beijing and basically headed the opposite direction. football diplomacy, secretary of state john kerry looking for an assist from sergei lavrov in talks outside london. can the talks prevent vladimir putin from a full scale invasion? >> we hope there's a diplomatic solution to be found, but the united states and europe stand united not only in its message about ukrainian sovereignty but there will be consequences if the sovereignty continues to be violated. >> face-off after heartbreaking losses for team usa hockey team in sochi. tomorrow a shot of redemption. the paralympic sled hockey team takes on russia. best served cold or in this

case, on ice. >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. the search zone expanded a again after a week after the 777 went missing. the airport continued to transmit a ping to satellite hours after falling off radar. this indicates the jet liner could have traveled up to 2500 miles farther than originally thought. the question remains where in the world is it? joining me with the latest from around the globe, tom costello has been covering the investigation here in washington since it began. commander william marx, on "uss kidd" on the search. tom, where does this stand? the confusing false reports and

pings indicating that the search needed to be widened. >> it is confusing and even of those who have been in the weeds of this for the past week it's confusing. this is what we're talking about. there's malamalaysia, you have south china sea and plane was heading in this direction and let's expand it out. we'll show you how big this potential zone is where this plane potentially could have been. and here's the problem. they believe that the plane may have been headed out this way, in this direction because they are now pretty confident it did indeed make a u turn and come back. if it headed out this way, it could be anywhere here in the indian ocean in the bay of ben gal off india and they brought in the indian navy to assist. you'll hear from commander marx, moving into the strait of malacca and p-3 orion plane moving in.

why? because pings were picked up by a satellite. these pings do not indicate exactly the location, the heading, anything else about this particular plane. they just say, i'm here. i'm here, i'm here. it's kind of like if you had xm satellite radio in your car and never subscribed and the satellite knew you existed. that's kind of all that happened. so the question is, as that plane continued to travel and as it gave off a ping, only once an hour, can they use some sort of mathematical calculation involving the arc of the satellite coverage to get a feeling for where the plane might be. at the moment they are going on this particular area in the indian ocean. let's go to the other graphic, the original search zone. this is kuala lumpur. the plane took off from here. the last known contact point off the coast of south vietnam. we're now confident it did indeed turn around. the question becomes why? that's a deliberate act? was this an intentional hijacking? did somebody commandeer a plane

or was there still -- some sort of catastrophic event on the plane where they lost all electronics and navigation and ability to communicate and did the pilots then try to make it back to malaysia in theory become incapacitated and plane kept on flying? a lot of theories out here and we haven't even gotten into all of the 007 james bond theories about the plane landing on some island somewhere. you can see how right now the focus is only on what we know and what we know is a plane was last seen headed towards the indian ocean. back to you. >> tom, thanks so much for that wrap-up. we want the platest on the search and investigation and signals and how the coordination is working with now the indian military as well as the malaysians who are technically in charge. we go now to the commander of the fleet, william marks on the "uss kidd" rather it has been

moved into the strait of malacca. i know you are on the blue ridge, the command ship. >> yes, i'm on the command ship in the northwest part of the straight of m alacca is the destroyer "uss kidd" for importantly for the searching has two search and rescue helicopters and those give a change of at least a few hundred miles every time they fly. and they fly throughout the day. and in addition to that, we have a p-3 orion patrol aircraft and incoming p8 posiedon. the reason they are so important, they give us the longest possible range we can get. we're talking upwards of 1,000 plus miles every time they fly. they fly one long 9-hour or so

flight. and over that flight they can cover 10, 11, 12,000 square miles. so when you plook at the xpans, that is the indian ocean, that's why you want the p- 3 and p-8 out there. >> i know the posiedon has the most advanced equipment. dove do they have the ability to run 24/7. >> they are not limited to daylight. they used a very advanced surface search radar and night vision and infrared. so to detect anything on the surface of the water like debris, for example, really all they need is their radar and they will pick it up. >> this is such an enormous

