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Connect the World
Black Smoke Signals End Of First Vote; What Is The Role Of Women In The Catholic Church?; Ahmadinejad Sparks Controversy With Hug
Aired March 12, 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: Live from Rome. No pope, not yet. Black smoke billows from the Sistine Chapel chimney signaling no agreement on who the next pontiff should be. As we look to the next round of voting, tonight the view from Ghana and the Philippines.
And here in Rome, why pink smoke is filling the air as Catholic women see red over their role in the church.
Well, the world will have to wait another day for the chance to see a new pope to greet the crowds in St. Peter's Square. The first vote of the conclave ended a few hours ago with black smoke. The color, of course, tells us that no new pope has been chosen. Voting resumes tomorrow morning.
Well, this was the last we saw of the Sistine Chapel where 115 cardinals are meeting. Once the doors swing shut. The secret election process got under way.
Well, earlier the cardinals filed into the chapel chanting a Latin hymn to ask for divine guidance. They began the day with a mass open to the public in St. Peter's Basilica, a special tribute was paid to the pope emeritus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARDINAL ANGELO SODANO, DEAN, COLLEGE OF CARDINALS (through translator): The beloved and venerable pontiff Benedict XVI, to whom we renew in this moment all of our gratitude.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, for more on today's developments, we're joined by my colleague Jim Bittermann who has covered four conclaves and four popes in his years as an international correspondent. Beat that, eh?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (inaudible) like that long.
ANDERSON: Jim, an historic moment at 7:42 this evening. Smoke that to many of us who were standing watching actually looked quite white. It's got to be said an audible gasp from those who were gathered in St. Peter's Square. But it was black.
BITTERMANN: If it had been white it would be the first time in 700 years that they've elected somebody on the first ballot. But in fact it was black. And I'm not sure how the environmentalists are going to feel about all that billowing black smoke, but they have done something because they've certainly improved it from the last time around when Benedict XVI was elected and we had a lot of problems sometimes reading the smoke signals coming out of the Vatican chimneys.
ANDERSON: I called it historic, of course, because this was a forced conclave process in that Pope Benedict -- or Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, of course, resigned as opposed to parting away. How does this even this year compare to those you've covered in the past?
BITTERMANN: Well, I mean, that's one thing as Benedict XVI is still around at least in people's minds even if he's not in the Vatican, he's up at Castel Gandolfo, but nonetheless that's one thing. And the other thing I think -- it's very difficult to describe this that there was a much more political nature going into this conclave than I remember from previous conclaves. You hear from the cardinals all the time that they're -- when they go about the preparations for voting that they're waiting for the Holy Spirit to intervene to give them some kind of guidance about voting and the sort of religious aspect.
What you haven't heard up to now, I don't think, are the kind of things we heard in the last two weeks which is the cardinals had A and B lists, for example, of candidates, that they were, you know, looking at various political aspects of how will the pope handle things like the sex abuse scandal and those sorts of things.
So I think it is different that way. It's not quite as religious as it was in -- back when Benedict XVI was elected.
ANDERSON: It is certainly a process shrouded in secrecy, much uncertainty. The only certainty that we have, of course, is that of those 115 who went in, one will emerge as pope.
This conclave is, of course, considered pretty wide open at this point, but a few names do keep coming up. Let's just remind our viewers. First, Cardinal Marc Ouellet from Canada. He heads the Vatican's office for bishops, a major role within the church. And then there's the Archbishop of Milan Angelo Scola, reportedly a favorite of reformers within the church. Brazil's Cardinals Odilo Pedro Scherer is said to be one of Latin America's strongest candidates. The 63 year old is archbishop of Sao Paulo, the largest diocese in the Catholic -- the largest Catholic country, of course. Luis Tagle is the archbishop of Manila, a charismatic choice from the developing world. And from Hungary Cardinal Peter Erdo, a leader in the church in Europe. He's also close ties to African cardinals.
But the eventual winner could easily come from outside of this list.
And when we talk about frontrunners, of course, again this is a process shrouded in secrecy, so it's all off record isn't it?
BITTERMANN: It's very much speculation, that part, because the cardinals themselves until this first vote tonight had no idea who the real frontrunner is. They do now. We don't. And we won't. And we may never. I mean, because they've taken this vow of secrecy so that only if some of them choose to leak after the conclave breaks up, and afterward there is a new pope, will we perhaps get an idea of how the voting went, who was the frontrunner, what happened after that, what happened in succeeding votes.
ANDERSON: Our understanding, though, is from conclaves of past is that if we don't get a result in the first sort of two or three days, then you begin to see some compromise and possibly a surprise result.
BITTERMANN: And this was the occasion of John Paul II. He was a real surprise. There were two Italians going into that conclave in 1978 everybody said were the frontrunners. And it turned out, in fact, in the voting -- as the voting -- because this came out weeks later -- they were the frontrunners. They collected, you know, between them 40 or 30 votes, but not enough, not the two-thirds. And after a succession of votes, then people started looking around at what they call their B and C lists and that's when Karol Wojtyla came up, the cardinal from Krakow, Poland. And turned out to be one of the most memorable popes in the Catholic church history.
