edition of Connect the World live from Rome.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: All right. Live from Rome, you're watching Connect the World. I'm Becky Anderson for you.

Now what are we going to do next? A field in Egypt is now a makeshift memorial honoring the 19 victims of today's hot air balloon tragedy -- Tuesday's, I'm sorry. The governor of Luxor has banned all hot air balloon flights until further notice and is said an official investigation could take up to two weeks.

CNN's Reza Sayah has more.

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Becky, we talked to the local governor here in Luxor. And he told us it's going to take investigators at least another two weeks to find the exact cause of this balloon crash, but a preliminary investigation indicates that the cause could have had something to do with a terrible mishap that happened seconds before this balloon was to land.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAYAH: Gut wrenching reminders of what experts believe to be the deadliest hot air balloon accident ever. Yasmela Yessen (ph) lives nearby. She heard the screams. Like any seven year old she asked questions.

"I couldn't tell her there were people on fire," her father said. "You can't. I was trying to convince myself it didn't happen. I couldn't believe it."

At the crash site on Wednesday, a memorial ceremony for the 19 tourists who lost their lives and a promise by the local governor to find out what happened.

EZZAT SAAD, LUXOR GOVERNOR: We will let them know all the details. They have the right to know that.

SAYAH: A day earlier, a tourist captured the balloon's final moments. Investigators say the balloon was seconds away from landing when things went horribly wrong.

This is the imprint the balloon left on the wheat field it crashed on to. This is how big it was. Investigators say as the balloon was coming down, a landing crew tossed over a landing cable that hit and broke off a gas pipe. That set off a fire that launched the balloon right back up in the air. At that point, the 21 people on board had seconds to decide: stay put or jump out.

Investigators say three people jumped out, two survived, the rest stayed on board a balloon that was now on fire and out of control. Flames eventually devoured the balloon. What was left plunged to the ground killing everyone on board.

"We came to save the people and the tank exploded. When it blew up, we stepped back."

SAAD: It's terrible. You feel like maybe you're going to cry.

SAYAH: Local travel agent Osama Abdel Ghani (ph) is mourning the loss of the tourists. He also worries about the impact of the accident on local tourism.

Tourism here in Luxor and elsewhere in Egypt was already hurting with many restaurants and cafes sitting empty, that's because the violence and unrest that came with the 2011 revolution scared a lot of visitors away.

Government officials and business owners here are already on a campaign to remind tourists of what they call a solid safety record for hot air balloons.

SAAD: This is the first time with victims as we have seen. And that's why we think that we -- this incident will not have a big, or a decisive impact on the flow of tourists to our govern (ph).

SAYAH: For now, tourists visiting Luxor will not be able to ride its famed balloons until investigators find out the exact cause of Tuesday's crash.

Several relatives of the victims arrived in Cairo today to claim the remains of their loved ones. In the meantime, the two lone survivors continue to recover from their injuries. The Egyptian pilot who suffered third degree burns on his arms and other parts of his body and then the lone tourist who survived, the British citizen. Remarkably doctors say he only suffered minor injuries. But you have to think about the mental anguish he's going through, because he survived and his wife didn't. His wife one of the 18 tourists who remained on board that hot air balloon, Becky.

ANDERSON: Reza Sayah reporting.

Well, talks on Iran's nuclear program have wrapped up in Kazakhstan with a pledge for negotiations to continue. Although there were no major breakthroughts, both Iran and the six major powers say that the meeting was useful. They'll meet again next month in Istanbul.

Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour spoke exclusively to Iran's top nuclear negotiator. Not surprisingly Saeed Jalili reiterated his country's right to develop their nuclear program without interference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAEED JALILI, IRAN CHIEF NUCLEAR NEGOTIATOR (through translator): Our facilities, the nuclear facilities which are working under the supervision of the IAEA, such as Fordo, there is no logic from our point of view to be shut down while we saw that they have paid attention to this point.

Therefore, it is considered from our point of view a positive step. Facilities which are working under the supervision of the IAEA and they have peaceful activities. They have recognized this right. We consider enrichment as our whole right. We said it before, therefore enrichment of - - the issue of enrichment is not a legal issue, and they did not raise such a thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, the six powers maintain it's time for Iran to stop enriching Uranium to 20 percent and shut down it's Fordo enrichment facility. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry touched on the issue during his visit to France earlier today saying, and I quote, "Iran knows what it needs to do. The president has made clear his determination to implement his policy that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon."