expanse. give us a sense of challenge here now that we're talking about the indian ocean and completely different sector? >> this is a huge challenge. i think now is the time to transition. whereas before when you were in the gulf of thailand, you had relatively defined boundaries and we knew we could potentially search that entire area, which we did. now there's no way you can search the entire indian ocean. a ship is an amazing platform but can't be done with ships alone. even our p-3 and p-8 with a range of 1,000 or so miles they have to return. that's only halfway through the ocean. we'll have to decide how much we can possibly search. >> are you moving more assets? have the malaysians or anyone else asked you get more aerial assets in? >> no, right now we do not have

plans to move in any assets. that could change but as of everything we know right now we do not have plans to move in additional assets. >> tom costello who covers aviation. i want to give tom a chance to follow up on any of these loose en since you're taking the time to talk to us. >> as it relates to the equipment you're able to deploy in the indian ocean, are you dropping any sonar ability so that you can listen for pings from the black boxes and operately on the p-3 orion, can you talk about the ability to locate wreckage or spot wreckage. i read somebody can could literally spot a basketball in the water. those two items. >> right now we're not using any of our sonar technology. what those craft can do is drop in the water a sonar buoy and

receive returns from those. the focus is on the surface of the water. there we have very advanced radar systems and that is correct, if there's anything -- i'll give an example, we found on our radar a small wooden crate and the radar is sensitive enough to pick that up. so if this p-3 or p-8 flies over something that size, it will certainly pick it up on the radar. >> now, commander marks, let me follow-up also. about your men and women, about your people who have been working round the clock. i know you brought in grief counselors and others chaplains on board. how are they doing? >> i talked to a little bit with the ship today. they are in great spirits and the reason is this is what we

train for. our philosophy in the 7th fleet, we do this year round and build relationships and train with almost all of these countries. so before there's a crisis, we already have these relationships established. that's part of what we do in 7th fleet. when a crisis does occur, you don't want that to be the first time you're talking to everyone. we do that throughout the year. we do upwards of 80 to 100 exercises every single year. we visit nearly 200 ports every single year and that builds the relationships to when this does happen, we can all move in and work together and coordinate together. >> and commander, there's been a lot of talk and hypotheticals talk that tom mentioned, the 007 scenario, that no one is taking seriously. is there any place where a 777 could land and not be noticed at this point by the radar?

>> well, up here, at the 7th fleet level, we just focus on navigating our ships and flying our airplane. it is pretty incredible. i can tell you that. i watch the news as much as anyone and i'm absorbing anything in a state of awe and shock here. so i'm listening just like you are waiting -- kind of waiting for the outcome of this. >> it is unprecedented. thank you so much for taking time out. thanks to all of your people there as well. and in a meeting with ireland's prime minister today, president obama said there will be consequences if russia continues to violate the integrity and sovereignty of ukraine. >> obviously, on our minds right now is the situation in ukraine. ireland has been a strong voice in the european council for the need to send a clear message of support for ukrainian democracy and self-determination.

and a strong message to russia that it should not violate the integrity and the sovereignty of its neighbor. >> secretary of state john kerry went to london today to meet with lavrov. he has compared to what's happening in crimea to the balkans and there is no way to stop that vote in crimea. rerejoining russia which is now scheduled for sunday. it will not recognize the legitimacy of the vote with the knowledge that had has no way to stop the big question. will russia move farther into eastern ukraine? nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins me from simferopol.

i know there are russian troops and forces everywhere. russian troops that amassed again last night on the border. real concerns that this is all taking place with tremendous intimidation. especially the tatars and other minority groups have been intimidated and threatened regarding this upcoming vote. >> reporter: most people we've spoken to do not feel it will be a free and open election. there was a small demonstration today to boycott the referendum. but the people who are holding it decided not to hold it in the center of town. instead they went to the edge of simferopol, the capital of crimea where i am right now, because they were concerned they would be attacked and beaten up by the pro-russian militia men in control of this city and in control of the roads leading in and out of crimea, in control of the trains that come on and off the peninsula. there is a deep concern that it

