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Pope Francis delivering a strong speech before the United Nations General Assembly; Resignation of the Speaker of the House, John Boehner. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 25, 2015 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[10:00:00] POPE FRANCIS (Translated): To overcome all natural limits to the exercise of power and the essential response in as much as technological power in the hands of nationalistic or falsely Universalist ideology is capable of perpetrating tremendous atrocities. I can only reiterate the appreciation expressed by my predecessors and reaffirming the importance which the Catholic Church attaches to this institution and the hope which she places in its activities.

The history of this organized community of states represented by the United Nations which is presently celebrating its 70th Anniversary is one of important common achievements over a period of unusually fast paced changes. Without claiming to be exhausted, we can mention the codification and development of international law, the establishment of international norms regarding human rights, advances in humanitarian law, the resolution of numerous conflicts, operations of peacekeeping and reconciliation, and any number of other accomplishments in every area of international activity and endeavor.

Now all these achievements are lights which helped to dispel the darkness of the disorder caused by unrestrained ambitions and collective forms of selfishness certainly many grave problems remained to be resolved yet it is clear that without all those interventions on the international level mankind would not have been able to survive the unchecked use of its own possibilities.

Every one of these political, juridical, and technical advances is a path towards attaining the idea of human fraternity and the means for its greater realization. So for this reason I pay homage to all those men and women whose loyalty and self-sacrifice have benefited humanity as a whole over this past 70 years and particular today I would like to recall those who have given their lives for peace and reconciliation among peoples, from the commission (ph) to the many United Nations officials at every level who have been killed in the course of humanitarian missions and missions of peace and reconciliation.

The experience of the past 70 years, beyond all these achievements has made it clear that reform and adaptation to the times is always necessary in the pursuit of the ultimate goal of granting all countries without exception are shared in and a genuine and equitable influence on decision-making processes.

The need for greater equity is especially true in the case of those parties with effective executive capability such as the Security Council, the financial agencies, and the groups or mechanisms which was specifically created to deal with economic crises.

[10:05:01] This will help to limit every kind of abuse or usury especially where developing countries are concerned. The international financial agencies should carve for the sustainable development of countries and should ensure that they are not subjective to oppressive lending systems which...

(APPLAUSE)

...so the international financial agencies should carve for the sustainable development of countries and should ensure that they are not subjective to oppressive lending systems which far from promoting progress subject people to mechanisms which generate greater poverty, exclusion and dependence. The work of the United Nations according to the principles set forth in the preamble in the first article of its founding chapter can be seen as the development and promotion of the rule of law based on the realization that justice is an essential condition for achieving the ideal of universal fraternity.

In this context, it is helpful to recall that the limitation of power is an idea implicit in the concept of law itself to give to each his own, to site a classic definition of justice means that no human, individual or group can consider itself absolute, permitted to bypass the dignity and the rights of other individuals or the social groupings.

(APPLAUSE)

The effective distribution of power, political, economic, defense- related, technological, et cetera among a plurality of subjects in the creation of a juridical system for regulating claims and interests a one concrete way of limiting power yet today's world presents us with many false rights and at the same time broad sectors which are vulnerable victims of power that is badly exercised.

The natural environment and the vast ranks (ph) of men and women who are excluded, these are sectors closely interconnected and made increasingly fragile by the dominant political and economic relationships. That is why their rights must be forcefully affirmed by working to protect the environment and by putting an end to exclusion.

(APPLAUSE)

First it must be stated that the true right of the environment has exists on two reasons. First because we human beings are part of the environment we live in communion with. Since the environment itself entailing ethical limits which human activity must acknowledge and respect, man for all his remarkable gifts which are signs of a uniqueness which transcends the spheres of physics and biology is at the same time a part of the spheres.

[10:10:08] He possesses a body shaped by physical, chemical, and biological elements and can only survive and develop if the ecological environment is favorable. Any harm done to the environment therefore is harm to humanity.

Second, because every creature particularly a living creature, has an intrinsic value, its existence, its life, its beauty, and its dependence with other creatures. We Christians together with the other monotheistic religions believe that the universe is the fruit of a loving decision by the creator who permits man respectfully to use creation for the good of his fellowmen and for the glory of the creator. But he is not authorized to abuse it and much less is he authorized to destroy it.

(APPLAUSE)

In all religions, the environment is a fundamental good. The misuse and destruction of the environment are also accompanied by a relentless process of exclusion. In effect a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and the disadvantaged (ph) rightly because they are differently able, handicapped, or because they lack adequate information and technical expertise or are incapable of decisive political action.