ANDERSON: Certainly didn't end up being a C List pope.
Let's remind our viewers at what goes on inside the Sistine Chapel. This is a process which is now ongoing, of course, lots are drawn to select three cardinals who will help collect the ballot, three more to count the votes, three others to check the results.
Now printed on the ballots, Eligo summam pontifecem, I think that's the way I pronounce it, I elect a supreme pontiff, anyway is what it means in English. Each elector writes the name of one candidate. You're not allowed to vote for yourself.
The cardinals take their ballots to the altar. Each one is placed on a small dish and then dropped into a chalice. The results are read allowed. More than a two-thirds majority is needed for a winner, in this case 77 votes. So it's actually two-thirds plus one, I believe. Voting will continue up to four ballots each day until there is a winner.
The ballots burned after each session. If there is no winner, they're burned with a chemical that gives off that black smoke. White smoke, however, means a new pope has been chosen.
My Latin will get better as the week goes on.
Let's just hear from one of our correspondents who has been here covering the process with us. Electing a pope is said to be a divinely inspired process, it's also been a lot of -- well, let's just leave it at that, shall we? Have a listen to -- a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the politics of becoming Pope, there's never been a race quite like this, the church's problems, enormous, the need for a powerful, unifying Pope, never greater.
MONSIGNOR KEVIN IRWIN, ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK: We have to finish this. We have to get on with this. If we don't do this it's over, blow the candles out.
MARQUEZ: The new Pope will have to reinvigorate the church and bring its enormous bureaucracy, the curiae into the modern world. We're talking nuts and bolts, finances, being a good CEO.
IRWIN: The church does not run on Hail Mary. We've got to make it work in terms of personnel and money and being effective. And I think the question is, how effective is the curiae in an internet world.
MARQUEZ: From the time a cardinal becomes a cardinal, the race for Pope is on. They are judged on their intellectual, religious and spiritual heft, even their ability to communicate in Italian. Politicking done, support secured in, formal settings, and often in out of the way and unlikely venues.
This restaurant is just around the corner from the Vatican. Cardinals come here in the ones and twos. They have lunch, dinner, sometimes a little wine. And some places like this that a lot of the heavy lifting is done. Benadina has served meal to powerful Vatican insiders for 21 years. "Dozens of cardinals have been here the last couple of weeks," she says. "When you're at the table, you decide things."
Deciding important for many reasons, as one cardinal jokingly told her during his last meal here, the conclave is under way, he eats bread and water until a new Pope is named.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: In that residents now this evening, there will be some politicking going on there.
BITTERMANN: Definitely is the case, Becky, because this is the first time that any of the cardinals have an idea of who their frontrunner really is. And they'll be making choices about whether they want to throw in with the frontrunner, maybe they like his ideas, or maybe they'll be against him, maybe they'll say wait a second, I don't really want this guy to get elected and maybe they'll work against him.
So, there is something going on tonight, I would say for sure around the dinner tables in the (inaudible).
ANDERSON: So as Santa Marta is just there in Vatican City, our eyes are trained on that building. We will not get in, though. They are in lock down. You won't see them again, as I say, until one man is elected pope. Always a pleasure. Jim, thank you very much indeed.
You're watching a Connect the World special live from Rome.
Still to come tonight, women and the Catholic church. Could they be the power behind the papal throne?
In other news after this short break, snow chaos brings much of northern Europe to a stand still. We'll find out if more of the same is expected this evening.
And a consoling hug in Venezuela forces controversy in Iran. We'll explain why this show continues after this short break. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Live from Rome, you're watching CNN. This is Connect the World with me, Becky Anderson. Welcome back. More from here shortly.
First, some other news. An overnight snow storm has caused absolute chaos, travel chaos, across northern Europe. Germany's Frankfurt airport had to cancel 700 flights, causing huge disruption at that major travel hub.
In France, the Eurostar suspended its cross channel services between Paris and London, because of heavy snow. And in Britain, hundreds of drivers spent Monday night in their cars caught in huge traffic jams.
Let's go live to Tom Sater at the international weather center. Tom, is the weather expected to carry on like this tonight?
TOM SATER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not so much. The system is slowly moving eastward and we're going to start to see the snow really taper off in parts of, let's say, Paris. So it takes awhile when even just one of these five airports has a problem, the wide network across in Europe can really just been thrown out the window. So it's going to take several days. Even Madrid got into the action with some pretty strong winds today.
Let me back up just a little bit. This is the current radar, but if you go back to the weekend, we had a surge of cold air coming in from the east. And we started to see the accumulation of snow right across Germany. So everything was going east to west. I mean, Hamburg picked up 15 centimeters.