Well, a few hours ago John Kerry arrived here in Rome, his fourth stop on a nine country tour, his first official overseas visit as U.S. Secretary of State. He's already had a meeting with the NATO general -- Secretary- General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and is now holding talks with European officials.

And before he leaves, he's due to meet with leaders of the Syrian opposition council.

So far, Kerry has been to London, Berlin, Paris and Rome. As he spent the night here he goes on to then Ankara where the conflict in Syria will no doubt top the agenda.

Then to Cairo to meet Egyptian officials and members of the Arab League. And from there he travel to Saudi and Abu Dhabi and finally ends his trip in Qatar.

Well, earlier this Wednesday, a gunman in Switzerland shot and killed two people before killing himself. Police told local media he was an employee at a lumber plant near the Swiss city of Lucerne. Seven people are reportedly to be seriously wounded, at least four of them were air lifted to hospital earlier. The gunman had worked for the wood panel manufacturer for quite some time, we're told. His motives, though, remain unknown.

You're watching Connect the World live from Rome as Pope Benedict XVI wraps up his last full day as pontiff. The latest world news headlines are just ahead.

Plus, an ex-butler leaked papers and insistent on secrecy. Rumors of widespread corruption inside the Vatican walls just will not go away. An in depth look at that is next.

And a recipe for success. Prince Harry visits his charity in Lesotho and plans to expand across five more countries.

Her hips don't lie, but her boyfriend's employers thought he might have a reason to. More on why one of Europe's top football teams is accused of spying.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: CNN. You're watching Connect the World. Top stories this hour.

A final public farewell for Pope Benedict XVI. Huge crowds cheered and waved as the Popemobile made its way through St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. The pope told the crowds he is stepping down Thursday for the good of the church.

A late rally on Wall Street helped the Dow soar to a five year high today. It ended up 175 points to close at 14,075. Investors encouraged by upbeat housing data and more indications that the Fed, the Federal Reserve continues to support economic stimulus.

And some news just coming into us here at CNN Center. Shares in Groupon, the online voucher site, have plunged more than 20 percent. That's after the company reported a much bigger quarterly loss than expected. Do watch those on the open on Thursday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Rome for talks on the conflict in Syria after meeting with the French president and the French foreign minister in Paris Wednesday. During a news conference, the top -- new top US diplomat says that France and the US are looking at ways to, and I quote, "accelerate the political transition in Syria."

An employee killed two people before shooting and killing himself at a lumber plant near the Swiss city of Lucerne. Police tell local media that seven people were hurt in the shooting, six of them seriously. The gunmen had worked for the wood panel manufacturer for quite some time. His motives are still not known.

Well, the pope acknowledged stormy waters in his good-bye message to the faithful earlier today, but he says he knew the boat would never sink because God was with them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE BENEDICT XVI (through translator): Dear friends. God leads his church and sustains it always, especially in difficult moments. Let us not lose this vision faith, which is the only true vision of the path of the church and the word.

In our hearts, in the heart of each of us, have always the delightful certainty that the Lord is near you, that he doesn't abandon you, that he's close to you and that he shelters you with his love. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, it is no secret that the Vatican has been beset by scandals, but they don't stop at sex abuse. The last year, explosive leaks from the pope's ex-butler painting a picture of deep-seated financial corruption within the church. It's led many to speculate that this may be behind the pope's departure. CNN's Jim Bittermann reports at what's being dubbed "Vati-leaks."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As much as sexual scandals and innuendo have come to a boil in the last days of Pope Benedict XVI's reign, what is proving equally damaging to his legacy are the simmering stories of disarray, corruption, and infighting in the management of the Vatican. The pope himself has repeatedly over past months made references to it.

POPE BENEDICT XVI (through translator): The sins against the unity of the church, of the divisions in the body of the church, living Lent in a more intense and evident ecclesial communion, overcoming individualism and rivalry.

BITTERMANN: The secret documents leaked last year by the pope's butler, according to the reporter who first published them, painted a devastating picture of an isolated pope surrounded by members of the Italian curia who actively impeded his efforts, something that surprised the author.