Economic and social exclusion is a complete denial of human fraternity and a very grave offense against human rights and the environment. And the poorest of those who suffer most from such offenses were three serious reasons. They are castoff by society, forced to live of what is discarded and suffer unjustly from the consequences of the abuse of the environment. These phenomena are part of today's widespread and quietly growing culture of waste.

(APPLAUSE)

The dramatic reality, this whole situation exclusion and equality with it evident effects, has led me in union with the entire Christian people and many others to take stock also of my grave responsibility in this regard. And therefore to speak out together with all those who are seeking urgently needed and effective solutions.

The adoption of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development at the World Summit which opens today is an important sign of hope. I am similarly confident that the Paris Conference on climatic change will secure fundamental and effective agreements.

[10:15:07] Now, solemn commitments; however, are not enough even though they are a necessary step towards solutions. The classic definition of justice which I mentioned earlier contains as one of its essential elements a constant and perpetual will -- iustitia est constans et perpetua voluntas ius suum cuique tribuendi.

A well demand of all government leaders, a will which is effective practical constant with concrete steps and immediate measures for preserving and improving the natural environment and us putting an end as quickly as possible to the phenomenon of social and economic exclusion with its painful consequences of human trafficking, the marketing of human organs and tissues, sexual exploitation of boys and girls, slave labor including prostitution, the drug and weapons trade, terrorism and international organized crime. (APPLAUSE)

Such as the magnitude of this situation and the toll (ph) in innocent lives that we must avoid every temptation, to fall into a declarationist nominalism which would just assuage our own consciousness.

(APPLAUSE)

We need to ensure that our institutions are truly effective in the struggle against all of these scourges. The number in complexity of the problems requires that we possess technical instruments of verification but this involves two risks. We can rest content with the bureaucratic excise of drawing of long lists of good proposals, goals, objectives and statistical indicators or we can think that a single theoretical and a prioritized solution will provide an institutional (ph) challenges.

It must never be forgotten that political and economic activity is only effective when it is understood as a prudential activity guided by a perennial concept of justice and consciously conscious of the fact that above and beyond are plans and programs. We are dealing with a real man and women who live, struggle and suffer and are often forced to live in great poverty and deprived of all rights.

(APPLAUSE)

To enable these real men and women to escape from extreme poverty, we must allow them to be dignified agents of their own destiny. Integral human development and the full exercise of human act of dignity cannot be imposed. They must be built up and allowed to unfold for each individual for every family in communion with others and in a right relationship with all those areas in which human social life develops friends, communities, towns, cities, schools, businesses, unions, provinces and nations.

[10:20:12] Now this proposes the right to education, also for girls who are excluded in certain places.

(APPLAUSE)

The right to education which is ensured first and foremost by respecting and reinforcing the primary right of the family to educate its children as well as the right to churches and social groups to support and assist families in the education of the boys and girls. Education conceived in this way is the basis for the implementation of the 2030 agenda and for reclaiming the environment.

(APPLAUSE)

At the same time, government leaders must do everything possible to ensure that all can have the minimum spiritual and material means needed to live in dignity and to create and supportive a family which is the primary cell of any social development.

(APPLAUSE) In practical terms, this absolute minimum has three names lodging, labor, and land.

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And one spiritual name, spiritual freedom, which include religious freedom, the right to education, and all other civil rights.

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Now, for all this, the simplest and best measure and indicator of the implementation of the new agenda for development will be effective, practical, and immediate access on the part of all too essential material and spiritual goods, housing, dignified and properly remunerated employment, adequate food and drinking water, religious freedom and more generally spiritual freedom and education. Now these pillars of integral human development have a common foundation and this is the right to life and more generally what we could call the right to existence of human nature itself.

(APPLAUSE)

The ecological crisis together with the large scale destruction of biodiversity can threaten the very existence of the human species. The painful consequences of an irresponsible mismanagement of the global economy guided only by the ambition for wealth and power must serve as a summon to a forthright reflection on man. Man is not only of freedom which he creates for himself. Man does not create himself. He is spirit and will but also nature. Creation is compromised where we ourselves have the final word. The misuse of creation begins when we no longer recognize any instance above ourselves when we see nothing else but ourselves.

[10:25:05] Consequently, the defense of the environment in the fight against exclusion demand that we recognize a moral law written into human nature itself one which includes the natural difference between man and woman and the absolute respect for life in all stages and dimensions.