Then you toss a storm system that was coming from the west to the east. And this was a highway literally with cold air and moisture and the storm system moving, so this is where mainly our swath of snow has been falling. Unprecedented second week of March snowfalls in northern France, as you can see here. Frankfurt -- this was from earlier in the day. You're still seeing your accumulation take place.
But I want to talk about the temperatures. This is critical, because even though it's two degrees in London, it may be slushy right now. The roads may be wet in some locations. It really depends on how low you drop overnight. Everything is going to be refreezing. London, minus 2. Paris, minus 7. This snow is going to hang around for awhile. Even if the pavement looks like it's just maybe wet, it's most likely black ice that we call it.
Here's the view from 36,000 kilometers above the Earth. Now it looks very confusing. Let me point a few things out. Area of low pressure moving right here. You'll see the spin in central France. It's transferring its energy all to a parcel of energy sliding underneath. We talked about this 24 hours ago. This is the next concern as one wave after another -- of course, Becky, you know with the rainfall of course in Rome today, that jetstream all the way down to the south will continue the snow, but it's going to take it a little bit further on that way.
So, just to break it down for you. We still have a cold weather alert in southern areas of England, bitterly cold temperatures, 228 accidents. Paris, we're starting to see it dwindle. It will take awhile, Becky, though, to get the flights back on schedule.
Right now, it looks like the Euro is going to continue to be on a mended schedule as we get into tomorrow from Paris to London.
A lot going on, what a terrible day.
ANDERSON: All right. I feel relatively lucky being here in what is a fairly chilly Rome, but it's nothing like as bad as it is up north.
All right, Tom, thanks for that.
Residents of the Falkland Islands voted overwhelmingly in favor of remaining under British rule on Tuesday. 99.8 percent who voted said they wanted to remain a British overseas territory. Only three people voted no.
British prime minister David Cameron must now respect the wishes of Falkland Islanders. But the Argentinean government described the vote as a publicity stunt with no legal status.
Well, huge hugs between Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez's mother has caused controversy in Iran. Religious conservatives has scolded the president after he was seen consoling the mother of the late Venezuelan leader. Reza Sayah is in Cairo and is just back from Tehran. And explains why the hug is such an issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Most people will probably see these images as nothing more than an innocent and a comforting mini hug and a holding of the hands, but that's certainly not what members of Iran's clerical establishment are seeing. This incident happened this week at Hugo Chavez's funeral. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in attendance. And at one point he came face to face with Hugo Chavez's mother.
Video posted on YouTube shows Ahmadinejad reaching out during an emotional exchange and touching Chavez's shoulder. A still picture shows more of an emotional exchange where the two are clasping hands, leaning in with their heads apparently touching.
These are the images that have sparked controversy in Iran, a country where a strict interpretation of Islamic law says a man cannot touch a woman if they are not related. One cleric said President Ahmadinejad was clowning around and failing to uphold the dignity of the presidency. Another cleric said this was clearly a sin and reminded everyone that men cannot touch women in Iran unless women are drowning or in need of medical attention.
The reaction to these images underscore a remarkable political conflict that has emerged in Iran where you have President Ahmadinejad on one side and members of Iran's clerical establishment and political elite on another.
Ahmadinejad's critics, many of them believe that during his two terms he overstepped his power. He became to prominent.
Now Ahmadinejad is not up for reelection in June, but he is hoping one of his aides can make a run for the presidency. Perhaps this intense fallout from these images are an effort by Ahmadinejad's political enemies to undermine his aide's potential run for a presidency.
As far as the picture goes, some of Ahmadinejad's supporters have tried to claim the photo was doctored and changed. But clearly, many of his critics don't buy it.
Reza Sayah, CNN, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: You're with me. Becky Anderson live in Rome.
Up next on Connect the World, this is a special edition of course, but forget the DiVinci Code, we're looking at the story of a female pope. Tall tale or hidden secret?
Plus, the serious business of women and the church. The experts weigh in up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: You're watching Connect the World live from Rome. Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson.
As we watch for the world's most famous smoke signal, some Roman Catholics are asking will there ever be a female pope? That's a question with an interesting answer as Atika Shubert now explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a story so good they made not one, but two movies about her: the legendary Pope Joan, a 9th Century English woman who disguised herself under voluminous clerical robes to become a priest. She outdid all the men in her religious studies and rose in the ranks of the cardinals to become pope.
It is a Medieval tale with an unhappy ending as this 13th Century wood cut depicts. Pope Joan is said to have come to an end when she went into labor during a papal procession and the mob descended on her and her child.
DIARMAID MACCULLOCH, HISTORIAN AND THEOLOGIAN, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: It's complete myth, complete myth, a wonderful Medieval shaggy dog story.
SHUBERT: Oxford University Diarmaid MacCulloch is a professor in the history of the church. He says Pope Joan is nothing but satirical fiction.
MACCULLOCH: It keeps appealing to new anxieties and new interests. So first it were Medieval people who resented the papacy, then it's Protestants, and the next constituency is actually Catholics who want to see women priests.
