talking about? so i'm going to be talking about that. i'm going to thank all of my guests for joining us tonight. really appreciate you taking the time on easter sunday that is going to do it for us. kasie hunt is going to be back with you next sunday night, 7:00 to 9:00 eastern. for now, though, good night from new york. i'm chris matthews. even as a roman catholic, i recognize that the selection of a pope is not without politics. with the resignation of pope benedict, the college of cardinals wanted someone who could bring the church back to the people. benedict was the theologian. it was time for a pontiff who was more a pastor. they found him in buenos aires in a bishop known for living simply and with the people. a man who you might meet in a poor neighborhood or even on the subway. after the sex and financial

scandals, they wanted to bring the papacy to the people by selecting a pope already there. and this is a unique journey. the man who is now guiding an institution steeped in history using tools of the modern world. in this headliners, the life of pope francis. he's a spiritual leader of more than a billion catholics. not to mention his 40 million twitter followers. pope francis is more than a religious leader. >> the holy father is not just another guy with an opinion. >> he is an advocate and an activist, offering a strong voice on climate change. >> i think pope francis honestly has revolutionized the church. >> and like another world leader, this pope doesn't run

from a fight. >> what did the pope say? i like the pope. i mean, was it good or bad? because if it's good, i like the pope. if it's bad, i don't like the pope. >> we had these two once-in-a-generation lead. >> pope francis and donald trump in conflict with one another. this is like a pay-per-view event. >> connecting 2,000 years of strict church teaching to catholics in the 21st century. >> as he once said, i want the priest to come back with dust on their sandals, not shiny guccis. >> addressing scandals of the past. while leading a worldwide mission of mercy. what prepared a shy and simple man of argentina's streets to become pope? this is pope francis.

♪ >> he is the first named francis, the cardinals of the catholic church voting in secret, elected a 76-year-old colleague as the head of their church of over one billion people worldwide. >> the first jesuit pontiff, and the first pope from latin america, where 40% of the world's catholics live. >> cardinal jorge bergoglio never expected to step on the balcony. he even turned in his retirement papers in 2011. >> he was totally convinced that he would go back to buenos aires. >> instead, at 76, bergoglio becomes the most important catholic in the world, the pope. featured on glossy magazine cover, pope francis is tracked

by fans and paparazzi like a hollywood celebrity. he's a religious rock star with a remarkcally bli tender touch. when a little boy rushes the stage and refuses to leave, this pope proves himself kind and confident enough to share the spotlight. dubbed the hipster pope, pope francis has serious social media credit, posting fr ing froing fs to 40 million followers in nine languages. that's more than any world leader until america's leader in chief passes the pope in 2017. >> ten years ago when people would see you in a collar, they would say something about the sexual abuse skies are. now they say i love your pope. people just like him, and that changes things. >> this pope is more than popular. he is passionate. his tough stands on controversial issues like the death penalty, the environment,

and immigration are redefining what it means to be catholic in the modern age. >> building a future of freedom requires love of the common good. >> i looked at pope francis as someone who speengs community and the interconnectedness of person. >> some say for the better. >> who brings this bigger sense of what it means to be a person in our world today. >> and others say for worse. >> we have a pope who doesn't particularly like catholics. shea pope who sees the most devout, fervent, loyal, conscientious members of his religion, and he sees them as rigid. he talks constantly about open border, gun control, abolishing lifetime imprisonment, abolishing the death penalty. >> at the vatican yesterday, the pope said the commandment you sthal not kill applies to both the guilty and the innocent. >> that's why people look at this pontiff cat and say he is turning the church into an

extension of the democratic party. >> previous popes have stayed above the political fray. not this pontiff. >> he is authentic. he is himself. so this authenticity i think is why this pope someone of the more popular popes of the recent times. >> journalist elisabetta piquet and her have been friends with the pope since she interviewed him in 2001. >> pope francis is a man of action. and he was a man of action before becoming pope francis. >> the pope's story begins in a working class section of argentina's capital, buenos aires. jorge mario bergoglio is born into an italian family. his dad is an immigrant. his mom a daughter of immigrants. the bergoglios are fiercely loyal to each other. there is no mistakes that decades later when the pope use his travel coordinator to make a