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Without the recognition of certain incontestable natural ethical limits and without the immediate implementation of those pillars of integral human development, the ideal of saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war and of promoting social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, risk becoming an unattainable illusion or even worse just idle chatter which serves as a cover for all kinds of abuse and corruption or for carrying out an ideological colonization by the imposition of anomalous models (ph) and lifestyles which are alien to people's identity and in the end are irresponsible.

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War is the negation of all rights and it's a dramatic assault on the environment. If we want true integral human development for all, we must work tirelessly to avoid war between nations and between peoples. (APPLAUSE)

To this end, there's a need to ensure the uncontested rule of law and tireless recourse to negotiation, mediation, and arbitration as proposed by the charter of the United Nations which constitutes truly a fundamental juridical norm. The experience of this 70 years, since the founding of the United Nations in general and in particular the experience of those -- these first 15 years of the third millennium, reveal both the effectiveness of the full application of international norms and the ineffectiveness of the lack of enforcement. When the charter of the United Nations is respected and applied with transparency and sincerity and without ulterior motives as an obligatory reference point of justice and not as a means for masking spurious intentions, peaceful results will be attained.

(APPLAUSE)

When on the other hand, that the norm is considered simply as an instrument to be used whenever it proves favorable and then to be avoided when it is not a true Pandora's box is opened releasing uncontrollable forces which gravely harm defenseless populations, the cultural milieu and even the biological environment. The preamble in the first article of the charter of the United Nations set forth the foundations of the international juridical framework.

[10:30:02] Peace, the civic solution of disputes, underdevelopment of friendly relations between nations. Now, strongly opposed to such statements and in practice denying them is the constant tendency to the proliferation of arms especially weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons. On ethics and the law, based on the threat of mutual destruction and possibly the destruction of all mankind are self contradictory and presenting upfront to the entire framework of the United Nations which would end up as a nations united by fear and distrust.

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There is urgent need to work for a world free of nuclear weapons in full application of the nonproliferation treaty in letter and spirit towards the goal of a complete prohibition of these weapons.

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The recent agreement reached on the -- a new clear question in a sensitive region of Asia and the Middle East is proof of the potential of political goodwill and of law exercised with sincerity, patience, and constancy. I express my hope that this agreement will be lasting and efficacious and bring forth the desired fruits with the cooperation of all the parties involved.

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In the sense, hard evidence is not lacking of the negative effects of military and political interventions which are not coordinated between members of the international community. For this reason while regretting to have to do so, I must renew my repeated appeals regarding the painful situation of the entire Middle East, North Africa and other African countries who are Christians together with other cultural or ethnic groups and even members of the majority religion who have no desire to be cold hearted (ph), hatred and falling have been forced to witness the destruction of the places of worship, the cultural and religious heritage, the houses and property and have faced the alternative either of fleeing or paying for their addition (ph) to good and to peace by their own lives or by enslavement.

(APPLAUSE)

These realities should serve as a grave summons to an examination of conscience on the part of those charged with the conduct of International Affairs. And not only in cases of religious or cultural persecution but in every situation of conflict as in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Libya, South Sudan, and The Great Lakes Region. Real human beings take precedence over partisan interests; however legitimate the latter maybe in wars and conflicts, there are individual persons or brothers and sisters, men and women, young and old, boys and girls who weep, suffer, and die.

[10:35:02] Human beings who are easily discarded when our only response is to draw a list of problems, strategies, and disagreements. As I wrote in my letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations on the 9th of August, 2014, the most basic understanding of human dignity compels the international community particularly through the norms and mechanisms of international law to do all that it can to stop and to prevent farther systematic violence against ethnic and religious minorities and to protect innocent peoples.

(APPLAUSE)

Along the same lines, I would mention another kind of conflict which is not always so often yet is silently killing millions of people. Another kind of war experienced by many of our societies as a result of the narcotics trade, a war which is taken for granted but poorly fought. Drug trafficking is by its very nature accompanied by trafficking in persons, money laundering, the arms trade, child exploitation and other forms of corruption. A corruption which is penetrated to the different levels of social, political, military, artistic, and religious life and in many cases has given rise to a parallel structure which threatens the credibility of our institutions.

(APPLAUSE)

I began this speech recalling the visits of my predecessors. And now I would hope that my words will be taken above all as a continuation of the final words of the address of Pope Paul VI spoken almost exactly 50 years ago, they remain ever timely. And I quote, "the hour has come and a pause, a moment of recollection, reflection, even of prayer is absolutely needed so that we may think back over our common origin, our history of common destiny.