And this seems to me the most dangerous aspect of the story, because it's using a story which is patent nonsense to boost a good cause.
SHUBERT: But Pope Joan still has her believers. And they point to evidence like this, why, they ask, were Cardinals asked to sit in this uniquely shaped chair well into the 16th Century?
So was it a birthing chair, or as legend holds a specially designed seat for checking the next pope had the right, shall we say equipment for the job? Well, the chair is no longer in use at the Vatican.
And what about the peculiarly named Vicus Papissa, or Road of the Lady Pope. This, according to legend, is where Pope Joan came to an end. There is even a shrine said to be dedicated to her and her child. But historians say the road is named not for Pope Joan, but for the Pape (ph) family that lived there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Women should not be permitted to study the holy scripture.
SHUBERT: But her story is so enduring. Could there be, should there ever be, a female pope?
MACCULLOCH: In the future, I think we may well see a female pope. It's surprising how quickly these things happen once the idea gets around. But don't hold your breath.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have been elected our new Lord Pope.
SHUBERT: For now, theologians and historians agree, a female pope is more likely in Hollywood than the Holy See.
Atika Shubert, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: And even if you take the idea of a female pope out of the mix, the current role of women at the Vatican, and indeed wider Catholic church has stirred some very real controversy. I'm joined now by Ashley McGuire who is a senior fellow of the Catholic Association.
If there is one thing amongst all of the uncertainty here, issue in 2013, it is that there won't be a female pope, of course, because there are only men in the conclave. But there are some extraordinarily powerful women at the Vatican, aren't there?
ASHLEY MCGUIRE, SENIOR FELLOW, CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION: Absolutely. You know, I've spoken with several women on my trip here to Rome who have talked about women leading important Vatican offices, you know, and I think if you look at the church globally there's all sorts of women, nuns, who are in charge of some of the very important work whether it's hospitals or charities, so there is a very robust role for women in the church.
ANDERSON: Am I right in saying that the Vatican is almost half female, so far as its staff are concerned?
MCGUIRE: That's what I discovered on my trip here. And it was shocking to me, because, you know, you just don't hear about that, you hear about this male hierarchy, this male dominated church, but there is, it's almost half female. And in fact the office that I was interviewing, the arts is almost 80 percent women.
ANDERSON: That's fascinating. I know you've interviewed a lot of people since you've been here. People are fixated by the idea of women priests and whether that is ever going to be a reality, of course, but is a role of priests actually any more important than that of nuns?
MCGUIRE: Absolutely not. And thank you for asking that, because I get so frustrated when I hear about, well, women have no role in the church because they can't be priests, because I think that does a real discredit or a disservice to the work of nuns, which is often more quiet and behind the scenes, because it's so much about service, but it's equally as important as the role that men play as priests.
ANDERSON: I want to take a closer look at women in the church, but just before I do I just want to remind our viewers that when I was watching the process today, they close the doors at the Sistine Chapel, and of course that was Vatican lock down as it were, but just before a number of people came out who had been at the swearing in ceremony. And a number of those were nuns. I saw a number of women who had been in that Sistine Chapel sort of preconclave process, which I was absolutely gratified to see, I must say as a woman myself.
Listen, let's take a look at some of these facts. Over four decades ending in 2010, the number of women choosing to become nuns has actually declined by more than a quarter. As for women as priests, 59 percent of American Catholics surveyed say they want to see the ordination of women. The Vatican refuses to consider the possibility, even calling it, quote, a grave sin.
In April of last year, the now retired Pope Benedict XVI declared that the Vatican's views on women priests were definitive and that the existing ban on them is part of the church's divine constitution. And for those who are of the faith, either men or women, there will be many people watching around the world tonight who say it is a grave sin according to the church and that's the way it's going to be.
Do you buy that?
MCGUIRE: Well, you know, I think that as Catholics we take with a certain element of faith that Jesus knew what he was doing when he created an all male priesthood. But at the end of the day what priesthood is all about is service. I mean they're foot watchers. We'll see this in about 10 days on Maundy Thursday. They get down on their feet and they wash -- they get down on their knees and they wash people's feet.
So, you know, I think we need to be -- we need to step back and remember that the church refers to herself in the feminine. They look to Mary as the supreme of holies.
ANDERSON: Pope Joan, not a story I think that you necessarily buy. Certainly you would consider it a myth. A female pope going forward, briefly yes or no?
MCGUIRE: I don't think so, no.
ANDERSON: And we'll leave it at that. Thank you.
MCGUIRE: All right. Thank you.
ANDERSON: Live from Rome, you're watching a Connect the World special this evening. The latest world news headlines, of course, as you would expect here on CNN just ahead.
Plus, this cardinal is considered Africa's top candidate for pope. I have a view from Ghana.
And also what Catholics thousands of miles away in the Philippines are hoping for.
And later in the show, how Rome is coping with an influx of people and why a whole load more will fly in later this week.
