[Ashleigh Banfield, Cnn Anchor:] Thank you Carol. Hello everyone, I'm Ashleigh Banfield. You know, it takes a lot these days to get the President and senior lawmakers in the very same room. Today we can thank Rosa Parks for making it happen. Just take a look at this live picture. As we speak, a dedication ceremony is getting under way in the U.S. Capitol. It's for a statue honoring the woman who refused to give up her seat on a city bus in Jim Crow, Alabama, circa 1955. The nation's first African-American president is due to speak in about 40 minutes and you're going to hear from him live right here on CNN and you can follow the ceremony, start to finish, on CNN.com. But all the dignitaries now filing into the Capitol. And, by the way, it will be a houseful, with congressional leaders who will join the president. This is a big deal, too, because while there are many statues in the Capitol, there are almost none that are a congressional effort, so to speak. Many private groups fund major statues that are in the Capitol. But this is a bipartisan thing and which the leaders are very proud to announce that this is something that Congress has done for one of the most important women in American history. But we're going to begin this hour with something that may not happen again for a thousand years, multitudes filling St. Peter's Square and beyond to say goodbye to a living pope, an aged and tired and increasingly frail pope, but the first in 600 years to just give and resign the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. This last hurrah of the Benedict, it comes Benedict the XVI comes a day before he enters a life of seclusion as, quote, "pontiff emeritus," and his cardinals will be scrambling to replace him. He assures his flock that he will still be with them in spirit, and he hopes that they don't forget him either.
[Pope Benedict Xvi, Roman Catholic Church:] I will continue to accompany the church with my prayers and ask each of you to pray for me and for the new pope.
[Banfield:] CNN's Christiane Amanpour was part of today's historic papal audience, one of the many, many thousands. Christiane, a lot of emotion coming from this pope in his address, was that a surprise given the fact this he has been called the German shepherd?
[Christiane Amanpour, Cnn Chief International Correspondent:] Yeah, you know, he has been one who has not really worn his heart on his sleeve. He's very different from his predecessor, John Paul II, who was all about hugs and a lot of embracing. This pope has been much more reserved, much more intellectual, so, yes, today was a day of rare emotion. You saw a lot of smiles as he went around St. Peter's Square in that "pope-mobile" to receive the farewells, the final farewells, really, because this was his final public audience. He spoke about how he had so much joy, he said, in the church in his eight years of reign, but he also talked about how there had been difficult times. He said it had been fair from easy on occasion. He talked about how the church come across, quote, "agitated waters" and it sometimes found itself facing the different directions of the wind. And, obviously, he was talking a lot about various world crises and issues that the pope has to deal with and the church has to deal with, but, also, close to home, those scandals that have rocked and buffeted this church for more than 14 years now, most particularly, the sex abuse scandals involving priests, involving young boys who were preyed upon for so many generations and the continued effort to try to hold those accountable, those who either did it and or those who hid it and took part in shielding priests from these scandals and from accountability. So, all that is going on at the same time, most particularly, as we await the conclave to convene and elect the next pope. Everybody's waiting. That's the next great excitement on the calendar of the Catholic Church. And people want to see what this next pope will do in many, many different directions, but also putting a final, full-stop period before this scandal that has rocked the church for so many years, Ashleigh.
[Banfield:] And I understand that the pontiff will either be meeting with or is meeting with the cardinals. And then it's kind of an interesting agenda that's set for him. He's going to be ferried by helicopter to his summer residence?
[Amanpour:] Well, yes, tomorrow, of course, is the final day on the throne of St. Peter, the final day where he will be pope. And at about 5:00 p.m. Rome time, he will be taking a helicopter from St. Peter's behind me to Castle Gandolfo, which is the traditional summer residence of the pope. He will be there, not in summer but for a few months while there's this transition period, also, his next residence, which will be in the Vatican, a converted convent. That will take some time to get ready for him. So, he's going to be sort of out of sight, not out of mind, but out of any opportunity to have any contact, direct contact, with the cardinals and with all those who have now been tasked and will be tasked with electing the next pope. And then, of course, at 8:00 tomorrow, that's it. That's when his resignation is effective. That is when what we call "sede vacante" takes over, the "empty seat" and, as I say, the next session of rituals starts and that is to try to elect the next pope, Ashleigh.
[Banfield:] It would be a fascinating time to be at the Vatican. Christiane Amanpour, thank you for that. Checking other top stories that we're following, we have just learned that President Obama is inviting congressional leaders to the White House on Friday. That's the day the $85 billion in spending cuts are set to kick in. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says it will be a chance to discuss how the leadership or how the leaders and the president can, quote, "keep our commitment to reduce Washington spending." Overseas, a worker shot in Switzerland shot and killed two co-workers before killing himself at a lumber plant near Lucerne. Seven people were seriously were wounded, six of them seriously, but there's still no word on what the possible motive was here. A winter storm spreading snow from Missouri to Maine is making a huge mess in Chicago and the upper Midwest and driving is treacherous. Another 150 flights out of Chicago have been called off today after more than a thousand cancellations yesterday. You can excuse Chuck Hagel for being a little bit late on first day of his brand-new job. The former Republican senator first had to be sworn in for his job as secretary of defense at a private Pentagon ceremony, that step coming after a pretty tough confirmation fight in the Senate. A round-trip mission to Mars is in the works. The group Inspiration Mars Foundation is to send a man and woman to fly by the Red Planet in 2018. The mission would be a 501-day mission. It's the brainchild of Dennis Tito. If you remember that name, he was the first space tourist. Tito is holding a news conference a couple of hours from now. Even after 11 days on the witness stand, Jodi Arias' story continues to change. It is a remarkable murder case, a trial you don't seem to be able to turn away from. We're covering it, next.