[Blitzer:] Joining us now on the phone is Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, D.C. You were one of the 115 that elected Pope Francis. And I take it, Cardinal, you were there very close to him when this historic moment occurred?
[Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archdiocese Of Washington, D.c:] Yes. In fact, this morning, when we had mass together at the at the chapel in the conclave, he and I sat next to each other. Little did I think at that point that he was going to be the next pope. But there we were, just a short time ago, with all of the balloting being counted. Who steps out now on the balcony, Pope Francis. It's just a beautiful and exciting time. And certainly, it is good news. I think it's not only good news for the church. I think it's good news for all of those for whom the church brings a message.
[Bolduan:] Of course, you are sworn to secrecy. But tell us about your first time in the conclave. What was it like? What was going through your mind when you cast that vote?
[Wuerl:] Well, the most important thing going into the conclave was to be aware that this is a spiritual event. I kept reminding myself, because some older cardinals who were not voting, who were past the age, said to me, "When you're in the conclave, things will be different. It will be quiet. You'll be focused now on the spiritual power of God working in that room." And I think that's probably what I will carry away with me, the sense that God's providence, the Holy Spirit was really at work, touching us, and using all of us as instruments to do his will. Now, I have to say, before we went into the conclave, we had that whole week to get to know each other. We had a week of general meetings. And that's when we took advantage of the time to ask each other questions, to ask one another what we thought of what would be expected of the next pope. So that was background. But in the conclave, it was prayer.
[Blitzer:] We know one of the Catholics in your district, the vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, Cardinal, he'll be coming to Rome, to the Vatican for the inaugural mass. Give us a little sense of the history of what's going on right now.
[Wuerl:] Well, when you think of this, this is the first time in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church that we have a pope, a successor to Peter, who comes from our hemisphere, who comes from what here they call the New World. We've had with so many centuries Italian popes and a Polish pope, a German pope. But now, talking about history, we have a pope who comes from the Western Hemisphere. I think it's just a completely new moment in the life of the church. And delighted to know that the vice president will be coming as part of the official delegation to lead the official delegation for the installation mass. I look forward to having a chance to say hello to the vice president.
[Blitzer:] I'm sure he'll be looking forward to seeing you, as well. Cardinal Donald Wuerl from the archbishop of Washington, D.C., thank you so much for spending a few minutes with us, Donald Wuerl.
[Bolduan:] Thank you.
[Wuerl:] You're very welcome. God bless you.
[Blitzer:] Thank you. I love it when they say, "God bless you."
[Bolduan:] I think we can...
[Blitzer:] That's really nice.
[Bolduan:] Yes, it's very nice. It's very nice.
[Blitzer:] Appreciate it very much. We're following some other news here in THE SITUATION ROOM, as well. You've probably seen it, even if it hasn't happened to you: airline passengers forced to dump banned items over at the security checkpoint.
[Bolduan:] Yes, we found out where a lot of those items actually end up. And we were surprised to find out someone is making a lot of money off of them. CNN's Renee Marsh is looking into this story. So Renee, I think a lot of people are interested to find this one out.
[Renee Marsh, Cnn Correspondent:] Yes. You know that you know if you left something behind the last time you took a trip for work, Wolf, if you left something behind, chances are it did turn into cash for someone, not necessarily the TSA, though. It turns into cash for possibly your state, state government. And now, if you want to take a look at exactly where your property ends up, here it is.
[Marsh:] It's the final dumping ground for the items you're not getting past the
[Tsa:] a spear, nunchucks, ax, heavy marble rolling pin, and lots and lots of knives.
[Troy Thompson, Pennsylvania Department Of General Services:] It has a fixed blocking blade. And it also has a molded grip. So you would not be able to bring that onto a plane still.
[Marsh:] But then something like this, now, you would be able to. So you wouldn't get things like this anymore. [voice-over]: Every month an average of 425 pounds of stuff ends up in TSA's hands at each of the nation's largest airports. The TSA boxes it up and ships it out to states that want to make a buck by selling it. [on camera]: This is right off of the truck?
[Thompson:] Yes.
[Marsh:] CNN goes behind the scenes in Pennsylvania at one of the largest receiving centers. Buckets and boxes of your personal belongings from major mid-Atlantic airports like La Guardia, JFK and Newark, all here.
[W:] Would you say that, of all the things that you get in here and all of these huge bins, majority of them knives, things of that sort?
[Thompson:] Yes, I would say I would say that they're knives. When they go through the TSA security checkpoints, they have the option of either, you know, sending those items home, voluntarily surrendering them so they can get on the plane.
[Marsh:] Well, Pennsylvania is turning this cold hard steel into cold hard cash. In the past nine years, they've made nearly $900,000 selling all the items you couldn't get through TSA security. [voice-over]: Some items are sold at this government surplus store.
[Thompson:] Ten pounds of assorted black knives are going for $75 right now.
[Marsh:] But most are sold on the GovDeals.com Web site. So if you want to get back that knife airport screeners wouldn't let through, you can get it here at a price. All right. And it is actually the individual states, not the TSA, that sets the price for these items. They determine it based on the condition, also on the market price. And they try to discount the price, as well. So was that sphere yours that we saw in the piece?
[Blitzer:] No.
[Bolduan:] You caught me. I was trying to get it through. Yes, no.
[Blitzer:] Renee, thank you. Now that he's been chosen, it's all about the pope. But before that, before he was elected, it was all about the smoke. We're taking a closer look at the media's relentless fascination with the Vatican chimney.