And tonight, Barcelona battle A.C. Milan at Barca's home turf. We're going to bring you the very latest and more in a sports update. That is ahead in the next half hour.
You're watching CNN. Do please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Live from Rome, you're watching a special edition of CONNECT THE WORLD. The top stories for you this hour.
Black smoke signals an inconclusive vote at the Vatican. Cardinals held their first ballot of the conclave a few hours ago. Voting now resumes tomorrow morning to choose a new spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
Freezing weather has caused severe disruption to transport services in parts of Europe. Frankfurt airport was forced to cancel at least 700 flights, affecting thousands of passengers. Europe's high-speed rail network, Eurostar, also canceling its services for today, Tuesday.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has canceled two more engagements. She continues to recover from the recent illness that left her hospitalized. She'll not be attending the Tech City Tour tomorrow, or Soldiers and Airmen Scriptures Association service on Thursday. Buckingham Palace announcing that earlier today.
Officials in India have completed on autopsy on one of the men accused of gang-raping and fatally beating a woman on a New Delhi bus. Police say that Ram Singh hanged himself in his jail cell, but Singh's father told a CNN affiliate that his son did not commit suicide, that he was murdered. The autopsy results haven't been released as of yet.
Yes, we're live in Rome for you. This is a special edition of CONNECT THE WORLD. No surprise, perhaps, the first vote of the conclave 2013 did not produce a new pope. Cardinals will try again tomorrow. They're in lockdown after retreating behind the doors of the Sistine Chapel earlier today.
We don't know how long it'll take to choose the 266th pope of the Catholic Church, but it's probably safe to say it won't be a repeat of the conclave that began in 1268. It was the longest-ever, last 33 months. And for those of you who can't do your math, that is nearly three years.
Well, this time yesterday, we were focusing on whether the new pope could hail from Latin America. Well now we're shifting to other parts of the world. And to understand why this is such a hot topic, consider where the world's Catholic population currently resides.
This graphic breaks it down by region for you. You can see that Latin America has the largest concentration, much more than Europe. Sixteen percent of the world's Catholics now live in Africa. A slightly smaller percentage in Asia.
Well, as we mentioned before, Africa and Asia are where the church has seen by far the fastest growth. Vladimir Duthiers is in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, and he joins us now. Let's start with you. What's the mood there?
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The mood here, Becky, is one of optimism. Certainly if Cardinal Peter Turkson were to be elected pope, that would have the entire continent, where there are over 185 million Catholics and growing, ecstatic.
But a lot of people that we've spoken to say that they really don't care who is elected pope. The selection of the pope will come down to what many have told us is the selection of the Holy Spirit.
But we've spent the last couple of days profiling Cardinal Turkson. This is a fascinating individual. He's known around the world in Catholic circles as a peacemaker.
He played a large role in bringing -- in quelling some of the violence in the Ivory Coast a couple of years ago in 2011. He had a very prominent role in bringing together various groups within Ghana. He's seen as somebody who's reached out to bridge the gap between Muslims and Christians in a part of the world where that is not always easy to do.
And on sort of the lighter side of things, he loves to cook, he's a keen guitarist. And funny enough, one of the things that I just thought was absolutely fascinating, when he was a younger man, he hesitated between the priesthood and being a scientist so much so that he had a nickname: he was nicknamed after the Greek mathematician and scientist Archimedes.
He called himself Archie Turkson when he was a younger man before, his sister tells us, he decided to follow the will of God and enter the priesthood, Becky.
ANDERSON: That's lovely. All right, Vlad, thank you. Let's get you to Manilla and Liz Neisloss for you this evening. Liz?
LIZ NEISLOSS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, here in Manilla, you might say, Becky, there are many things to be found that are in common with the region of Africa. There is a great and growing population of Catholics. And there is also a candidate whose name has been rising in circles, especially when there's a talk about need for reform, for change in the church.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle is a very young potential candidate for pope at the age of 55. Perhaps not as international a profile as Africa's candidate, but also coming with some relatively unique qualities for a pope.
He's considered really an intellectual, a theologian, but at the same time, Becky, he's considered a great communicator. He's an advocate of using social media. This is a cardinal that uses Twitter, he has a Facebook page.
He's talked about at a Vatican conference in particular talked about the need to tackle head on the issue of sexual abuses, saying you can't just move priests from one geographic location to another.
And he's also someone who is known as being very humble, a man of the people who shuns the official car, who walks, who takes buses. And Becky, you can find examples of the cardinal's singing on YouTube.
ANDERSON: How an event at Vatican City resonates around the world thousands of miles away. Vlad, Liz, thank you. Some dynamic candidates there from the developing world. So, is it time for the church to embrace change and go outside Europe to tap a new pope?
Let's bring in CNN contributor Raymond Arroyo. He's news director for the Eternal World Television Network. We're also joined by John Allen, CNN's senior Vatican analyst and, indeed, let's not forget senior correspondent for "The National Catholic Reporter."