is operating in a climate of intimidation. you don't see russian troops anymore. they are still here, although they were never officially acknowledged by moscow. mostly they are staying inside the buildings they have occupied. instead of what you see on the streets are the pro russian militias and some of them in uniform and some out of uniforms and wearing arm bands to identify themselves and carrying sticks. >> and completely disconnected from all of this is the diplomacy. i want to show you a couple of pictures from the gardens outside london. it seems a very beautiful setting for these talks. this was last minute diplomacy, very little chance of anything being produced before the vote. we were told zero chance according to senior u.s. officials. but the real threat which the president was referring to today and that is being backed up for the threat time by angela merkel, the germans now on board

we're told, is sanctions on monday. that as early as monday the u.s. and european union could announce sanctions against key players in russia. >> reporter: i think the sanctions which come on monday, are designed to stop russia actions here. there will be a vote on sunday. officials in crimea have said the polling stations are ready and the votes will take place. but the sanctions are possibly a way to tell russia, don't go any further. right now for the second time in a month, there are these military exercises, 10,000 troops and heavy weapons and russian troops right on the ukrainian border. and many people we've spoken to, former diplomats and nato officials have told us unless there is sanctions and unless there's strong actions, the russians could feel em boldened

first to take crimea, but then to go even further, cross over the eastern border and take a larger part of this country. and that is a real possible. and i think it was you -- i know it was you, you tweeted out earlier that u.s. officials are deeply concerned about these military exercises on the border because they wouldn't have much advance warning if those russian troops decided to cross over the ukrainian border the same way they didn't have much advance warning when they came into crimea. >> exactly. what they are looking for now, from vladimir putin is any sign of pulling back or any sign that he perhaps will not have them ratify that referendum, won't himself sign it. then they think there might be an opening if the russians talk to the ukrainian acting government. for the ukrainian new prime minister to signal to the russians that they are willing to come up with some sort of diplomatic stand down, that they are willing to give russia -- to

acknowledge russia's primecy over crimea and over its military right. >> reporter: there is some wiggle room in this. in the maximum strategy from russia, russia takes over crimea, absorbs it as a country and invades the east. that's the maximum worst case scenario, in the least case it the vote doesn't happen. is there room for something in between where the vote happens and more autonomy is gained for the people of crimea, a special relationship with russia is established without declaring it officially part of crimea. there is some possibility that that could still happen after this vote on sunday. >> richard engel, thanks so much. i know you're going to be watching all of this and be reporting actively from all locations all weekend. thank you. today general motors is pushing back hard against a startling analysis released by the center

for auto safety. they claim a problem with air bags in two gm models are to blame for 303 deaths over the past decade. phil, this is on top of the other issue. why don't you take it from there and tell us what the stay of play is right now with gm and the federal government? >> the latest claim is that they looked at two of the recalled models that are in question right now and they extrapolated the data and said how many of these incidents or deaths involving these models were casing where the air bag did not deploy. the theory being because the ig nation key may have been faulty, that cuts off electronics and therefore the airbag does not deploy during an accident. the and center for ought moative safety, there should have been a recall here. we reached out to both general

motors and nitsa, they said we did three crash investigations of vehicles where the air bags did not deploy and the conclusions were inconclusive, no way of saying yes there's a problem with the air bags. then when we talked with general motors, look, there are a lot of factors that go into accidents that go well beyond simply hitting a post or something else and the air bag should have been deployed. was it a rollover accident? and also, these are raw numbers, raw data here. when you compare the raw numbers with other comparable models the odds are you may get a similar incident rate if terms of the air bag not deploying. they are saying this is one more example where the federal government and general motors dropped the ball and should have been more concerned about safety, both gm and nitsa are saying we'll continue looking into this but at this point there's not a connection there. >> phil lebeau, thank you so

much. scary moments at the philadelphia international airport where passengers were forced to evacuate a smoking plane when a tire blue. it slammed down at least twice. the plane finally resting on its nose and passengers rushed from the smoking plane using emergency slides and escaping out window exits on the wings. remarkably due to great work by the pilot who did a great job, there were no injuries. >> we bounced and came down hard again. >> i looked out my window and the engine was smoking. i said i don't know about everybody else, i pulled the door and threw it out and got out. [ male announcer ] zzzquil. it's not for colds, it's not for pain, it's just for sleep. because sleep is a beautiful thing™. ♪ zzzquil. the non-habit forming sleep aid from the makers of nyquil®. zzzquil. we've always been] at the forefrontumman, of advanced electronics.