GIANLUIGI NUZZI, AUTHOR (through translator): The pope's loneliness in front of what is happening in the Vatican. A pope that was alone and was left alone. A pope who was a great theologian but who hasn't succeeded in bringing forth his reforms in the battle for transparency.

BITTERMANN: In fact, Nuzzi, whose book is now coming out in English, entitled "Ratzinger Was Afraid," believes the butler took the risk of leaking the documents precisely because he believed making the public would help the pope in his battle to restore order.

BITTERMANN (on camera): According to Nuzzi, the corruption that the pope tried but failed to root out including kickbacks on government contracts, money laundering, and influence peddling among other things. And the author paints Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone as the villain in the piece.

BITTERMANN (voice-over): It was Bertone who very publicly heaped lavish praise on the departing pope at his last public mass, to which the pope dryly responded --

POPE BENEDICT XVI: Grazie. Torniamo preghiera.

BITTERMANN: "Thank you, and let's get back to prayer" Many of the accusations of mismanagement center around the Vatican bank, as they have for decades.

The bank, which is not a bank at all but a kind of wealth management fund, which oversees billions of dollars in investments, first attracted attention in the 1980s when an Italian banking official was found hanging from a bridge in London. It was classified a murder, but never solved.

The banker had done business with the Vatican institution, and is then director, American archbishop Paul Marcinkus, who Italian police unsuccessfully tried to arrest. Eventually, he was forced to retire.

Last year, as the butler's stolen documents came to light, the bank's board of directors fired its president saying he was not up to the job. Early this month, the pope named a replacement, but not until Italian banks, citing a lack of transparency, cut of all services to the Vatican, including credit cards.

The problem, experts say, is that the Vatican is not subject to any financial controls other than those set by the Vatican itself, and author Nuzzi is convinced each time the pope tried to change the rules, his attempts were frustrated.

NUZZI (through translator): You can keep on believing in the fable that the pope has resigned because he is tired, but I don't believe it.

BITTERMANN: Jim Bittermann, CNN, the Vatican.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, the Vatican flatly denies those corruption allegations, but like it or not, the organization is under the world's spotlight at the moment. Scandals need to be addressed, and Pope Benedict's successor will inherit what can only be described, I think, as a fragile church at this point.

CNN's senior Vatican --

(LAUGHTER)

ANDERSON: I'm going to get this wrong again.

(LAUGHTER)

ANDERSON: CNN's senior Vatican analyst, whose name is John Allen -- goodness gracious me, I'm getting tired -- is with me again tonight. There's certainly a sense that this is a beleaguered organization. But that -- is that just our sense? Is that the outside? What does it feel like inside these gilded halls, as it were?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Well, I think if you talk to most Vatican officials -- and of course it sort of is my day-in and day-out work to talk to Vatican officials -- what they will tell you is that on the one hand, they feel a lot of this criticism is unfair or at least the good things they've done have been left out of the picture.

But on the other hand, they also recognize they live in a world in which, in many ways, perception is reality. They know that the perception that the Vatican has dropped the ball on the sex abuse scandals, they know the perception that the Vatican is dirty in terms of its financial operations, is a huge impediment, it's a huge blow to the moral authority of the church, and they would like to move beyond that.

ANDERSON: Any organization that had the sort of scandals -- sort of doing the rounds about it would get some damage limitation in place. It would hire a big PR company and make sure it got its message right.

Whoever runs this place going forward, and I'm alluding here to Vatican City, the spiritual and governed seat of the Roman Catholic Church, whoever runs it going forward is going to have to run it with a pretty iron fist. Who's it going to be?

ALLEN: Well, look. First of all, there's an old Roman saying that he who goes into a conclave as a pope comes out as a cardinal, which means trying to predict who this is going to be is a hazardous enterprise.

But you asked the question, and I'm sort of paid to give you speculative answers, so let me go ahead. I would say probably right now, if you were going to do a top five list, I like to talk about the four Ss plus one, plus an O.

So, Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan, Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer of Sao Paulo in Brazil, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who's an Argentinian but a career Vatican official, and Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, a brilliant Dominican theologian from Vienna in Austria. And the plus one would be Cardinal Marc Ouellet from Canada, who runs the Vatican's department for naming bishops.

