pope francis is close to john xxiiird, and perhaps the notion is like john xxiiird, bringing a church into 20th century, pope francis bringing the church into the 23rd century. >> live from vatican city. thank you for being with us. >> the question is what do american catholics think of today's event. >> john, we understand that pope john paul - he had a long history with the united states, head of the catholic church. tell us about that. he did. he came here in 1995 with president boipt to preside ever evening prayers and came to the united states on seven occasions if you include a layover, and travelled to all the cities. americans adore him. he's the pope associated with ending communism and travelled widely. the man met more people on the planet than any other person in, well the history of the world of catholics have been prepared for the day for a long time. posters, flyers, banners. when they come to maths this morning, all over the countries, they'll be given a flyer showing a picture of the sf john xxiiird, and st. john paul the second. what about the sexual abuse controvers

these men are the best known popes one had a short tenure, pope john xxiiird and pope john paul the second. anticipation for the historic day was building. we talked about delia gallagher senior editor for inside the vatican magazine. >> there's great anticipation when you walk around and excitement what's going to happen at this mass. >> rose: what's the significance? >> well, i think there are a number of significant things about it. but i think it boils down to the fact that these two hopes are loved by the people. they are the original people's popes. pope john xxiii before pope john paul ii and pope francis was the one who came after a pope pius the 12th who was regal and academic and aristocratic and john xxiii was short stout called the peasant pope and people say what's he going to do. >> rose: and then called the good pope. >> then called the good pope. and why? because he came out and could talk to the people and he came out and he was the one who went to the hospitals and visit sick children. he was the one who went first to prisons and visited prisoners. so the thing that we se

millions are expected in rome ready to witness john paul, ii and pope john xxiiird become saints. next hour talk about the catholic saints and the women who helped give these men their place in history. >>> hello, everyone. don lemon here. you're in the "cnn newsroom." we have a big story in the sports world. it goes much, much more difficult. it gets much more difficult than that. because we are talking about the important issues of race and equality here. the nba tonight is investigating recorded remarks allegedly made by l.a. clippers owner donald sterling. the comments obtained by the website tmz includes a voice disparaging african-americans and telling a woman, apparently his girlfriend, to stop bringing african-americans to clippers games. cnn's paul hammond joins us tonight from los angeles. paul, you have a new excerpt to share with us from that recording. we want to hear it. >> let's get to it. this is donald sterling's alleged girlfriend talking to him over the phone. again, we are trying to confirm that this is, indeed, sterling's voice. let's give a listen. >> here is

. ♪ millions are expected in rome ready to witness john paul, ii and pope john xxiiird become saints.alk about the catholic saints and the women who helped give these men their place in history. >>> hello, everyone. don lemon here. you're in the "cnn newsroom." we have a big story in the sports world. it goes much, much more difficult. it gets much more difficult than that. because we are talking about the important issues of race and equality here. the nba tonight is investigating recorded remarks allegedly made by l.a. clippers owner donald sterling. the comments obtained by the website tmz includes a

pope francis described john the xxiiird, and were not overwhelmed by them. unlike a john the 23rd, the ceremony still has visions of pope john pope. >> when he was in rain, he was always smiling, just like, you know -- i'm sorry. i'm just overwhelmed. >> he was a strong voice again comunism, so without his help and support, we wouldn't be able to fight back. >> bells also rangers across poe land -- poland in the celebration of st. paul. >> you may be old enough to remember when pope john ball the second made the trip to san francisco's candlestick park in the 1980 where is he conducted mass from the pitcher's mound. san francisco was one stop on i a worldwide tour. >> the 2014 boating season is officially underway. >>> today is opening day on the bay of the official start of the boating season. to mark the occasion, more than 100 boats of all shapes and sizes cruised through the pay to pier 39, typically taking place on the last sunday in april. >>> will still ahead the search is on for the gunman behind this brazen robbery. it isn't their first heist. just h

pope john paul xxiiird led the church from 1958 to 1963 and credited with modernized the church, and pope in history traveling the world, and credited to bring down communism. the road to sainthood arose almost immediately after his death. and questions are being raised whether it happened too soon and whether he deserves the honor. greg burke addressed some of the criticism this morning on "today" show. >> pope benedict, really, we thought he was one of the most conservative popes in the world, until he resigned of course, but a prudent man, and somebody who knew pope john paul ii and worked with him for the better part of 25 years,nd he is the one who signed off on the five-year wait before the process starts, and pope benedict did that, and that is one thing that said that it was going forward and also the 1 million people who came for his funeral mass. >> and now joining us is the pastor of our lady of mercy church out of baton rouge, louisiana. pastor, thank you for joining us. >> great. thanks to be here, and it is going to be a wonderful sunday celebration. >> and it seems to s

saw the picture this morning of cardinal raggtzinger embracing pope francis to commemorate john paul ii and xxiiird. one of the greatest scenes i've ever seen. >> as far as what i was taught as a young boy growing up. was an extraordinary day here in rome. >> a lot of people have a question the speed within which john paul ii has been made a saint and can you explain how the process works. >> there's so much recorded history about john paul ii going back to september 1st, 1939. when nazi occupiers came into poland and the role that john paul ii came into the defeat and overthrow of communism. and in all that history and how he brought the catholic church together and was a humble servant for needy people. i mean, there's so much films in history written so it's not like the old days where you had to go to the archives to find out something about a candidate for sainthood. this history is well known. it was a multi-cultural crowd. never seen anything like that. >> bringing people all together. >> exactly. >> that's what it was today. >> i want to let you get back to all the festivities. thank you so