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protested immediately saying quote, mr. chairman, you cannot run a committee like this. you just cannot -- >> gentleman will suspend. >> chair is going to ask for the decor up of the house that members not display their ipads. it's a violation of the house rules. >> yes, those were your elected officials less than 24 hours ago. the latest ridiculous back and forth stemming from the mike cutting incident between issa cutting off elijah cummings. and elijah cummings joins me now. the mike is open -- >> thank you. >> very good to see you, congressman. >> same to you. >> have you and darrel issa patched things up. >> he did apologize but this is

so much bigger than me. when i talked to my colleagues on the democratic side, and some republicans that have said this to me, we cannot operate like this where you've got each one of us representing 700,000 people, andrea, and then you have one person decides that he's not going to hear from any of them. and he's going to basically run the committee like he wants to run it. and so, it was a very unfortunate thing, the way it happened. but this is not first time. he has shut off the mike of my colleague, congressman tierney of massachusetts and there have been a number of things he's done that go against the rules. we're saying, play by the rules. >> it does raise questions about how this committee can work. this is a really important committee. >> very important. >> involved in a series of highly partisan investigations. it doesn't seem to be any real

working relationship between the leadership, you and darrel issa and other members to get things done? >> believe me, i have tried. i told congressman issa from the very beginning, cited a pro verb thatside if you want to go fast, go by yourself. if you want to go far, go with others. and basically he has decided to almost unilaterally address issues such as issuing subpoenas, and various various things that should be committee decisions, should be bipartisan decisions, he takes it upon himself to do it by himself. and so it goes against the credibility of the committee. when allegations are made, andrea, over and over and over again to the press and become headlines and then there are no facts to back it up, that too goes against the credibility of the committee and it goes against the credibility of the

congress. understand, this is bigger than me. it's much bigger than me. this is about making sure that we preserve our democracy. and every time we do something that cuts off any member of congress within the rules saying what they have to say, we have basically cut off, a person that represents 700,000 people. that was my point. we can do better. we're a better country than that. >> understood. it was pretty shocking. thank you very much and perhaps a couple of days off for this recess or work period, is that what you call it? >> yes, work period. >> gives a chance to let tempers cool off. thank you, congressman. >> right now in new york city, former president bill clinton meeting with rescue workers at the site of the explosion that flattened two buildings in east harlem. it's clinton global initiative offices are just in that neighborhood a little farther up. police have found all of the dead and missing of that

apparent gas explosion. eight people confirmed dead. while a gas leak seems to be the cause, crews have not been able to get a closer look at the pipe line because it's buried under the rubble. it raises serious questions about the aging infrastructure systems in the city and elsewhere in the country. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up.

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if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor thoughtful combinations, artfully prepared. fancy feast elegant medleys. inspired dishes like primavera, florentine and tuscany. fancy feast. a medley of love, served daily. house budget committee chairman paul ryan hit a big public snag with comments he made upon bill bennett's conservative radio show. >> we have got this tailspin of culture in our inner cities in particular of men not working and generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and culture of work. so there's a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with. >> the backlash from those comments about culture wasn't lost on ryan or his staff. here's part of a statement he then sent to reporters.