ANDERSON: Let's talk about the Canadian, because I know you know him, and also you fancy his chances. Why?

ALLEN: Well, for one thing, it's my job as a reporter to sort of do poll averages, as we would do in the Iowa caucuses, try to get a sense of who's in the lead. And if you talk to people in the know, including fellow cardinals, what you will find is that Cardinal Marc Ouellet enjoys enormous respect.

He is seen first of all as a brilliant thinker, very much cut from the cloth of Benedict XVI, seen as a deeply spiritual and holy man.

ANDERSON: Can I offer a couple of observations about Cardinal Marc Ouellet as well? Because I know he's spent quite a lot of time in Colombia, so his Spanish is excellent. So to a certain extent, he can -- if you had a bloc that was moving towards thinking that the Latin American influence might be important, you might get that with this Canadian cardinal.

I've also heard talk that because of the problems that have beset the US Catholic Church, despite the fact that the Americans would like to wrest control from the Europeans, who've held onto this place for years, they probably feel it's not going to go to an American this time.

Would Marc Ouellet, would he sort of wear all the hats that would fit at least the voting bloc in North America to pursue his eligibility, as it were?

ALLEN: Well, you've named two very compelling hats that he carries. One is his connection with Latin America. The other is that because he's from Canada, he's well-known to the American cardinals, of whom there will be 11 in this conclave. It's the second-largest bloc after the Italians.

I'll give you a third, which is, this is the Vatican, where they think in centuries. The New World is still new to them, and so the idea of electing someone even from North America would be seen, in a way, as a step into modernity, which would have a certain appeal.

ANDERSON: That's absolutely remarkable. John, always a pleasure. You'll be with us, of course, tomorrow night, when we'll be at Castel Gandolfo, which is where the pope will just have arrived, pretty much, at this time, and where he will stay for a period of time before he comes back to the Vatican, where he will be in isolation for, I guess, the rest of his time.

ALLEN: "Hidden from the world," in his language.

ANDERSON: You're watching a special edition of CONNECT THE WORLD. We're live from Rome. Coming up, Prince Harry is in Lesotho. He's been catching up with the locals and checking in on his charity's latest project. All the details after the break, and a humbling story from CNN's Robyn Curnow on meeting this young prince.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Britain's Prince Harry has been cooking up a storm in Lesotho. He's on a three-day visit to the kingdom, where he founded a charity in 2006. Now, part of the trip saw him in the kitchen, where he learned to make a local dish. And as CNN's Robyn Curnow was there, we thought we'd rope her in from the capital tonight to join us. Robyn?

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Becky. Well, indeed, Prince Harry certainly charmed a lot of the children that he met here in the city today. Take a look at the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CHILDREN SINGING)

CURNOW (voice-over): At the St. Bernadette Center for the Blind in Lesotho, most of these children couldn't see Prince Harry, but he made sure they knew he was there. Touching them, holding them, talking to them softly. Many here say his easy, gentle way with others remind them of his mother.

CURNOW (on camera): Now, this project, like many others, is supported by Prince Harry's charity Sentebale, which means Forget Me Not in Sesotho and is named in honor of his mother, Princess Diana.

CURNOW (voice-over): Prince Harry set up the charity in 2006 to help vulnerable children in Lesotho. This little girl tells me, "We understand the way he loves us, like his children." And the other says, "I feel happy and great. Us disabled children are lucky because he comes from overseas, from England."

Prince Harry has been to Lesotho many times before. This trip is a good photo opportunity, say royal watchers, to remind the public of Harry's charitable side. In recent months, he's made headlines for partying naked in a Las Vegas hotel, and then for saying that fighting in Afghanistan for the British army is like playing video games.

But he's not just a playboy prince, said his friend and co-founder of Sentebale, Prince Seeiso.

PRINCE SEEISO, LESOTHO: I've seen him grow over the years, and being allowed to come here and be himself, I think -- for me, I've seen a boy grow into a solid man.

CURNOW: A man and third in line to the throne, he seems happy to dance in the blazing Lesotho sunshine as if he were in a London club.