Let's start with you, Ray. They're behind closed doors now at Casa Santa Marta. That is their official residence now for the period between now and the end of conclave. They will be discussing the decisions that were made today.
RAYMOND ARROYO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You bet. You bet.
ANDERSON: What will they say?
ARROYO: A cardinal told me the other day, when they -- this first vote, they really get a sense of the body, where things are moving, he's got real momentum. Then he says the gentle sell you get the first night at dinner. If there's a second night at dinner, the sell gets a little harder.
That's where they talk. The alliances will either hold or fall apart as these votes unravel. And remember, they're reading the results. Each day, they pull the votes out of the urn, they read the results aloud, so they see where the momentum of the body is moving, and then they conspire in between. They continue the work they were doing before they went into the conclave. But it's a pressure cooker.
ANDERSON: No mobiles, no wifi, no nothing. Nothing else to do --
ARROYO: Nothing.
ANDERSON: -- for these guys now, they're in lockdown at the residence apart from, as you say, conspire. John?
JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Well, look, this is the most momentous choice they're ever going to make, so I think they can take 48 or 72 hours off from firing off tweets or checking the hockey scores --
ANDERSON: Which many of them do.
ARROYO: Yes, many of them --
ALLEN: Which many of them do, actually, which is kind of a revolution in itself. Look, I think Raymond has it exactly right. The truth is that what they've been doing in these general congregation meetings where 150- plus cardinals come together, is talking in the abstract.
But now it is time to get down to brass tacks. They've already had what I call the New Hampshire primary of a papal election, which is this first ballot, which is the first real test to find out where people stand.
Now, they've got to do the heavy lifting at figuring out, OK, one of the two or three guys, let's say, that had some support in those first ballots. Do they have enough legs to get to that magic threshold of a two- thirds or 77 votes, or do they need to go shopping?
ANDERSON: Would it be sacrilegious of me -- and I hope it isn't, Ray --
ARROYO: Don't be sacrilegious.
ANDERSON: -- to sit -- to ask whether it can get nasty at times?
ARROYO: Well, I don't think it gets nasty, but it certainly can get contentious. Look, there's a lot hanging on this battle. John and I have been speaking to a lot of these cardinal electors throughout the week.
They will tell you, one of the focus as they went into this conclave, they wanted to reform this Vatican government. There's the Curial forces, who want to protect the status quo here in Rome, and then there are those from the outside that are saying we have to change this, streamline it, make it more efficient, purge the corruption at its core.
That is the internal struggle that will define this conclave on some level. But John is right. When they get in there, all bets are off. Coalitions and candidates begin to slip away. And then, the renaissance pressure cooker that they're in does its magic, and we'll see what happens when they take the final votes.
ANDERSON: John?
ALLEN: And Becky, one of the reasons that they are so fanatical, in a way, about trying to protect the secrecy of this process, that is to keep the outside world at bay, is precisely so among themselves they can have some very tough conversations.
After 2005, I interviewed two thirds of the cardinals who took part in that conclave, and they will tell you, once they get into Casa Santa Marta, these conversations can be very blunt.
So, when a guy's name comes up, it's not just, "Oh, he'd be great for these reasons." But there's some very plain talk about why he might not be suited for the role. And that's precisely because they understand how much hinges on this choice and they want to get it right.
ANDERSON: Both of you, thank you.
ARROYO: Thank you, Becky.
ANDERSON: This is CONNECT THE WORLD live from Rome. We will continue these discussions as the hours, days, and weeks go on if, indeed, that's as long as this election process takes.
Up next, the making of a media mogul. She once ran for governor of California. Then picked the internet, and her blog won a Pulitzer. Meet Arianna Huffington next on Leading Women here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: From self-described peasant girl to president of the US- based media group that bears her name, Arianna Huffington has created a brand that is setting the bar for others -- for other news blogs, and for others, indeed, making her one of our Leading Women. Here's part two of Poppy Harlow's interview with the mind behind the Huffington Post.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New York, a media capital and home base for the popular website The Huffington Post. Arianna Huffington launched it in 2005, calling it a one-stop site for news and opinion with attitude.
She sold the Huffington Post to AOL in 2011 for $315 million and became president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group.
Eight years in, the company is expanding the Huffington brand, recently launching the streaming video network HuffPost Live.
HARLOW (on camera): How behind it are you? Is it here to stay? What do you see it becoming?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, PRESIDENT AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, HUFFINGTON POST MEDIA GROUP: Oh, absolutely. It's a major investment, a major commitment for us. We only launched in August, and it's been a big success.
HARLOW (voice-over): Huffington jokingly calls herself a Greek peasant girl who found her way from her native country to study at Cambridge University in the UK, and ultimately to the US.
HUFFINGTON: And that could potentially be the Achilles heel of the Republican Party.
HARLOW: Where she became a power player and television fixture.
PATTIE SELLERS, SENIOR EDITOR AT LARGE, "FORTUNE": When Arianna started the Huffington Post, she did the impossible.
