Catholics Watch Pope Selection Closely
WOLF BLITZER, HOST "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": Happening now, the cardinals have voted, and the world gets a glimpse of the outcome of round one. Standby for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.</s>BLITZER: Conclave. Cardinals convene to choose the next pope. An oath of secrecy, then the doors close as the world waits and wonders. The sex offenders: How do they slip through the cracks? A closer look at the predators among us. Seven stories high, a massive cruise ship meets a massive wave.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Windows broken, people bruised, bleeding -- it was just -- it was pure chaos.</s>BLITZER: Passengers tell about their wild ride.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Monday, April 18th, 2005.</s>BLITZER (on camera): Thanks for joining us. With all the splendor and pageantry that centuries of sacred tradition can bring, the princes of the Roman Catholic Church today begin their conclave, the secret assembly to choose a new pope. Black smoke, billowing from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, a signal that the cardinals cloistered inside failed to elect a pope on their first ballot. But the first puff seemed gray, or at least a little bit, even white, which would signal success, causing momentary confusion to those watching in St. Peter's Square and around the world. The vote came just two-and-a-half hours after 115 cardinals from 52 countries slowly filed into the chapel, clad in crimson robes, capes, and hats. The cardinals lined up to swear an oath of secrecy, each placing his hand on the Book of Gospels, pledging never to reveal what occurs inside the conclave. While the world watches and waits for the announcement of a new pope, so do the curious and faithful filling St. Peter's Square. CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is there.</s>CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As pilgrims came to say good-bye to Pope John Paul II, they have also come -- albeit in fewer numbers, but just as eager -- to see who the new pope will be. Catholics and non-Catholics demonstrating the global significance of the papacy these days. Sarah Haath (ph) is a student from Chicago.</s>SARAH HAATH, STUDENT: Everyone from around the world is there, all religions, but it doesn't matter, because you all feel the same kind of unity.</s>AMANPOUR: But that unity, or disunity, is at the very heart of one of the Catholic Church's dilemmas as it chooses a new pope. The question is whether the next pope will be able to meet the needs of all the world's 1.1 billion Catholics, while congregations are growing in Africa, Asia and Latin America, in North America and Western Europe, they are shrinking and some there, in fact, many, say that they need the church to reflect today's life. Here in St. Peter's Square, in the shadow of the secret conclave, this German woman drew some curious stares for her lone protest. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE</s>AMANPOUR: They may be scratching their heads, but many Catholics chafe under rules that bar female priests, let alone popes. Some Catholics, watching the great screens in the square, took exception to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at mass this morning, who said the church must stick with the old and not follow the new. Tricia Kelly, who describes herself as a "lapsed Catholic," is from England.</s>TRICIA KELLY, BRITISH CATHOLIC: I just feel that it doesn't really have any relevance to my current life at the moment. I feel it's quite claustrophobic in its opinions.</s>AMANPOUR: Justin Brown has come from Australia to watch this process.</s>JUSTIN BROWN, AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC: And one of the areas that I am concerned about mostly is the number of Catholics who are leaving the church. And part of that, I think, is true, some of the older teachings that they try and shove down our throats, in particular, not using condoms, for example, priests not marrying.</s>AMANPOUR: There are also many devout Catholics who don't see the need for rapid change such as Adrian Athlen (ph) from Canada.</s>ADRIAN ATHLEN, CANADIAN CATHOLIC: It's not very east I think to open up sometimes, to change some of the rules, but I think the Holy Spirit is different, and has different views.</s>AMANPOUR: Whatever qualities they seek in the next pope, they will have nothing but this small smokestack on the roof of the Sistine Chapel to scrutinize. On the first day, the smoke billowed black. No decision, yet. Now that the cardinals have closed the doors, their conclave inside the chapel is secret. Christiane Amanpour, CNN at the Vatican.</s>BLITZER: There was one change since the last conclave in 1978 when a puff of seemingly gray smoke left the world wondering whether a pope had been elected or not. John Paul II himself initiated the change and now in addition to white smoke coming from the roof of the Sistine Chapel, the bells of St. Peter's will be rung to indicate without a doubt that the cardinals have made their choice. But how did the Vatican get the smoke a particular color? For white smoke, officials simply say they add wet straw to the burning ballots. For black smoke indicating no selection, the ballots alone are burned. The Vatican also says, this year, for the first time, smoke canisters will be used to increase visibility. For more on all of this, let's bring in our Vatican analyst, Delia Gallagher. She's joining us now from Rome. I have also heard, Delia, that they add chemicals just to be sure it's white or black. Do you know anything about that?</s>DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, what they have done, now, Wolf is they've added a sort of second smoke booster, as it were. There's the stove which has been used since 1939. We went in and saw it on Saturday before this all started, and it is has engraved on it all the dates of the conclave that they've used it to burn the ballots. And then there's a sort of copper tube that goes up towards the chimney, and it's joined by a second, sort of, smoke booster. And in that booster, which is essentially giving air to the smoke and helping it rise and get out, they are saying there are chemicals in there which are adding to the color of the smoke. But as we saw today, Wolf, the amazing thing is, even with that smoke booster, the smoke is still sort of coming out in whiffs in the beginning, so it's still a tough call in 2005.