Earlier on in the morning, Harry was also taught sign language at a school for the deaf, and then he put on a purple apron emblazoned with images of Paddington Bear and made a local food called "fit cook" or fat cake.

Other images of a prince who sometimes makes the news for the wrong reasons, that he tries to do good for the people of Lesotho.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Well, this evening, Harry and Prince Seeiso were in Johannesburg, Becky. They were trying to raise $3.8 million US at a rather posh fundraiser, and this is to try and build a center for HIV positive children.

ANDERSON: Fantastic. It's good to see him there and working for his charity. I know that you've been with him. I hate to say this, but I think there was a bit of a right royal slip up, wasn't there, earlier on?

CURNOW: Right royal wipeout, absolutely. I managed to totally disgrace myself, Becky. I tripped over a rock as I was trying to get out of the camera shot and landed face-down in the dust literally at his feet. People on Twitter were saying it's one way to throw yourself at the feet of a prince, but really, I'm still struggling with the humiliation of it.

(LAUGHTER)

CURNOW: What was worse was that about an hour or two later, when we were filming my standup, the cameraman, Shevon (ph), landed up tripping over a stick behind him, and Harry saw him trip.

(LAUGHTER)

CURNOW: And he looked at us, and he must've thought that the CNN crew was all sort of off the set of a Mr. Bean movie or something. It was just quite awful, if I'm honest with you.

ANDERSON: Oh, dear! What does he think of us at CNN --

(CROSSTALK)

CURNOW: Can't come back from that one.

ANDERSON: -- attention-seekers!

(LAUGHTER)

CURNOW: I don't know.

ANDERSON: Well done.

CURNOW: We're just very clumsy.

ANDERSON: All right, Robyn, thank you for that.

CURNOW: I'm going to have to hand over the mantel of royal correspondent to a more graceful Max Foster.

(LAUGHTER)

ANDERSON: You've really got the composure for it, haven't you, though? Great story. All right, my love, thank you for that. Robyn Curnow for you this evening.

One of Prince Harry's celebrity mates, of course, is David -- is David Beckham. All eyes are on the footie star in Paris, coming up in Sports.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm going to try and keep my feet for you, Becky. Paris Saint-Germain's French Cup match against their rival, Marseilles, is just about coming to an end. Beckham got the start, but was he a factor? The details just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: All right. David Beckham played just 15 minutes in his PSG debut, but apparently that was enough to earn a spot in the starting lining up earlier today. Don Riddell joining us now. PSG manager Carlo Ancelotti says Becks is ready to play a whole game. So, how did the old boy fare?

RIDDELL: Well, he played almost a whole game. That game against Marseilles, Becky, is just about to wrap up. I can tell you that Beckham was just substituted a couple of minutes ago, having played 85 minutes, and it looks as though he and the team did a good enough job.

Paris Saint-Germain are winning that one by two goals to nil, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring both goals for Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16 in the French Cup. So it looks like mission accomplished, and a good first game for David Beckham.

ANDERSON: How does he manage to look so good after 85 -- oh, actually, I was going to say, how does he manage to look so good -- not looking so good after 85 minutes.

RIDDELL: It's because he's an awful lot fitter

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON: All right, sticking with football --

RIDDELL: -- than you or I --

(LAUGHTER)

RIDDELL: -- regardless of his age, that's why.

ANDERSON: Yes. Yes. Sticking with football, a strange story, Don, out of Barcelona. Fresh off their elimination, of course, in the King's Cup at the hands of rival Real Madrid come reports that the team -- am I right in saying this? -- spying on several of its players, notably its defender Gerard Pique. Why?

RIDDELL: Well, Barcelona deny it, but that is the story. Gerard Pique, of course, is a star defender for both Barcelona and Spain. His job is to mark the opposition, but I think he's rather surprised to learn that the club itself may have been marking him outside hours, outside the office, so to speak, in some of the various haunts and nightclubs around Barcelona.

This is just an incredible story. The story really is that the club employed this detective agency called Metodo 3 to spy on some of its top players, to basically make sure they were behaving and not getting themselves into any trouble.

The reports suggest that previous stars, such as Deco, Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, and now, Pique also, were basically unwittingly assigned agents who'd keep an eye on them, who'd follow them around, who'd sit there counting the drinks in the nightclubs.