HARLOW: Pattie Sellers is truly an expert on powerful women. She started and oversees the Fortune Most Powerful Women franchise.
SELLERS: Who would think of starting a business based on blogs written for free? It was crazy. And she had so many people betting against her. Somehow, through her sheer force of personality, created what is now one of the most successful online media properties out there.
HARLOW (on camera): Is there a mentor that is critical in your life?
HUFFINGTON: There is absolutely no question that there's no more important mentor for me than my mother was, because she was so incredibly wise, and because she focused on wisdom as opposed to just mere intelligence.
HARLOW (voice-over): Huffington is betting on the power of Oprah, teaming up with the Media titan in 2012 to launch a version of Oprah.com on the Huffington Post website.
HUFFINGTON: It's been really great, and especially as we're growing more and more into this area of how we do stress in our lives, how we live lives of more meaning and less exhaustion.
SELLERS: I know Arianna very well, and I know Oprah fairly well, and I see a lot of commonality between those two women. It's all about living a holistically successful life where you love your work and are good to yourself as well as others.
HARLOW: And for Huffington, being good to herself means getting enough of one very important thing: sleep.
HARLOW (on camera): You gave this fascinating TED Talk, and you said, "I have advice for all of you. Get more sleep."
HUFFINGTON: No, I actually said "sleep your way to the top."
(LAUGHTER)
HUFFINGTON: But I know there's a special glow after a good night sleep when you feel really in the zone. You feel like, bring it on.
HARLOW (voice-over): After more than two decades in the spotlight, Arianna Huffington has achieved success on her own terms, but not without some hurdles.
HUFFINGTON: The biggest roadblock had to do with books being rejected. I wrote 13 books --
HARLOW (on camera): I know.
HUFFINGTON: Not every one of them was successful. So, these were failures along the way, if you want.
HARLOW (voice-over): With these failures, though, came a vital lesson.
HUFFINGTON: Very often, it's out of these projects that may not have succeeded in themselves that other successes are built.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: All right. Once the smoke had come and gone, as it were, from the Sistine Chapel chimney, then some eyes at least -- well, quite a lot, I would expect, certainly in the north of Italy would have been trained on their televisions this evening.
AC Milan playing Barcelona, two of Europe's biggest football clubs clashing for a spot in the Champions League quarterfinals, Barca having all the work to do after losing that first leg to AC. Mark McKay has been following the action and joins us from CNN Center with the very latest. And I cannot believe that Barca didn't make at least a good match of it.
(LAUGHTER)
MARK MCKAY, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: They certainly did, Becky. It was a night that Barcelona had to make a match of it, because they were on the ropes against Milan. You'll remember the first leg in Italy, it went all Milan's way.
So it was Barcelona down two-nil in the return leg at the Camp Nou. No team has recovered to win a Champions League title after being down by the count. No other team has this guy, Leo Messi. He made his presence felt in this crucial match.
Messi scored the night's first two goals, so he levels the aggregate count at two all. Even though David Villa put Barcelona ahead three-two on aggregate in the 50th minute, their hopes really still clung to a thread as Milan needed to score only away goal to go through.
It never materialized. Jordi Alba's extra-time goal sealed it for Barcelona as they are off to the Champions League quarterfinals. There you see it, four-nil on the night, four-two on aggregate.
The other Champions League match saw Germany's Schalke against Turkey's Galatasaray. It was Galatasaray advancing 3-2, with the win in Germany on Tuesday night. They go through 4-3 on aggregate.
What can we say, Becky? When it comes to Barcelona, it's all about Leo Messi and company. That is such a good team --
(LAUGHTER)
MCKAY: -- and I imagine that you heard the groans from Milan all the way tonight where you are in Rome.
(LAUGHTER)
ANDERSON: You can never count them -- well, you never should count them out, should you?
MCKAY: You'd better not.
ANDERSON: I'm trying to total up how many Messi has got for club and country so far this year, but I'm not going to ask you and we're not going to go there at this stage. I'm sure people can tweet me with the answer to that. He is the most extraordinary player. All right, mate. Mark McKay in the house for you this evening with your sports news.
All right, let's move on, shall we, because -- or pretty much -- yes, let's take a little animation at this point. Let's -- what are we going to do guys?
TEXT: A New Pope.
ANDERSON: There you go. Well, the Italian capital is bursting with pilgrims, tourists and, of course, us, the media. We're getting a little tired. I'm so sorry about that, I didn't know what was going on.
But a new pope isn't the only event drawing in the crowds this week, and that is proving to be a bit of a challenge for authorities here in Rome. Have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: The weather is notoriously bad in March in Rome. But what's a bit of rain amongst pilgrims when you've got a conclave in town? The papal election is underway, and in the hours, days, or weeks to come, there'll be an inauguration here at St. Peter's Square.
The security preparations are underway. You can see the media packed here. It's all happening. The question is, when will the big day arrive?
Mr. Mayor, how do you cope with an event like that? An unscheduled event like that?