point, don't mess with my mom. >> old friends remember the happy-go-lucky boy in this class photo. >> always he was smiling. never i saw him sorry. i never imagined he will come be the pope. never. >> neither did the women bergoglio tangos with, or the guys he shoots pool with. and one thing bergoglio's buddies can safely predict, jorge will never play for the san lorenzo soccer club, whose games he goes to with his dad. >> his frien say he wn't very good. he was patadura, like y say in spanish. not very good at playing football, but he was a totally normal boy. >> totally normal until the spring day bergoglio stops here

for confession on his way to meet friends. once inside, he feels something so strong, he later compares it to being thrown from a horse. it's god calling him to be something more. bergoglio knows he wants to be a priest. he just doesn't know how to break it to his mom, who wants him to be a doctor. >> one day the mother was cleaning his room and start to find books about theology, about -- not about medicine. and the mother was shock because she didn't want hps im to be a priest. he said i will be a doctor of souls. >> bergoglio joins the jesuits. >> we take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and we live in community. and we're probably best known in the united states for running colleges and high schools like georgetown, fordham, boston college. >> more conservative than many of his peers, bergoglio is appointed to lead all of

argentina's jesuits in 1973. at only 36, he is supervising younger, more liberal clergy and some men much older than him. >> he was rigid and authitar authoritarian. and thhat 's whe from jesuits in argentina, that he was kind of my way or the highway. among the jesuits had he had a reputation. >> three years in, argentina finds itself in the midst of what's called the dirty war. a three-person military junta forces the president out of office. the military rulers crack down on guerrilla fighters and anyone who opposes the government. during this time, more than 30,000 people disappear forever. >> and they started suppressing those groups. they would go into areas and

round up people and take them out. and in the worst of cases, they took people by helicopter and dropped them into the ocean. >> father bergoglio secretly works to save as many lives as he can. >> those were a very difficult time, a very dangerous time, and a lot of people died. >> he risks his job, his school, and possibly his life. >> he drove around having in the trunk people hidden in the car or taking them to the airport. he hid people and helped them to get out from argentina. >> his risky deception is done in private. in public, argentineans see bergoglio as complicit with the government. more than 30 years later, he is even called to testify at official dirty war inquiries where it becomes clear he wasn't colluding with the dictatorship. >> but at the time, fellow

jesuits and their higher ups in rome sim as a harsh boss who couldn't unite his order. >> he took a lotf criticism. and that's why, as i understand it, after his term as provincial of the jesuits, six years, he was kind of asked to leave the country and step out. get away from it. and he did. >> father bergoglio goes to frankfurt, germany to study. but he comes back to buenos aires uninvited after just three months. instead of welcoming him back, jesuit leaders ordered the divisive bergoglio to go to cordova, a remote city in argentina, exiled with no end in sight. coming up, bergoglio gets a second chance, and he makes the most of it. >> he is actually not just talking about goodness, he is doing it himself. medications seem to be the number

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for two years jorge bergoglio lives a solitary contempt plative life in exile. >> he also did a loft soul-searching there. and one of the things he talks about is understanding his errors basically and how he was rigid and authoritarian. and i think it changed him. >> he thought this is where i'm going to be for the rest of my life. and somebody reached in and said no, come back to buenos aires as bishop. >> after exile, it's like someone flipped a switch. bishop bergoglio delights in being around people again. whether he is leading marches, or saying mass, bergoglio tends