The appeal to the moral conscience of man has never been as necessary as it is today. But the danger comes neither from progress nor from science if these are used well they can help to solve a great number of the serious problems besetting mankind. Among other things, human genius well applied will surely help to meet the great challenges of ecological deterioration and of exclusion.

And I continue in quoting Pope Paul VI, the real danger comes from man who has at his disposal evermore powerful instruments that are as well fitted to bring about ruin as they are to achieve lofty conquests, that is what Pope Paul VI said. The common home of all men must continue to rise on the left foundations of right understanding of the universal fraternity and respect for the sacredness of every human life of every man and every woman, the poor, the elderly, children, the infant (ph), the unborn, the unemployed, the abandoned, and those considered disposable because they are only considered as part of one or other statistic.

[10:40:35] (APPLAUSE)

This common home of all men and women must also be built on the understanding of a certain sacredness of created nature. Now at such understanding and respectful for a higher degree of wisdom one which accepts transcendence and the same time rejects the creation of an all powerful elite and recognizes that the full meaning of individual and collective life is found in the selfless service to others and in the sage and respectful use of creation for the common good.

To repeat the words of Pope Paul VI, the edifice of modern civilization has to be built on spiritual principles for they're the only ones capable not only of supporting it but also of shedding light on it. El Gaucho Martin Fierro, a classic of literature in my native land, sings brothers should stand by each other because this is the first law, keep a true bond between you always at every time because if you fight amongst yourselves, you'll be devoured by those outside.

(APPLAUSE)

The contemporary world so apparently connected is experiencing a growing and steady social fragmentation which place it at risk the foundations of social life and consequently leads to battles between ourselves to defend our conflicting interests. The present time invites us to give priority to actions which generate new processes in society, so as about proves in significant and positive historical events.

We cannot permit ourselves to postpone certain agendas for the future. The future demands of us critical and global decisions in the face of worldwide conflicts which increase the number of the excluded and those in need. The praiseworthy international juridical framework of the United Nations organization and of all its activities like any other human endeavor can be improved yet it remains necessary.

At the same time, it can be the pledge of a secure and happy future for future generations and so it will if the representatives of the states can set aside partisan and ideological interests and sincerely strive to serve the common good. I pray to Almighty God that this will be the case and I assure you of my support and my prayers and the support and prayers of all the faithful of the Catholic Church that this institution all its member states and each of each of its officials will always render an effective service to mankind.

A service respectable -- respectable of diversity and capable of bringing about for the sake of a common good, the best in each people and in every individual upon all of you may God bless you all.

(APPLAUSE)

[10:45:44] WOLF BLITZER, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: A very moving standing ovation for Pope Francis delivering a very, very strong speech before the United Nations General Assembly, Christiane Amanpour. This is the speech that touched the most sensitive issues affecting the Vatican and the international stage right now.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Exactly Wolf absolutely. He talked about everything from the oppressive, current, financial, and death structures of the world, the tyranny of economic exclusions. He exulted leaders over and over again to not just put out pronouncements and commitments but to actually master the political will, to use their powerful platform...

UNIDENTIFIABLE MALE: On behalf...

AMANPOUR: ...to make a change in life and very importantly as now they say farewell to the Pope there, he ended by saying in order to secure a happy future for future generations, it will be the representative of states to set aside partisan and ideological interest and sincerely strive to serve the common good.

He talked about equality of opportunity, obviously he talked about the environment saying that the environment bore and carried an extrinsic right of its own because we are all part of the environment and therefore it is all of our duty to protect the environment.

Exulted people and leaders to try to stop wars and talked about the ordinary men, women, and children who are those who bleed and die and weep in wars given that wars are now really assault against civilians rather than set army and military pieces.

BLITZER: But John Allen, so much of the speech was devoted to the environment, climate change, why does he speak all of a sudden, it seems in recent years become such a powerful issue for the Pope?

JOHN ALLEN, SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Well I think the Pope believes that we are at a pivotal turning point, that things could go either way and that's something fundamental at stake. One thing we probably have to say is that Francis did something quite unusual by papal standards and that he specifically pointed to the looming Paris Summit on climate change which is set for November 30th to December 11th.