after reading the transcript of yesterday's interview, it's clear i was inarticulate about the point i was trying to make. i was not implicating the culture of one community but as society as a whole. i know that the congressional black caucus invited congressman ryan to meet with the caucus. have you heard a response? >> i imagine representative ryan will come. but i think when he was talking about -- he meant the culture of the american culture, he said inner city. he didn't say rural america. he didn't say ap lach cha. i have to say that what's more important to me than his comment are paul ryan's policies, which he has written down. i think he has shown over the past several years by budget studies put forward that he fundamentally doesn't believe the government should be in the business of a safety net and that is the underlying philosophy that articulates well all the time. >> congresswoman, i hate to

interrupt you, if we could put this on hold for a moment, we've been waiting after a five-hour meeting with secretary kerry and his russian counterpart on the crisis in crimea. >> thank you so much. >> the context of a unified sovereign ukraine. the united states strongly supports the interim government of ukraine. and we continue to favor a direct dialogue -- i came here in good faith with constructive ideas which would put forward on behalf of president obama in order to try to restore and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine while addressing at the same time russia's legitimate concerns.

foreign minister lavrov and i talked for a good six hours. and the conversation was very direct, very candid and frank. and i say constructive because we really dug into all of russia's perceptions, their narrative, our narrative, our perceptions and the differences between us. ideas on behalf of the president, which we believe absolutely could provide a path forward for all of the parties. however, after much discussion the foreign minister made it clear that president putin is not prepared to make any decision regarding ukraine until after the referendum on sunday. the united states' position on the referendum, i must say, is clear and it's clear today. we believe the referendum is contrary to the constitution of

ukraine, contrary to international law and is in violation of that law and we believe it is ill legitimate. the president put it, illegal under the ukraine constitution. neither we nor the international community will recognize the results of this referendum. we also remain deeply concerned about the large deployments of russian forces in crimea and along the eastern border with russia. as well as the continuing provocations and hul beganism of young people attracted across the border and come into the east as well as those who live there. i was clear with prime minister lavrov that the president has made it clear there will be consequences if russh does not find a way to change course.

we say that as a direct consequences of the choices russia may or may not choose to make. if russia does establish facts on the ground that increase tensions or that threaten the ukrainian people, then obviously, that will beg an even greater response and there will be costs. president obama and i could not be more convinced that there is a better way for russia to pursue legitimate interests in ukraine. we believe it is not insignificant that we acknowledge there are legitimate interests. histor historical, cultural, current strategic. these are real interests. and i think all of us who are joined together in the eu and extended contact group

understand those interests and are prepared to respect them. that requires also that russia would respect the multilateral structure that guided our actions since world war ii and the need for to resolve this challenge and to meet those interests through the international multilateral legal norms which should guide all of our behavior. foreign minister lavrov and i talked about that and we talked about the other options that are available. options of dialogue, options of various contact meetings that could take place, options of international legal remedy, and options of joint multilateral efforts that would protect minorities. u.n. options, international human rights organization options, many options for the

way in which any challenges to the safety or security or rights of people could be addressed. in an effort to protect those rights, whether they be the rights of ukrainian living in the west or ukrainian living in the east, somebody of russian language and russian descent, who might feel threatened, all minorities and all people should be protected. foreign minister lavrov and i agreed that we are going to stay in touch in the next days on ukraine as well as on the other issues of concern, which we are working on, syria, iran and other challenges of mutual concern. before i close, i just want to reiterate what president obama said in the oval office on wednesday when he visited with ukrainian prime minister, the

united states stands with the people of ukraine in their desire to make their own choices about their future. and to be able to live their lives in a unified, peaceful stable and democratic ukraine. the president said clearly that is our only interest. that is what drives us. and not a larger strategy. nothing with respect to russia directly, we are interested in the people of ukraine having the opportunity to have their country's sovereignty and territorial integrity respected as we would ask that to happen for any country. so i will be briefing prime minister yat sen uk briefly and as well as our counterparts and members of the contact group as soon as i leave here. i will engage in those briefings and look forward to taking a

couple of questions. >> first question from michael gordon of "the new york times." >> as you see secretary kerry is going to take a couple of questions but made it clear there was no progress, that vladimir putin through lavrov told him, more than five hours of talks, that there is no way for the russians to accept any of these so-called constructive offers of diplomatic ways around real confrontation in ukraine and crimea, short of that vote. i was talking to karen bass, your reaction? >> i really think it's sad and i think that putin is really flirting with dire consequences to his economy. the russian economy is not that strong to begin with. and you know what is already working its way through the house, the response from the eu. i think he's really putting the russian economy in trouble. there are going to be consequences. people are not going to accept