to his flock, especially the poorest families struggling in buenos aires slums. and when he is elevated to cardinal in 2001, he refuses the perks of the job, choosing to live in a simple apartment and to take the subway. greeting people, he is warm, funny, and something he wasn't before his exile, humble. it's evident in what bergoglio says to everyone he encounters, "pray for me." >> he had respect from the bishops, but he was not one to hang around in rome after meetings and schmooze and kind of politic. he would finish his meeting. he would pay his hotel bill. he was out of town. >> still, important people are noticing him, and that becomes apparent in 2005 with the loss of a beloved pope. >> in vatican city, a

spectacular procession carries pope john paul ii's body into the basilica as million says goodbye. >> grieving catholics pray for the late pope, and the world starts playing a papal guessing game. the question is who will be the next pope. >> renowned sistine chapel, one of the most important art places in rome. this is also the place where the conclave is held, where the popes are elected. >> you have cardinals in a way that represent all the members of the church. they speak together. they have a few conferences. they have a lot of coffee breaks to talk about things. and you start getting names floated among them. >> one name that is circulating is cardinal bergoglio's. >> reporting at this hour the bells above saint peter's square are ringing, confirm that a new poem has been elected. >> but when a new pope steps out

on to the balcony, it isn't in. it's cardinal joseph ratzinger from germany. a runner-up instead of a pope, bergoglio resumes his role running the buenos aires archdiocese. >> he observed the pontiff cat of benedict from the point of view of the guy that could have been pope instead of benedict that is very strong leverage for him to pay more attention to what is happening. >> the sexual abuse scandal which has torn apart one of this kufnt's largest catholic communities, boston, is now rocking the largest diocese of all, new york city. >> you could not read a single story about the catholic church in any newspaper in the world if it didn't reference the scandals to the previous decades, and particularly i'm talking about the child molestation scandals. and rightly so.

>> there were some financial disclosures, and there were rumors about a gay lobby within the church, and things that were really weighing very heavily on benedict's shoulders. >> after following pope benedict's struggle from 7,000 miles away, cardinal bergoglio would get a chance to get up and close and personal in a latin american bishop's conference. four years after the election of pope benedict and bergoglio, who came in second, meet again. pope benedict leads the conference. cardinal bergoglio serves as scribe. >> they asked him to be the one to put the final report together. and you always know the person whose designated to put the final report in any meeting gets to put his views forward. >> in summarizing the conference, bergoglio stresses how latin american bishops must put poor people first. it's seen as an endorsement of

left-leaning catholicism, known as liberation theology, which pope benedict has loopposed and which bergoglio himself used to criticize. >> in particular he cares about lives that find themselves oppressed and are suffering. >> bergoglio walks a fine line between the traditional -- >> he is not just pro-life, he is more pro-life than the evangelicals in this country that have been on the front lines. >> and opening up on modern issue, bergoglio believes marriage should be between a man and a woman, though he recognizes civil unions for gay couples outside the church. >> for the liberals, he is actually not liberal enough. for conservative, he is not conservative enough. he kind of fits right down the center. >> coming up, a shock announcement rocks the catholic church. >> pope benedict never wanted to be pope. from the very beginning, he had a very hard time. >> no one expected him to resign, but he did.

the news this morning, a stunning announcement as we've been reporting from the vatican this morning. pope benedict xvi says he is resigning at the end of this month. >> by waving farewell to the pape circumstances pope benedict abandons the most powerful role in christianity. >> pope benedict is not the first pope to resign, but he was the first pope in the modern edge. we have to go back six century, the 1400s. the pope can resign, but nobody knows what happens the moment after. >> he is going to disappear. we're not going to see this man for months. >> the day before he steps down, pope benedict holds his last general audience before tens of thousands of catholics. >> the decision i have made after much prayers and trust in god's will, the deep love of christ's church. >> he acknowledges his declining strength, a fact that is hard to

ignore. >> it was always kind of clear that pope benedict xvi was getting weaker by the month. >> but some fear the release of vatican secrets may be the real reason benedict is retiring. >> there had been some scandals his buttlers had stolen papers from the vatican office and forwarded them to journalists. >> the butler's exposed nepotism, brierks even the blackmailing of gay priests. before benedict even takes off for retirement, speculation begins about who is next. >> this morning, cardinals are reflecting over the task at hand after a weekend spent celebrating mass at their assigned parishes all across rome. >> it's a rainy tuesday in march when bergoglio and his fellow cardinals go into seclusion to elect the 266th pope of the catholic church. >> they'll enter into prayer together in the morning. they'll cast votes.