He has been talking about that a great deal. He recently had an audience with the environmental ministers from the EU government in which he said you've got to get Paris right. Last January, he told us that the reason he wanted his encyclical letter on the environment, Laudato Si, to come out over the summer -- over the summer was to shape the outcome of that summit. Now listen politicians always try to stack the deck for these major meetings, popes rarely do. The last time this happened was in the 1990s when the Vatican mobilized to fight a '94 UN Summit in Cairo on population and then '95 UN Summit in Beijing on women.

Typically, popes don't want to put their credibility on the line by pointing to a particular political outcome because if they loss then they end up looking bad but obviously Francis had decided that something so tremendously important is at stake in that climate change summit that he is in a sense put it all on the line.

BLITZER: And Jim Sciutto, he has had a huge impact already on the international stage in terms of the U.S. and Cuba for example restoring normal diplomatic relations. He was very, very powerfully involved behind the scenes and he didn't say any words now in saying this international nuclear deal with Iran is important, it's a step in the right direction.

JIM SCIUTTO, NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Real endorsement of that Iran a nuclear deal, you know, it occurred to me yesterday he goes to congress he warns in one center of this function arguably and warns members there to avoid polarization all the more relevant with the resignation today of John Boehner. He comes here to the UN. Another critic have said center of dysfunction and as Christiane mentioned a call to action to them. He said avoid the bureaucratic exercise of drawing up long list of proposals. In effect get off your hands and don't just talk act. But it also struck me he comes to New York, the center of global finance and wealth and talks about the irresponsible mismanagement of the global economy guided only by wealth and power. What a platform to do that here in New York City as part of his message that everyone has a responsibility to fight global poverty.

AMANPOUR: And Jim, he also said you know he gave a grave summons to an examination of conscience on the part of those charged with the conduct of international affairs. I mean that is a major thing for a world religious leader to say.

[10:50:04] Examine your conscience you world leaders and ask yourselves because this is in the paragraph about Syria and Iraq and Libya and South Sudan and all the wars Ukraine, et cetera with this talking shop have not been able to get to grips with.

So that was very vital and of course we've seen the spillover over the last several months not just the 250,000 dead in Syria but the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are now being forced out and into Europe and into the United States.

BLITZER: He is now walking out of UN General Assembly, there he is Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, the President of the General Assembly. There is some formal activities before he leaves the UN and heads downtown to 9/11 -- to the site of the 9/11, The New World trade Center and disaster, he's got a special prayer -- special prayers -- interfaith prayers coming up downtown.

I want to bring in Robert George, the Chairman of Jurisprudence Princeton University, Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on International religious freedom. He is joining us right now. Robert, the Pope obviously was also very concerned about the flight of Christians in the Middle East right now and he spoke passionately about religious freedom human rights around the world.

ROBERT GEORGE, CHAIRMAN OF JURISPRUDENCE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Yes, he did. That's right. The pope has been a great champion of religious freedom not only in the Middle East but of course what see so much suffering now is the result of religious oppression but also in South Asia in East Asia really throughout the world. The Pope has established himself as a great human rights champion beginning with the right to religious freedom.

BLITZER: Christiane Amanpour has a question as well, Christiane?

AMANPOUR: Well, just in the spirit of what's been going on today and we've seen the resignation of the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, and you knew him very, very well, you know him very well I believe he appointed you to your current position, give us your reflections on his announcement of resignation today and also linking it to this -- to this amazing event that he choreographed at congress the Pope came, you could see that Speaker Boehner was amazingly moved by that weeping and apparently chose at the very last moment just overnight after that day to announce his resignation.

GEORGE: Yes it's quite remarkable Christiane and I have to say I'm as surprised as anyone else. I was appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom by Speaker Boehner and then I was elected to the chairmanship by my colleagues. We've worked very closely with Speaker Boehner's Office, he's been a great champion himself of religious freedom, so I'm saddened by the news that he'll be leaving because the important work he has done there.

Of course it's a very difficult orchestra to be the conductor of the majority caucus in any house of a legislature and so I can understand the challenges that the speaker was up against but it's really quite a surprising thing and you're right he's person who was of course educated in the Catholic faith, a devout Catholic, he was clearly very moved by the Pope's statement yesterday.

I know that he read the prayer of St. Francis to those of his colleagues to whom he announced his resignation and that's a prayer that request among other things peace of mind. So, I think he was signaling the he is making this decision with peace of mind having examined his own conscience.

BLITZER: Robert George, thank you very, very much. This is a huge development as we see. The pope getting ready to leave the United Nations, he is being serenaded once again by one of the choirs that have gathered here at the UN following his important speech before the UN General Assembly.

