. >> abc's cokie roberts, a long time vatican observer, has been reporting from rome all week. she sat down with "nightline's" terry moran to talk about what we can expect from the new pope. >> so as a world waits to find out more about newt pope, the white house said vice president biden is going to lead the u.s. delegation to pope francis' inauguration mass next tuesday morning. abc's cokie roberts, a vatican observer has been here all week, reporting on this, and joins us now. in a big picture way, what does this mean, what does it say that the church, the cardinals have chosen this man? >> it says they're ready to make a big change. benedict after john paul ii was continuity. this is a huge difference. instead of the cerebral, theologian, you have this down

cokie, as you look at pope francis who has struck such a, such a different note -- was announced.ounced last week. you and i were sitting on the he was.in rome. we had no idea who he was. neither did the crowd in st. ovter's square. but they have come to know him over these last few days. >> a and really come to like him. >> as you can see he has gotten hut of the jeep. there is a person with severe thsabilities that he got out of the jeep there to bless. bolism 's the kind of symbolism we have seen sin we have seen since he was named. he has been out among the people. he has, he has not dressed up in the ring that in fact today the ring that he ill be taking, is a used ring, secretary.ul vi's secretary. nd it is silver with gold e is not, he o he is not, he is -- he is bandoning a lot of the fancy impler gs to be a much simpler and more humble man. father t to bring in father jesuit rtin who is a jesuit like the pope as well. esuit he author of "the jesuit guide to almost everything." editor emeritus of "america" the jesuit magazine here. father, for a lot of people who ear about

now i turn to cokie roberts who has covered the vatican. who knows about it. so cokie, methodist girl from kentucky, everyone talking about the first jesuit pope, what does this really mean? >> americans know jesuits well. we have lots of jesuit colleges. and high schools in the country. lots with very good basketball teams. our first bishop in america, john carol, was a jesuit and founded georgetown university. so it's a long american tradition. but the reason it's so stunning, the jesuits and the vatican have had huge differences over the centuries. so for the jesuits to be embraced by this institution, is quite something. >> so having been jesuit, meant more challenge to authority? >> absolutely. very intellectual order who is always skeptical and challenging authority. at the same time, they take an oath of obedience to the pope, but they always feel free to question it. >> one more thing. we were sitting all day watching the white smoke and then the new pope. >> quite a day. >> quite a day. and i saw you so emotional when he said prayers, that you said we

peter's to the tomb. >> as cokie was saying it was thought legendary but a lot of times these legends have basis in fact. one of my professors would say people would remember where these important things happened and pass them down and as cokie was saying, under the pontificate of pious xii they were uncovered and a holy site and also going down there with apparently the he can cue mental patriarch which is another huge symbol to begin his papacy. >> they will pray together at the tomb of st. peter. let's go inside to the basilica. and here is pope francis now in the vestments that he will wear to celebrate this mass. proceeding to what's call the tomb of st. peter and he will pray there along with leaders of the other christian faiths. >> also interestingly, the pallium which is a wool garment that he will be invested with later on is placed at the tomb of st. peter overnight as a sign of its unity, the sign of the symbolic unity with st. peter. one of his title as successor of st. peter and the apostles, in a sense where the petrine ministry began, in rome. >> he's also not wearing

cokie, you were there with me, as well.ble pageantry in his final hours but it does now come at a time after this remarkably bold move in retiring where the catholic church is going to have to make a lot of big decisions going forward. >> and it was striking to me when you and i were talking with cardinal wuerl of washington, how little they know of what they'll do next. they know formally they'll go into a meeting and then they'll talk -- >> because everything here is new. >> brand new. >> for 600 years. >> and they also, more than half of them, have never been in a conclave where you elect a pope and there's no front-runner. you know, with the last election, we all knew joseph ratzinger and so did they, but there's nobody like that now, and with the scandals that are there, the first thing they have to do is make absolutely sure in every way that whomever they pick is spotless. >> exactly. >> and they don't know how to do that. they don't know how. i mean what are they going to do, call the head of the knights of columbus

and cokie, i just want to go to you on this.omething that has been brought up by critics of then cardinal bergoglio, now pope francis, that he did not do enough. some even say that he might have been complicit. >> he was actually superior, the provincial of the judgments at the time of the dirty war. and there was one particular accusation about two jesuits who were working with the poor. they were what we called at the time liberation theologians, and then father bergoglio had his disagreement was that theology. but, and the accusation is that he with drew his protection from them and they were then tortured and almost killed by the regime. in the days since he has been named pope, we have seen a lot of reporting on this. and what appears to be the case was that he was not a collaborator in any way with the military regime. but that he was not a martyr, either. he was not out there and screaming against the regime. he apparently did work behind the scenes. hid people, hid prisoners and did work to get those two jesuits released