what happens on sunday as legitimacy. >> thank you so much, congresswoman, we'll pick up and have more conversations in the coming weeks. thanks for bearing with us today. >> we've been looking at the human toll of the war in syria, third anniversary this week. today we explore the dachingers syrian women and girls. joining me now is gail amman, senior fellow at the council on foreign relations and ann richard. first to you, secretary richard, this has been an appalling disaster for the people of syria, for the surrounding countries and particularly for women and girls. dr. nancy snyderman was in refugee camps and we've seen the death toll and horrific conditions. what more can be done as this war continues unabated? >> thank you for so much

coverage of this this week by your network. we really appreciate it. we're very interested in bringing the attention of the american public to this crisis. secretary kerry has said this crisis is a challenge to the conscience of everyone of us. i have traveled to all of the countries bordering syria and met the refugees themselves and they have seen terrible things inside syria and they have survived a terrible, terrible war. >> when we talk about the effects, gail, let's go through the latest report, the civil war affects 22,550 refugees dispraised, women giving birth in 2014, 3400 will suffer miscarriages. they have really explored these you know, horrible medical conditions which we saw with our own eyes this week. >> the scope of this crisis is just something that is swamping

anything the international community can really do. just think about children. you have 1.2 million children as refugees, basically the entire population of dallas, texas becomes refugees and that's something that i think women and girls are really paying the price for all of this upheaval. so many men are either fighting, killed, missing in this conflict which leaves women to take their families across the border and try to figure out how to fend for them. i heard this story the other day in an ngo worker about a mother who waited all day in an office to give away her child because she said i just can't feed them. i'm here with five of my children. my husband has vanished in the fighting and we honestly just don't know what to do. >> and to both of you, some of dr. nancy's reporting was the birth defects are rising. there was one suspected case of polio and i'm not sure yet whether that was confirmed, but the fact that children were

being born without brains because they are not getting the folic acid or prenatal care obviously in these camps. >> one of the gruesome aspects of this has been the attacks that the syrian regime led on its own civilian, including on medical facilities and hospitals. people have fled a country that no longer provides he s medical to its citizens. i met a woman and her family with an 8 day old baby, just arrived in jordan. i can't imagine leaving a week after giving birth to flee for my life with a large family to start one's life over with a bunch of strangers in another country. we're very grateful the countries are keeping their borders open but it's a terrible situation. >> we just heard secretary kerry say that the talks with russia over syria are one of the casualties of this crisis in

ukraine. >> geneva was also on life support and now i don't think anybody sees where it's going to go, which goes back to what we were talking about on the consequences and human toll, this is three years of war, more than 140,000 people dead. and all of these refugees coming and there's no end in sight. and the problem is it's about the next generation. right now 8 80% of kids in leban are not in school. and we've done a great job of securing at least putting a plan in place to secure syria's chemical weapons and very little to talk about securing syria's children. that will have consequences in the human cost and also in security. >> what more can the united states do assistant secretary richard? >> the first thing is the united states is the leader in providing humanitarian assistan assistance, we've provided $1.7 billion since the start of the conflict. there is more that can be done. i would like to appeal to the

public to take a greater interest in this, to go to their web browser and put in no lost generation and follow there the different reports being put out this week, the charities that are stepping forward and u.n. agencies stepping forward, to explain what's happening to these children to their parents, and to put forward some ideas about what ordinary americans can do. >> and we'll have that on our website as well on my facebook page. thank you so much. >> thanks for everything you're doing. gail, your writing has been sue sup superb. >> the paralympic sled hockey team is ready to give american fans a reason to cheer in the gold medal match against russia. it is led by a trio of combat amputees and the military veterans embraced their new vision in sochi shutting down top scorers.

behind them team usa is on a goal, and decisive 3-0 victory in yesterday's semifinal. tomorrow's highly anticipated gold medal match will be broadcasted live on nbc sports at 1:00 and part of unprecedented coverage of the 2014 paralympic winter games. this is going on the nbc network and does mark also a major change in the view of americans towards the paralympic games. right on to our team.