they'll take a break, and they'll keep doing that process over and over again until we see the white smoke come out of the chimney. >> cardinals aren't supposed to talk about what happens within the conclave. but there are always things that are leaked out afterward. >> there is no american style campaigning beneath michelangelo's frescos, but there are favorites. even though the 76-year-old jorge bergoglio was the runner-up eight years earlier, this time he isn't one of them. >> a lot of analysts would say that he was too old and that he had had his chance in 2005. >> but two u.s. cardinals are mentioned. many believe either sean o'malley from boston or timothy dolan from new york could be the next pope. >> inside the vatican the night before the conclave, bergoglio and his brother cardinals give short speeches. >> his intervention at the

conclave, each cardinal gets three to five minutes was extremely powerful, and it med people. >> to become pope, a candidate needs 2/3 majority plus one vote. but bergoglio only gets 25 votes, second place in the first ballot. just two hours after cardinals went into seclusion, crowds eye the black smoke with disappointment. elisabetta piquet heads home where she gets some inside information. her husband, a fellow journalist interviewed many cardinals right before the conclave. analyzing what he learned, piquet realizes their old friend padre jorge might have a shot at becoming pope. but her editors don't believe her. >> i said no, look, it's not because i know him. it's because i have information that he could get the votes. >> day two. thousands wait in dismal weather for white smoke, the sign of a new pope. as the hours seem to tick by

slowly on the clocks atop st. peters, things inside are moving faster. bergoglio keeps getting more votes in each round while conclave favorites fall before the way cy. on march 13th, 2013, the people beneath the sea of umbrellas get what they've been waiting for. >> oh, i can see smoke. >> let me interrupt you. we see smoke. we hear cheers. it looks white. >> it looks white. the thousands of people here in st. peter's square, a wave of umbrellas. and this is what they were waiting for. >> this was a surprise. in a month that has been full of them. >> cardinal bergoglio takes a new name, one that came to him after a close cardinal friend

congratulated him adding don't forget the poor. and so bergoglio names himself after st. francis of assisi, who left his family and wealth to serve god and live among the poor. when he finally speaks, pope francis does what he has been doing since he got out of exile. he asks followers for their prayers. >> that was a powerful moment that people talked about in the parish, because it's such an act of humility to have the leader of the church ask for the prayers of the people. >> people who were there say they could have heard a pin drop. >> first thing people talked about after learning some things about pope francis is how he went to the hotel to pay his own bill. they thought it was so cool. that's what any of us would have to do. >> parishioners may love it, but not future president donald trump, who tweets it's not

pope-like. elisabetta piquet disagrees. that's what this pope is like, a man who pays his debts, doesn't forget where he came from, and on that all important day remembers his reporter friend. >> i was assaulted by all the italian media wherever -- my telephone wouldn't stop ringing. the craziest night of my life. >> thursday morning, exhausted, she takes one last call. >> i was going almost not to answer. but thanks god i replied. and it was him. hello, elisabetta. what's so -- so amazing, he would still be the same authentic guy that i met years before. >> he was the same padre jorge who had baptized her kids. she know what's the world is getting, but the cardinals who elected francis are in for a surprise.