</s>BLITZER: Well, we will just have to wait for the bells just to make sure that we know a new pope has been selected. The does it indicate anything in your mind -- and you know this subject very well -- that they did, in fact, have the first vote today and that they burned the ballots? There was an indication they might wait for that first round until tomorrow.</s>GALLAGHER: Well, they have the choice when they go in. The first being that the cardinal, Cardinal Ratzinger in this case, the dean of the College of Cardinals, has to ask them, is there any other business? And anybody is able to say, well, wait a minute, I want to clarify this or that. But, one assumes that they've had plenty of time to clarify the other business, and probably wanted to get in and get a first vote, because a first vote is crucial because now they have a list of who are the front-runners, who are the cardinals getting behind. And they also have numbers as to how many votes each of those candidates are getting. And they didn't have this before, because even if they are talking internally, they wouldn't have an idea, necessarily, of how many votes exactly each person is getting. So this is a crucial day for them to realize who are front-runners, and how many votes they're getting. Now they can really begin that the behind-the-scenes sort of politicking as it were to gain more votes, or give votes to another candidate, et cetera.</s>BLITZER: Delia Gallagher is our Vatican analyst. She'll be helping us understand this process every step of the way. Delia, thank you very much. And our coverage of the conclave to select the next pope will continue this hour. I will speak with Father David O'Connelly. He's the president of the Catholic University of America here in Washington. Coming up later this hour. Let's turn now to some U.S. news. The Bush administration continues to fight to overhaul Social Security. It's also keeping a very watchful eye on the controversy surrounding House Republican leader Tom DeLay. Earlier here on CNN's INSIDE POLITICS, our chief national correspondent John King discussed Social Security and other subjects with the Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove. John, thanks very much for joining us. It's rare Karl Rove does these interviews. Let's talk about Tom DeLay and the uproar surrounding him. Did he give any indication in which direction the White House would be moving, how much they will try to fight to help Tom DeLay.</s>JOHN KING, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You were just talking about us looking for the smoke over the Sistine Chapel. Many Republicans in Washington looking for signals from the Bush administration about how long and how strong it is willing to stand by Tom DeLay in the middle of these ethics investigation and these attacks from the Democrats. Now, it comes at a key time. You mentioned Social Security. The president's agenda is in trouble or at least stalled right now on Capitol Hill. Tom DeLay is the leader of the House. He marshals up the votes. And the president last week says he looks forward to working with him. But some thought that might be tepid, they took it as a symbol that the White House was not willing to stand by him. Karl Rove, in that interview today, the strongest support yet from the administration. He called him a strong leader. He called him a good man. He said the administration looks forward to working more with him, and Karl Rove saying all these attacks, at least in his view, partisan sniping from desperate Democrats.</s>KARL ROVE, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I think they're just desperate. They don't have -- they are not offering ideas in the debate. They are not being constructive. And so some members were taking pot shots at Tom DeLay. But think about it they are attacking him for having his wife and daughter on the campaign payroll. Many Democrats have relied upon their family members to help campaign for them and serve as members of their staff. This is all going to be resolved by the Ethics commission -- committee, we think in an appropriate way. And Tom DeLay is going to continue to be a strong and effective majority leader for the Republicans in the House.</s>KING: Now Republicans will certainly take solace in that, as the strongest endorsement yet, of the White House of Tom DeLay. It comes at an interesting time. There are some who worry his ethics problem could hurt the administration. There are others, including senior Bush administration officials, who think Tom DeLay will come back to Washington with something to prove. And he'll go to the floor of the House. He'll try to push the president's agenda through. So some in an odd way think that legislatively this could work for the president's advantage. More energy for the majority leader. Certainly they don't want ethical questions over such a senior Republican. You heard Karl Rove saying he wants this resolved soon. They certainly do at the White House. That is a fact.</s>BLITZER: And John King, now our chief national correspondent. Congratulations, John. Leaving eight years as our senior White House correspondent or something like that -- many years.</s>KING: You were there quite a while.</s>BLITZER: I was once the senior White House correspondent. There is life after the White House, John.</s>KING: We shall see.</s>BLITZER: All right. John King, reporting for us. Thanks very much. When we come back, a freak wave and a night of, quote, "pure hell."</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Children were screaming, we were all in our life jackets. We didn't know what was coming next.</s>BLITZER: Cabins flooded and people injured, the passengers now on dry land. They share their stories with us. Registered sex offenders slipping through the system. Is this danger lurking in your neighborhood? Emotional arraignment. This murder suspect's appearance sends shock waves through a Rhode Island courtroom. We'll be right back.