As Archbishop Desmond Tutu retires, he granted an interview to CNN as 'Connector of the Day'.

Transcript of the Video

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over):  He is a symbol of reconciliation and of unity, and has dedicated his life to making the world a more accepting place.  But now at the age of 79, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has decided it's time to slow down.

The anti-Apartheid leader has announced that he will withdraw from public life beginning this October.  Tutu first came to international prominence as a powerful voice in South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"We helped guide the country towards a new democratic era." Since then, Tutu thrown himself into many active causes and has become a trailblazer in fighting for democracy and fairness worldwide.

ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST:  Go to Beijing!

ANDERSON:  This month he is releasing his latest project, a Bible for children.

Whether in or out of the public eye, he is forever embedded in the world conscience.  Desmond Tutu is your "Connector of the Day."

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ANDERSON:  Well, he was one of the most authorized spokesmen for the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa, wasn't he?  And he won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.  Now he says it's time to call it a day.  But not before he releases a work close to his heart, a children's Bible.  Always a pleasure, I caught up with Desmond Tutu earlier today.

And I began by asking him why is publishing that now and what it's designed to achieve.  And have a listen to what he said.

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TUTU:  Well, it is a good time as any where you are trying to get them to realize, I mean, that you have a God who responds, you know, because far too frequently God can be made to be a bogeyman or bogeywoman.  And some of the ways in which we have told the story has made children realize, I mean, that God is approachable.  God is our father, our mother.

ANDERSON:  Desmond, Kreku (ph) asks: "What would you say about God to the world if everybody were listening?"

TUTU:  God loves you.  God loves you with a love that doesn't say you have to prove yourself.

ANDERSON:  You can only imagine how much you'll be missed by the international community.  Why did you make this decision to retire now?  And had you been thinking about it for some time?

TUTU:  Well, one of the things is, you see one who sleep next to the person who was being your partner for 55 years will say, I've rarely been much of this, just give me a little more time.  We need everything, quality time.

(LAUGHTER)

ANDERSON:  Teline (ph) asks: "As you retire, is the world a better place?" And how do you think you've contributed to that better place, if, indeed, it is?

TUTU:  The world is a great deal better place.  I mean, today most people take very seriously the fact that women are equal to men.  You get yourself into a lot of trouble if you are still a male chauvinist. You get all kinds of stares.  That used to not be the case.

It's a better world in the fact that you have incredible young people, so idealistic, who believe that we can in fact have a world where there is no war, where there is no poverty.

ANDERSON:  How have the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq impacted the world that we live in, do you think?  Have they made it a more divisive place or, indeed, a better place for you to retire into?

TUTU:  The one major conclusion with me was that it isn't the faiths that are a problem, it is the faithful, the adherents of a different faith who can make an awful mess of things.  Christians are responsible -- have been responsible for the Holocaust.  Christians are at each other's throats in Northern Ireland.  So Christians can’t begin to be hoity-toity.

TUTU:   There are good Christians, there are bad Christians. There are good Muslims, there are bad Muslims. And that’s almost a tautology.

ANDERSON:  Well, Elaine from Dublin, asks about the direction of South Africa today and says she wondered whether you think South Africa and the World Cup were the country's coming out party.

TUTU:  The World Cup showed us what we are capable of.  It showed us what we can be.  It -- I mean, even now we are still walking on cloud nine, South Africans of all races really fantastically.  We surprised ourselves.  We're flying, and still are flying our flags almost like Americans on their cars.

We are -- I'm going to try and say this as modestly as I can, we really are a fantastic people, living in one of the best countries in the world.  We (INAUDIBLE) for us to mess it up.  And things are OK.  But we've got problems.  We've got crime.  We've got poverty.  We've got homelessness.  But then show me a country that does not have problems.

(LAUGHTER)

ANDERSON:  Talk to me about your retirement.  What are you looking forward to doing most?

TUTU:  I have always longed for a slightly more contemplative life.  For being able to roll on the lawn with my grandchildren.  To go wherever we want to go and not always be the slaves of schedules.  That's part of what a great -- I mean, a very large part of what I'm hoping we'll be able to do.

In fact, you know, at the end of August, Leah and I are joining -- I mean, we are crazy, 700 college students from the United States, and going around the world in something "Semester at Sea."

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ANDERSON:  And I can imagine those students will enjoy it as much as Desmond Tutu will.  An exclusive interview as he retires from his public works.  His children's Bible, though, out today.  Always an absolute pleasure to talk to him.