only what it means for the catholic church but this is a religious leader recognized by such by many who are not catholic. i m curious your thoughts what this transition means and what someone can take away from this moment if they re not catholic? sure, absolutely. a big part of the role that the pope plays is very ecumenical reaching out to different religions. i was reading in commentary magazine they were praising the efforts the eppope has done to reach out to the jewish community. i think he plays a very important role in that respect. one of the important things that pope benedict has done a wonderful job with, promoting religious freedom, not just for catholics but people of all faiths around the world. we live in a time where religious persecution is huge problem, not just for catholics but people of faith everywhere. he has done a real excellent job of spotlighting that issue. i think that it is important, that a big part of the role of the pope is to promote, to use his po
resign was 1294 and he basically ended up being impressioned by his successor locked away in a tower somewhere, died of the damp something like that. this idea that i m going to step away from the papacy, hasn t happened in hundreds of years but the way he s doing it is completely unprecedented. we ll refer to him as the pope, then he ll be called his holiness benedict. he said to love the church also means having the courage to make difficult decisions bearing always in mind the good of the church and not one s self. what do you make of this transition and the next chapter ahead for the church? absolutely. i think one of the last things that he said to the cardinals was, it s in service that we find our joy. and i think this decision undoubtedly had to be difficult for him, because he had to have known that he would have to endure another round of just media onslaught. he has so many critics and
cardinals will begin meeting on monday, this coming monday and it s one of their first orders of business will be to determine when the conclave starts. before the conclave starts they will have meetings what they call con congratulationses in which they are discussing the big issues of the church. but they are also informally getting together, having meals, talking to each other about one another, trying to find the right person for the job. now in these last few days it s been very quiet about the next pope. why? because just as when john paul ii was sick and dying nobody was talking about the next pope, but now we just saw the helicopter leave the vatican. that was pope benedict s way of saying, now i m out of the picture, now you do your jobs. if you wer he were still in the vatican or behind the vatican walls in some other apartment that they would be a little bit cautious in talking about in straight talk what is needed for the church. that is about to begin. jon: the helicopter