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i'm dara brown with the hour's top stories. president trump declared any chance at a daca deal dead. the president accused mexico of doing something to stop what he said were caravans of illegal immigrants from central america fr from pouring into the united states. israeli officials are defending the actions of its troops after 15 palestinians were killed during mass protests in gaza. the defense minister says those who protested peacefully were not harmed. now back to "headliners: pope francis." pope francis is instantly popular, especially among progressive catholics longing

for a church of compassion, balance, and inclusion. >> he has been a pope of surprises. i think the cardinals that elected him thought that he would be very good at financial reform, very good at reforming the curia. that's why they elected him. >> but on his first sunday as pope, francis previews what will become the main theme of his papacy, mercy. >> this pope comes in, and all of the sudden he is talking about poverty. he is talking about mercy. he is refocusing the direction of the church in ways that i think no one expected. >> for francis, mercy is not something we can talk about. it's something we can do and see. >> he hugs a terribly deformed individual. he looks for a way in which he visits the sick who are there. he goes out of his way with the marginalized, as he does on holy

thursday in washing the feet of prisoners or detainees. >> after years of seeing his church's image sullied by sex abuse and financial scandals, pope francis tries to start repairing its reputation, and rebranding, less rapping of the knuckles, more patting on the back. >> he wants a less clerical church. as he once said, i want the priests to come back with dust on their sandals, not shiny guccis. >> his first trip to lampedusa, an italian island flooded with refugees proves a harbinger of things to come. soon pope francis calls on every church in europe to take in refugees. and when he visits the greek island of lesbos, he practices what he preach, bringing three syrian families back to the vatican with him. >> he looks at a person. and regardless of their religious, culture, gender,

sexual orientation, background, come home. you're welcome here. >> pope francis gets close to people. too close for his guards' comfort. >> the first latin american pope wasted no time reaching out to the people. his car mobbed, forced to a stand still several times by the excited crowds. but francis seemed to revel in the chaos, even stopping to kiss a baby. >> he always said if something happens to me, and he said it with a loft humor, i hope it doesn't hurt me because i'm very afraid of the pain. very common that the argentinean groups offer him this argentinean kind of tea. he takes the mata and told the security since the beginning were oh my god, he will be poisoned. >> just four months into his new job, pope francis makes a remark so surprising, it makes headlines around the world. >> on his way back to rome, the pope spoke to reporters for an

hour and 20 minutes in an unprecedented press conference. >> that's probably his most famous quote, you know, who am i to judge? and he is on the plane speaking to reporters and speaking honestly right off the cuff. >> that has caused a lot of brief, because the impression was given that the pope doesn't think homosexual activity is bad. >> he is basically saying what jesus said, which is judge not. this is a theme of his pape meeting people where they are and n the complexity of their lives. and let me tell you, that had a big effect on lgbtq catholics. >> pope francis calls bishops to rome to talk about issues concerning catholic families. premarital sex, birth control, gay marriage, all fair game. >> he was biting into something he knew was controversial. but bite away he does. >> the result of the meetings is

a papal document, no shortened memo, 250 pages, nine chant. >> most of the document was noncontroversial. it's only in a footnote in chapter 8 where the pope actually seems to open the door for catholics who are divorced and remarried to come and receive holy communion at mass. >> within the church, this is hugely controversial. >> this is for me something completely unacceptable. this was never allowed in the church under any pontiff, and certainly not under the last two. >> other than death, there is one way the church will condone the dissolution of marriage, and it's not divorce. >> an annulment is this church process that really asks the question about the moment this couple entered into the sacrament of marriage, were they free to do it. >> without an annulment, remarried catholics have long been considered adulterers who shouldn't receive holy communion. but a moras leticia may be

stirring the rules and creating ainge attorney right. >> disputes can be eternal. and if the pope is in effect encouraging people, catholics to break the church's teaching on adultery, it could incentivize sin in such a way that souls could be lost. >> it is saying that one size does not fit all. it's saying black and white rules in some of these very complex cases just don't work. >> pope francis' guidance is so controversial, a group of catholic academics and clergy write what's call a correction, accusing the pope of promoting heresy, going against church teaching. it's the first correction since 1333. >> the correction against francis was signed by some 60 people worldwide in a relation of catholics that is 1.2 billion catholics. so that tells you something.