okay, cokie, thank you very much.reciate you joining us and diane sawyer is leading our abc news team coverage of the papal conclave with josh there in st. peter's square. we'll bring you all the latest from vatican city as it happens. >>> but now to my exclusive interview with president obama. we sat down yesterday afternoon. a packed day filled with news on the pope, north korea and cyberattacks and with the president just back from a budget meeting on capitol hill i began by asking how he would overcome republican opposition to the new taxes by going around gop leaders or rolling right over them. >> i don't think it's to break or go around them. i think it is to identify what i call the commonsense caucus, which says we can do sensible deficit reduction with a combination of entitlement reform, some judicious spending cuts, closing some tax loopholes that nobody really defends on their own and that's what i've been talking about for the last two years. >> that commonsense caucus on the republican side, lindsey grah

cokie, tell us about these men as they are making the procession. >> we're seeing in front is altar boysm able to elect the pope. anybody over 80 is not eligible to vote. they're walking through the beautiful sala reggia, a 16th century gorgeous hallway and where the pope has traditionally received heads of tates, monarchs and such and singing the beautiful lit enough the saints, singing one saint's name after another and saying pray for us or two saint, both of you pray for us and they are processioning into that very special sistine chapel. >> 113 saints and one of the cardinals told me that this is the moment for him because he thinks back over all the years, sacrifice to the expectations of this church to the choices that must be made. >> it's a long walk, isn't it? and you mentioned the church at a crossroads. you might not think of it to look at them but it's a generational crossroads too, both pope benedict and pope john paul ii born in the 1920s, the average age here is 71, which doesn't sound that young but it's about the age of bob dylan and mick jagger. >> to reference a few.

. >> abc's cokie roberts, a long time vatican observer, has been reporting from rome all week. about what we can expect from the new pope. >> so as a world waits to find out more about newt pope, the white house said vice president biden is going to lead the u.s. delegation to pope francis' inauguration mass next tuesday morning. abc's cokie roberts, a vatican observer has been here all week, reporting on this, and joins us now. in a big picture way, what does this mean, what does it say that the church, the cardinals have chosen this man? >> it says they're ready to make a big change. benedict after john paul ii was continuity. this is a huge difference. instead of the cerebral, theologian, you have this down to earth man of the people. and of course he is from the new world. and that is a very big deal for this church. which, really does still kid us in the western hemisphere as newcomers to civilization. so that is something enormous. then the final thing that we have made a deal of today but it is worth talking about is that he is a jesuit. there has never been a jesuit pop

we are joined by john, author of the vatican and cokie roberts.ld suggest a rather quick consensus had been reached. what might that suggest to you on who we'll see who will walk out on the scarlet-draped -- >> you're right, it is difficult to tell. is this black or white? suddenly it looks whiter than it did a few seconds ago. very surprising to everyone if this is white smoke at this early point in the conclave. it would indicate that probably one of the three or four frontrunners actually gained enough traction in the initial ballots to go over the top quite early. and i think what we're talking about here is cardinal scola of mila milan. >> again, we should repeat, it is hard to tell if the smoke is, in fact, white or black. it is a rather gray color right now. cokie, reminiscent, of course, of both the conclaves of 2005 and 1978 when it did confuse a world's media here in st. peter's square. again, we should also point out, we're not hearing the bells peel. but, i tell you, with the crowds here gathered with their umbrellas, with their umbrel

he was on with brinkley and cokie. >> dr.ezinski. >> that would have been fun to watch. >> call him. >> i actually would have watched that. >> call him. >> wow. okay. >> what was that about? >> i don't know. i think that about says it all. and you just sit right there. good morning, everyone. it's monday, march 4th. i'm a little angry about that. >> please, i think -- listen -- >> my author friend is back. >> we need to share. share with the table. >> i don't share. >> what are you angry about? >> loaded question. >> are you serious? right now? >> what particularly are you angry about when it comes to george stephanopoulos having dennis rodman on "this week"? >> i think that you just said it right there. that coupling probably is not what you expect to see on a sunday show, nor do you need to see. nor do you need to give attention to someone who clearly brings nothing to the table. >> except some cash, obviously. that north korea gave him, right? he didn't go over there for -- you know, the beaches. >> no, he didn't. with us