A lot of focus on his other major story we're following back in Washington DC, the resignation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner and David Challen, our Political Director standing by. David, I think all of us were taken by surprise clearly as Christiane pointed out the Speaker was very moved by what the Pope had to say yesterday before his joined -- before the joint meeting of the US Congress but where do we go from here? David Challen, are you there?

DAVID CHALLEN, POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hi, Wolf I can hear you now, I'm sorry what was your question to me?

BLITZER: Yes, okay David, you know, I was going to say -- so what happens next now that the Speaker of the House of Representatives has announced -- has told his colleagues he is resigning?

CHALLEN: Well, what happens next is there's going to be a leadership fight among House Republicans. Wolf, as you know, that is no easy feat right now, a lot of Republican health sources are saying that Kevin McCarthy, he is number two of the House Majority Leader, he is likely to make a play for the speakership and maybe in line remember Kevin McCarthy was the Chair of the House Republican Campaign Committee back in 2010 in the Tea Party Wave, a lot of these grassroots conservatives Tea Party Republicans that came to the congress and delivered the majority to the republicans are loyal to Kevin McCarthy.

[10:55:04] He was there in the trenches with them so that may do him some good. The question now is, is he to tainted because of his attachment to Speaker Boehner and this particular leadership team that allow someone else to come up and make a run for it and of course in the very short term Wolf it is still Speaker Boehner's Speakership until the end of October and we've got to get through this deadline of the government funding next week and a possible though perhaps not likely at this stage government shutdown.

BLITZER: They got to get some temporary funding if the government runs out of money at the end of September-October 1st, the new Fiscal Year begins, they've got to get some funding otherwise the government will effectively shutdown. Gloria Borger I think like all of us will say, you must stand to get word today just a little while ago that the Speaker of the House has decided to resign.

GLORIA BORGER, CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You know I was Wolf. I was stunned on the timing of the decision but now that we know that he made it yesterday evening having been so emotional at the appearance of the Pope, it doesn't really surprised me given his explanation through his staff.

I mean Wolf, as you know, he has been a besieged speaker if ever there was one enough, you know, this is a speaker who in 2013 only won the speakership by six votes reelection and in 2015 he had 25 Republicans voting against him even though his own party had picked up 13 seats in the midterm elections.

He has always had problems with his right flank and you could sense his frustration growing with it over the years because while he was in charge nominally he was never really in control of that part of the Party and I think in the end it grew too frustrating for him, too difficult the job, didn't want to face the challenges he might inevitably face in the future and I think yesterday for him at least as a devout Catholic may have been a crystallizing moment.

His staffers have told Dana Bash and others that he had considered leaving in 2014 but then Eric Cantor one of his deputies lost the primary and decided he could not upset his caucus that way and I think now he felt was the graceful moment for him to bow out and let somebody else take charge of his own unruly flock if you will.

AMANPOUR: Gloria, it must been a huge surprise though because this is what his communications director Kevin Smith told Time Magazine just yesterday he's not going anywhere. If there's a small crew of members who think that he is going to pick up and resign in the middle of his term, they're going to be sadly mistaken so that is his communications director, Kevin Smith to Time Magazine yesterday.

BORGER: Very closely held, I mean everybody knows that Boehner has been thinking about this because he's been so frustrated, you know, I remember back to the days when he and President Obama were trying to enact a grand bargain on the budget and he was -- could not get done.

So I think he's been thinking about it and I would have to say watching him yesterday that this was a decision he made. Perhaps sitting behind the Pope up there next to Joe Biden and, you know, as I was watching Boehner get very tearful I was thinking that Boehner had a really tough road ahead of him with all of these issues that were coming up.

The question of whether to shutdown the government which is something he did not want to go through again and there was Joe Biden sitting on the other side and I thought, you know, there he is, he has just lost a son and now he is thinking about whether he should run for the presidency.

You know, two men sitting behind the Pope yesterday with lots of important decisions that were clearly going through their minds as they listened to the Pope speak to congress.

BLITZER: A critically important decision by the Speaker of the House, a critically important speech here at the United Nations by Pope Francis. Christiane we're going to handover our responsibilities right now to Anderson Cooper and Chris Cuomo. It's been a pleasure Christiane as usual working with you.

AMANPOUR: It's been an amazing day. We've had history made by the Pope as well as a dramatic Pope related resignation of the top of the pinnacle of power in United States Congress. It's been a remarkable and dramatic day and there is only more to come.