>> pope francis tries to quash those 60 critics when he approves of the way bishops in buenos aires handle communion. argentine bishops sometimes allow it when remarried catholics examine their conscience, pray, talk to a pastor and strive to live a more christian life. >> this controversy has been raging now for two years in the church, and it's not going away. >> coming up -- >> what did the pope say? i like the pope. was it good or bad? because if it's good, i like the pope. if it's bad, i don't like the pope. with esurance photo claims, you could have money for repairs within a day. wow! that was really fast. so it doesn't have to hurt for long. that's insurance for the modern world. esurance, an allstate company.

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after months of buildup in

anticipation, pope francis has come to america. when this chartered plane touches down at andrews air force base, it delivers a fist-time visitor the u.s. americans are excited, but ambassador ken hacket is nervous. the pope speaks eight languages fluently but english isn't his strong english. >> we tried to help the people around him what were the words he should use? >> but his english and message are perfectly clear when he meets with president obama at the white house. >> as the son of an immigrant family, i'm happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families. >> within minutes, he covers his

key issues -- immigration and climate change. >> all he did when he was in the united states is talk about politically liberal themes. if you had swapped out the speeches of pope francis during his visit with the speeches of a democratic senator, nobody would know the difference. >> mr. speaker, the pope of the holy see. >> he's the first pope ever to address congress. >> i am happy that america continues to be for many a land of dreams. >> lawmakers are moved, but nobody as visibly as the pope's host, house speaker and former altar boy, john boehner, who sheds tears. >> it was a wonderfully successful visit. it made american catholics feel good about themselves after years of not feeling so good about themselves. >> god bless america.

>> this pop of lifting spirits wherever he goes since the start of his ponti pontifica pontificate, entering a war zone. >> pope francis opens the doors of the cathedral, a symbolic act to start the catholic church's year of mercy. >> and saying mass for a record-setting 6 million catholics in the philippines in the midst of an approaching typhoon. praying for asylum seekers at the border who died trying to cross from mexico into the u.s., and calling for unity in kenya where 1200 people were killed after the 2007 elections. >> let's stand up as a sign again against -- >> around the globe, the pope tells it like it is. >> pope francis doesn't mince words. >> even when he is talking about

then presidential candidate donald trump. >> good evening. it's virtually unheard of, a pope admonishing a u.s. presidential candidate. in this case, donald trump over his immigration plan. >> he was very clever, because he didn't mention trump, but he said whoever speaks about building walls instead of building bridges is not christian. >> johnny more is one of president trump's evangelical advisers. >> we had these two once in a generation leader, pope francis and donald trump in conflict with one another. this is like -- this is like a pay-per-view event. >> the pope is being told that donald trump is not a nic person, okay. donald trump is aery nice person. and i'm a very -- i am a very nice person. and i'm a very good christian. >> the truth is that donald trump and pope francis in many

ways are the same person. they both are populist leaders who are trying to break up bureaucracy. they both aren't scared to take on other powerful people around the world. and sometimes they both speak their mind without thinking before they talk. if the pope had to run for his office, he could have used the slogan "make the vatican great again." >> more than a year after their war of words, the pope and the president meet for the first time. >> there were many photographs taken there was one that was used over and over again. the president looked fairly happy. the pope looked unhappy. people were taking that to mean that the pope didn't like the meeting. but then other photos were shown of a past meeting with president obama where the pope had the exact same expression. his face just kind of falls into that dour look. so i think that more was made of that than actually should have been at the time. >> in 2 traditional exchange of gifts, the pope gives the president a copy of his climate

encyclical, it's an 80-page call to action, a plea to start protecting our common home before it's too late. president trump says he'll read it. one week later, the president ignores the climate concerns of pope francis and much of the world. he pulls out of the paris accord, making the u.s. the onl opposed to setting targets to reduce carbon emission. >> i was elected to represent the citizens of pittsburg. not paris. >> the church looks like the science person in this debate. which is very strange. >> immigration, including daca or deferred action for childhood arrivals is another topic that puts pope against president. trump said he would remove the protections for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants known as dreamers.