GIANNI ALEMANNO, MAYOR OF ROME (through translator): We have to be flexible. From today, we are going to put up a tent with all the services, but we are ready to line up 1,000 men for when the new pope is elected.
ANDERSON: Indeed, that's what's brought all of us here to Rome, but for emergency transport and security services, it's not all about the election of a new leader of the Catholic Church. As it happens, they're also preparing for a couple of other major events set to unfold here in this weekend.
The Stadio Olimpico, capacity over 70,000. Saturday, Ireland play Italy here in the Six Nations rugby tournament. Before that, on Thursday, Lazio plays Stuttgart here in the Europa League.
On any given day, there are hoards of people here at the Coliseum, but Sunday is the Rome Marathon, and the race starts here, some 12,000 people taking part. On top of that, there's a 4K fun race, another 85,000. All of the roads around here are going to have to be cordoned off.
A simple question: will Rome cope?
ALEMANNO (through translator): All of this will cost 4.5 million euros. And we have to face this expense, also with the help of the state. We are prepared, but we hope the state will help us with it.
ANDERSON: Who pays? Rome or the Vatican?
ALEMANNO (through translator): Everything that happens in the piazza is paid by the Vatican, and everything that happens on this road is paid by us.
ANDERSON: So you push everybody into the Vatican.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: With me here on CONNECT THE WORLD this week is Father Joel Camaya from the Philippines, who came to Rome in 2010. Father Joel is one of CNI -- CNN's iReporters, sorry, and today he sent us these pictures of the shop that has provided vestments to the pope for 200 years.
You were with me first day from the pope's resignation, you were with me --
JOEL NAVARRO CAMAYA, CATHOLIC PRIEST: Yes.
ANDERSON: -- last night. I just want to get a sense from you as somebody who is at the Bible College here with students from all over the world how you felt today when you were in the square and you saw that smoke.
CAMAYA: Yes, I was together with a few colleagues, also one from the Philippines and then another one from Nigeria, and then we were later on joined by others from the Philippines. And we were hanging onto every moment.
ANDERSON: Were you excited?
CAMAYA: Yes. We were excited.
ANDERSON: Yes.
CAMAYA: And at first, we thought it was white smoke coming out. And then all of a sudden --
ANDERSON: I think everybody felt like that.
CAMAYA: -- it turned black, yes.
ANDERSON: There was an audible gasp --
CAMAYA: Right.
ANDERSON: -- wasn't there?
CAMAYA: And then afterwards, a sigh of disappointment.
(LAUGHTER)
CAMAYA: We will have to come another day.
ANDERSON: And everybody wants to be there when they see that white smoke, and you're right to say that today, as an observer -- and we were there at the square as well -- it was very difficult to tell whether that was actually black or white smoke, even though when the camera gets really close, you can see it's very black.
CAMAYA: Yes.
ANDERSON: So, you'll be back in the square again tomorrow, will you?
CAMAYA: Yes, tomorrow.
ANDERSON: And you'll go every day?
CAMAYA: If it goes on, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
CAMAYA: As long as there are no classes.
ANDERSON: Have classes stopped for the time being?
CAMAYA: Yes, particularly in the morning we have classes. Then in the evening we are more free.
ANDERSON: This is an important time. Talk to me just about your classmates. You say you're with people from Nigeria and others from the Philippines today. How diverse is your group?
CAMAYA: Did you know that the Filipino who was with me was a student of Cardinal Tagle?
ANDERSON: Really?
CAMAYA: Yes.
ANDERSON: That's fantastic. How diverse is the group?
CAMAYA: The Biblicla where I stay -- and I'm sure many of them came also -- in our particular group, there are people coming from -- of course, I'm from the Philippines, there are people from Poland, from Croatia, and then also several from Africa.
ANDERSON: What's the average age, just out of interest, of those of you who are studying here?
CAMAYA: Average would be around early 30s.
ANDERSON: My. And I wonder whether many people watching this who are not of the faith will have asked themselves just how relevant the Catholic Church is these days? Now, you say in your class at college here, people around the average age of 30, is it to your generation that the church will look to really go out and gather the flock and get a new generation?
CAMAYA: Yes, I guess so, because even if we see the church aging on this continent, in the other continents, I think I told this to you already, that there are more vocations now in these other nations. And the youth that comes out from the church, it's a source of hope for all of us.
ANDERSON: If we were to get a Filipino pope this time, he would be one of the youngest ever, I believe --
CAMAYA: Yes.
ANDERSON: -- I think he's 55, he was only elected a cardinal last year in 2012. He stands an outside chance, but not a particularly good chance at this point.
CAMAYA: Yes, right.
ANDERSON: I know you'd be very pleased, indeed, if that happened. Thank you for the time being. You're going to join me --
CAMAYA: Thank you so much.
ANDERSON: -- all week. I'm Becky Anderson, that was CONNECT THE WORLD from Rome, a special edition. Thank you for watching.
END
