Pope Says Gay Priests are His "Brothers"
Pope Francis may be breaking the mold with comments he made to reporters on the flight home from his trip to Brazil on Monday.
He reached out to three disaffected groups in the Church in an impromptu press conference aboard the papal plane: Gays, divorced and remarried people and women.
And in response to a question about gay priests whom he called his brothers, Pope Francis told reporters, "Who am I to judge?"
“It's a sea change because we have not seen a pope do it in very colloquial, familiar language,” says CNN Contributor Catholic Priest Father Edward Beck.
“He really said I want you to be part of us by what he did.”
Father Beck says Pope Francis is going to collaborate with a council of eight cardinals to advise him on whether divorced people should be able to get communion, and “put on the agenda this issue of…pastoral care of marriage.”
About women, he said “it should be more than tokenism,” Father Beck explains. “They need real leadership positions. He said the Church is feminine.”
Christine Quinn: "Cheeky" to Ask Weiner to Withdraw
New York City mayoral candidate Christine Quinn sat down with Anchor Kate Bolduan to talk about her record, thoughts on Anthony Weiner and reaction to Pope Francis’ comments on gays.
When Bolduan asks why she has not asked Weiner to step out of the race, Quinn replies that although she thinks it’s “cheeky” to ask opponents to withdraw, she does believe “the scandal had an impact in voters' minds” and that Eliot Spitzer’s thoughts on the mayor’s race is not relevant.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about second chances in this race from former Congressman Weiner and the former Governor [Spitzer],” Quinn says. “Look, for me the question is, let’s give us a first chance. When I’m elected mayor, I’ll be the first woman and the first openly gay mayor of New York.”
On Pope Francis, Quinn says, “I think the Pope deserves so much credit for making those statements. They were enormously positive statements.” She added, “There’s more we want, changes we want in the Catholic Church. It’s not everything. But that is a step forward.”
Grumpy Cat Wins Berman's 'Award of the Day'
Today's "Award of the Day" delves into the world of politics with the newest candidate for Congress from Illinois, Mike Bost. Bost is in the Illinois state assembly and has become somewhat of a Youtube sensation for his outbursts. Watch here for an example and in video above.
When he announced his candidacy this week, Democrats tried to paint him as angry and part of the problem. Truth be told, there is a lot of shouting, CNN's John Berman reports.
But, then Berman wondered, maybe he is on to something. It turns out, "grumpy" sells!
"How do I know?" asks Berman. "Grumpy Cat has new coffee 'Grumppuccino.'"
Grumpy Cat, whose name is Tardar Sauce, is arguably the most famous cat in the world right now. She became an internet meme, starred in Friskie's video, landed a move deal, and now – in the ultimate display of success – she is the face of a new coffee drink.
Grumppuccino comes in 3 flavors, coffee, vanilla and chocolate.
According to Berman, Grumpy is clearly a huge hit for cats, and maybe Congress as well. Therefore, today's award, the "I might be mad, but at least I am not sexting" award goes to Grumpy Cat.
"In all seriousness, I feel like I need to call my agent. This cat has a coffee drink, video and a movie deal. I am doing something wrong," says Berman.
Grumpy Cat and John Berman
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