>> i'm here to announce the program known as daca that was under the obama administration is being rescinded. >> president trumps former chief adviser a high profile catholic, goes on 60 minutes and accuses bishops of supporting daca for institutional reasons. an accusation they deny. >> they need illegal aliens to fill the church. >> to think the catholic church needs undocumented people in the pew in order to pay bills, is non-sense. we need undocumented people in the pews because they're a part of the family. of faith. in the eyes of god there is no one who is illegal. >> coming up. >> i'm under no illusion. i recognize my point of view. catholics like me we're out numbered. mine's way better.

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when a young pope francis became a he took vows of poverty, chasty and obedience. >> we make a public promise not to strive for or ambition high office in the church. he's in the heist office of the church who never wanted it. he's free. he's probably the freest person i can imagine. >> that freedom may explain the playful side of the pope we see today. how he find humor in joy in every cay life. and wears his heart on his sleeve. when a five year-old girl tries to dodge security in d.c. the hand deliver a letter, pope francis receives her. and her message of plea for immigration reform for kids like her with undocumented parents. >> he doesn't come across as a boss but as a brother. he always refers to me as my brother. >> for sure the catholicism of

francis is much less about rules, and much more about mercy. >> he says whatever sin you committed god is there to wait for you. because god can forgive whatever. >> not everyone forgives or forgets e churches os. sin in chili theope is forced to confront the scars of the past. had e owns and acknowledges decades of clergy sexual abuse. >> two days later he hurts his credibility by defending a bishop accused of witnessing a abuse and doing nothing about it. >>

days later the vatican vows to send the former top prosecutor to investigate the alleged cover up. the problems aren't over. reports surface a cardinal personally gave francis an eight page letter from a victim. three years earlier. faced with criticism, pope francis reactivates the advisory commission and adds sex abuse survivors to the group. it's a painful fall on a progressive popes determined journey. five years after his election, the pew research center finds the pope is very popular among american catholics. even with high approval ratings he has detractions. >> i recognize my point of view and catholics like me.

rite now, we're out numbered. by the time this is over, he'll probably have selected 60% of the cardinals. >> cardinals who likely shea his progressive views and approach. as for the problem of too few prsts. he is reported to consider radical ideas. letting married men become priests in certain parts of the world and giving women a prominent role. more than past pontiffs he seems to realize different communities have different needs. from the amazon region of brazil to chicago south side. where father o don el works. >> i administer in a community where every night i can hear gunshots or police sirens or helicopters. i know from the experience that i have with people in the

neighborhood that it's significant. people suffer, peoples pain. and to have a pope who speaks on that and whose anchored in that in his own life is powerful. >> the holy father is not just another guy with an opinion. when he speaks people listen. his voice resonates profoundly. around the world. >> like it did in this surprise talk. i think for the rest of history for the rest of the time people on this earth are alive, they will know that catholic can be like pope francis. and a pope can be like bergoglio. and that changes everything. >> i think pope francis has revolutionized the church.

you didn't used to see this. priests will be sitting down with a homeless person and talking. bee buying a sand pitwich. now it's a common way of doing things. >> he makes me want to be a better christian and better priest. that's a good thing for a pope to do. >> some of the images and language in the following program are graphic and might be disturbing to some viewers. while the images have been available across the internet, they have not been seen nationally in their entirety on nbc. 50 years ago, the nation lost an extraordinary leader. >> the time is always right to do right. >> reporter: a warrior for justice. >> martin luther king jr., "we ain't gonna let nobody turn us around." his fight -- >> "expect somebody to