"The president had a private audience, and then the rest of us joined it. Clearly he was fading, and his health was failing," Powell said. "But he still remained engaged, and the president was able to discuss with him the situation in the Middle East and what was going on in Iraq and the progress we had made in Afghanistan, as well."

Powell also said the pope joked about whether the former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman was related to the man who founded the Boy Scouts of America.

"He had this little question he would ask me, and I think it was almost a joke as much as a question - he would say, are you related to Baden-Powell, Lord Baden-Powell, the man who started the Boy Scout movement at the beginning of the century?" Powell said.

"So he asked me a couple of times: Are you sure you're not related to Baden-Powell? But it was almost with slight tongue in cheek. Just to sort of make conversation," the one-time secretary of state said.

The pontiff was especially interested in the Middle East, as well as U.S. actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, but "we talked about what we needed to do in Africa and other places, because he was such a marvelous figure who did not restrict himself just to the Catholic Church or just to Europe," Powell said.

He also said the pope believed deeply in the Catholic faith, but was someone who was concerned about the whole world, not just Catholicism.

"And so he became a man of the world, a man that went far beyond his own immediate faith, because he believed that his faith was not just a Catholic faith, in my humble judgment, but it was a faith that encompassed the entire world, a faith that rested on reconciliation and peace and love of one another," said Powell.

Though once the top general for the world's foremost military power, Powell told Blitzer he was humbled in the pontiff's presence.

"Here you were, the secretary of state of the United States, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - everybody who has met the pope, no matter how powerful, seems to come away with this notion that they were humbled and they were so small in his presence," said Blitzer.

"It's true. It's true," Powell responded.

"Because you had met with world leaders for so many years," Blitzer prodded.

"Nothing like the pope. And the first time that I met him was 20 years ago with my wife at an audience," said Powell, adding that although they are Episcopalians, "you just weren't in the presence of a marvelous individual or wonderful room. The setting is remarkable. But when we left that, we truly felt we had been with somebody who was a rather unique person of God.

"We're not Catholics. ... But it was clear that this was a unique man who was put here for a unique purpose," he said.

Powell described John Paul as someone who would always reach out to nations and people, even if they were at odds with Catholic teachings.

"This is the same pope who would meet with Russian leaders and talk to Russian leaders about this. And so there was nobody who was outside of his orb, nobody he would not talk to or communicate with.

"He had differences with a number of countries, still with China. The Catholic church has some differences, serious differences, with China. But the pope was an individual who always wanted to reach out. A leader who wanted to reach out and touch," said Powell.

Regarding American Catholics, Powell said the pope seemed to connect with them, to be sure, but all Americans in general, even non-Catholics.

"He came here on many occasions. He always drew massive crowds. And people saw a leader who was the perfect witness of their faith and who held fast to the principles of that faith," Powell said. "But at the same time, he totally identified with American values of freedom and democracy and the rights of men and women, things that all of our faiths say we should believe in."

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