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well, pope francis received a bipartisan invitation to address a joint session of congress at a time of his choosing. if he were to accept it would be unprecedent unprecedented. another milestone for a pope

trying to change the public face of the church. i'm joined by two experts, ann thompson who covers the vatican and george weekle. george, first to you, you've had i think private conversations with the pontiff. how does he assess this first year if you can speak to it more generally? >> i was very struck, andrea, three weeks ago when i saw the holy father, two weeks ago, at how relaxed he is. this is a man who is comfortable in his role. he is completely himself and in fact a bit more animated than i found him when i had spoken to him ten months before his election. i think he's got a clear vision of reform for the roman and a bit bemused by this tension in the media. he said i'm not superman. he means that sincerely but he's going to deploy that intense

interest to be the pastor that he still in his heart very much remains. >> you had unique access and the flight to brazil and also a private audience when in your role with notre dame, you've spoken to him and you've seen him over the course of the past year, his tweet yesterday on the anniversary, pray for me. that really does speak to the humility and his outreach. >> it's been extraordinary and i think george absolutely nailed it. what is i think significant of pope francis' papacy, he's acting far more than a parish priest than the pope to 1.2 billion court and juatholics. he wants to be with the people. that's very clear. when it comes to issues in the catholic church, he commissioned this survey and sent it out to all bishops to prepare.

and he wanted the bishops to find out what are the people in the pews thinking about the church's teaching on contraception and divorce and gay marriage? what do people really think? that is also part of his jez jesuit training. he's collecting ideas and listening to people. and that's also got catholics, the dire catholics, if you will, who go to church every sunday, it's got them excited and for recovering catholics, they are interested too because suddenly the church, this big institution wants to hear what they think. >> it's too early to speak about what his focus, his legacy will be. we know the humility, the poverty, but i'm thinking also of the precedent of john paul ii and the extraordinary influence he had on major political forces with eastern europe and poland and former soviet union.

this pope could speak to war, to poverty, to -- and he did speak out at the beginning a year ago about the syrian civil war. >> i think that his legacy will be much larger within the church. there's a lot of inside baseball going on here. and some of it is quite significant. >> reform, the bank. >> basically remade the fundmentsal structure of governance three weeks ago. he did it almost behind the scenes. he put a tough and shrewd churchman, cardinal george pel of australia, in charge not only of economic affairs, money, but of personnel policy and administrative policy. he said in an interview the new york times of italy last week, that cleaning up the engine room was what he was hired to do and he's going to do that. >> and ann, for you, it's been an extraordinary journey.

what do you say to a pope when you get an audience? >> i say thank you a lot. it is -- it is somewhat overwhelming to meet a pope and i've met this pope twice and quite honestly, andrea, i never expected in my life to meet a pope. what i am struck by when i think about the encounters i've had with him is what george said, how relaxed he is. you know, some men when they are elected to the papacy, it seems to be a responsibility that confines them. with this pope, it seems to have liberated him. he is so comfortable. when i think back to this press conference on the plane. i've covered everybody, presidents, candidates, supreme court justices, serial killers, you name it. i have never seen a press conference like that where he stood in front of us for 82 minutes, never looked at a note or looked at an aide or dodged a question. and just spoke. and spoke from his heart and his mind.

i think that's extraordinary. >> well, it's all extraordinary. we so appreciate your insights, around thompson and george weigel, our friend and colleague as well. that does it for us on "andrea mitchell reports." we'll talk to the three prisoners from iran on monday. john kerry, in his concluding remarks and as he took questions, did say that vladimir putin has to make clear what is happening with those troops and said that if there is any action by the russian parliament, that will be a defacto annexation of crimea. "ronan farrow daily"" is up next

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