And one of the reasons, we believe, that Pique had these people put on his tail was that he was and still is dating the Colombian pop star Shakira, and I think the club, if it's to be believed, were concerned that this kind of pop star lifestyle might affect adversely his football career.

So, that's the story. As I say, Barcelona deny it. I suspect it's probably one of those things where if you scratched beneath the surface at many of these top clubs, this might not be that unusual, given how much these players are worth.

They are very, very important assets for the club, and of course, it's very important for the club to know that they're representing the club well and that they're taking their job seriously.

ANDERSON: As the pope bids farewell to the Vatican, it's also goodbye to Twitter. His Twitter account, @Pontifex, will become inactive after he resigns on Thursday. He embraced the social media platform, tweeting in nine different languages to over 2 million followers.

One of the last, if not the last tweets was posted just a few hours ago. "If only everyone could experience the joy of being Christian, being loved by God, who gave his son for us," he said. The Vatican says the @Pontifex handle will be available to the next pope should he want it.

Well, one of CNN's iReporters was among the thousands with me here in St. Peter's Square just behind us at Vatican City. Filipino priest Joel Camaya got up bright and early to see the pope speak. Despite it being an emotional event, he says the atmosphere in the crowd was decidedly festive, and I'm pleased to say Father Camaya is with me this evening. Just explain how you felt today.

JOEL NAVARRO CAMAYA, CATHOLIC PRIEST: Well, this experience was really tremendous, and I was really emotional. Being there in the crowd, it's one of a kind. Being there in itself is something I would not exchange anything for.

ANDERSON: I noticed the plethora of people from so many different countries around the world, lots of Filipinos, I noticed, Mexico, and I saw some -- Chinese flags, which is very unusual, isn't it?

CAMAYA: Yes.

ANDERSON: Given that the religion has been such a small part of the Chinese world for so long. What do you think happens next with the church, because there have been -- it's been tough.

CAMAYA: Yes. In fact, that was the -- speech of our pope in the morning, all about -- it's about the rough sailing that has been in these past months. Well, it's safe to say that Benedict -- that our pope reigns in a time when there was a lot of trouble.

But you see, these problems, whether it's something individual or institutional, it's always -- if you're put into crisis, it's always a time for purification, a time for improving oneself. And I believe -- that's what the pope had said, that the church would not sink. And in my opinion, it will -- even be better.

ANDERSON: Does the church need modernizing in your eyes?

CAMAYA: Well, one of the principles of the church that the church holds this dialogue with not only with the people, but with the times. And so, whoever he may be, whoever the pope would be, would always be in dialogue with what's happening, and with modernization, not only with communication, but also for the social problems that are there.

ANDERSON: We thank you so much for joining us here in Rome this evening. Thank you.

CAMAYA: Thank you so much.

ANDERSON: Looking ahead, here's the public schedule for Benedict's last day as pope. This Thursday morning at 11:00 AM local time, he'll meet with all of the cardinals in the Vatican at the Apostolic Palace to give his personal farewells, but will not give a speech.

At 4:55 PM local time, top church officials will gather in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Vatican Apostolic Palace to bid farewell to the pontiff. He will then leave by car for the nearby helipad, departing a few moments later by helicopter for Castel Gandolfo.

He's due to arrive at his new residence approximately 15 minutes later, where he will receive a formal welcome from local officials. And then, the pontiff will appear at the balcony of the palace to greet local residents.

At 8:00 PM, the Sede Vacante or Vacant Seat begins. This is when the Benedict XVI is officially no longer pope and instead becomes Pope Emeritus.

And before you do go, His Holiness is the way that he will be referred to, although there's no doubt we'll see him very rarely if at all. Is that right? Is it -- does that work for you?

CAMAYA: Well, for me, it's apostolic prayer, one who is very patiently praying for the church. That's an apostle in itself, and I believe it's valid. Especially if he has contemplated on this state a long time ago.

ANDERSON: We'll have to leave it there. We thank you.

CAMAYA: Thank you.

ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson. That was CONNECT THE WORLD live from Rome. Join us tomorrow evening at this time. We will be at Castel Gandolfo, where the pope will have retired to.

We leave you tonight with our Parting Shots, some poignant pictures from Vatican City this Wednesday. Good night.

END