Pope John Paul II Visits World Youth Day Celebrations
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Young Catholic pilgrims are preparing today for an ultimate religious experience -- Sunday's mass with Pope John Paul II. It is the climax of World Youth Day observances in Toronto. CNN national correspondent Frank Buckley has been covering the event all week, and joins us now live with more -- Frank.</s>FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Renay. We are live at Downsview Lands, which is the location for the mass that you mentioned, also for the vigil with the pope that begins this evening here. Tens of thousands of young people already camped out. They have been arriving all day long here, all morning long, setting out their sleeping bags, their tents, their cardboard, and preparing for an entire night. All of these young people will spend the entire night here. The pope will make a several-hours long appearance this evening to spend time with them. He will go back for a night of rest, and then will return here for the mass tomorrow. It really has the sense of a rock festival, except, of course, instead of this stage being occupied by a rock band, it will be the pope and 1,300 other people here for mass tomorrow. This stage, 40,000 square feet. The floor of this stage, 28 feet above the ground. So the mass will be tomorrow. Yesterday, we can tell you that some young people had a wonderful opportunity for them. Fourteen young people had the chance to have lunch with the pope. The 14 young people representing different nations, three of them from Canada, and of those three, three of them are with us right now. They are Emmanuel Perez (ph) and Marianne Degagnio (ph). First, thanks for being with us, guys. And we want to ask you, first, Emmanuel (ph), tell me what that experience was like meeting with the pope.</s>EMMANUEL PEREZ: It was incredible. I have been working with "The Catholic Register" for two years, and when I was called to go, I was a little nervous, and I think I was really nervous when I hit Strawberry Island. But when he waved to the 14 of us when we were kind of lined up ready to greet him, I was just very calm and very peaceful at that point.</s>BUCKLEY: And Marianne (ph), you had a chance to have lunch with the pope. You presented him some maple syrup. Tell us, what is the maple syrup and why was that the gift, and tell me about your experience with the pope.</s>MARIANNE DEGAGNIO: First, maple syrup is very good. It is from Quebec or north of Quebec, and, you know, I didn't know in the beginning if I could give to him, but I think it was very good, like he was laughing, and it was kind of funny moment for him.</s>BUCKLEY: And did you have an opportunity during the lunch to speak to the pope? Did he speak to you? What was that like?</s>DEGAGNIO: Yeah, at the beginning we had to present ourselves, so you know, directly to the holy father. So I</s>BUCKLEY: It has been interesting to see so many young people have been moved by meeting the pope. You see people crying just when the pope goes by. Was it moving for you?</s>DEGAGNIO: You know, I watched it on TV before I went to see the pope, and the people were running after the popemobile, and I said, oh my God, tomorrow I am going to meet him for lunch. Yeah, it's kind of amazing.</s>BUCKLEY: Emmanuel (ph), you always wonder if you're going to sit down to have a meal with a leader of the state, leader of a church. What will I talk about? What was the conversation like during the meal?</s>PEREZ: It was very nice. Everyone introduced themselves, and he just kind of talking to people from different countries, just brief little questions, finding out what they thought about World Youth Day. And when it came to me, told him how I was an architecture student and maybe one day I'd like to build him a church. So he kind of chuckled at that and found it amusing.</s>BUCKLEY: And you were telling me you presented him with one of these T-shirts that you are wearing, and he laughed when you presented the shirt.</s>PEREZ: Yes, on the back there were signatures with well wishes and thanks and how much of an inspiration he was to all of us. And he kind of laughed and chuckled when he saw his name -- we call him JP in our parish, so he thought that was amusing.</s>BUCKLEY: All right. Well, thank you, Emmanuel (ph) and Marianne (ph). We appreciate your time. Thanks for being with us. Just two of the many people who are here for World Youth Day activities. They are expecting up to 750,000 people for the mass that will take place here in Downsview Lands tomorrow -- Renay.</s>SAN MIGUEL: Be able to call the pope JP to his face and get away with it. That's not bad. Frank Buckley, reporting from Toronto, thank you, and we will have more coverage of the pope's visit to World Youth Day activities in Toronto tomorrow beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern here on CNN. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com