World/Nation Briefs July 26, 2013

Pope Francis tells pilgrims to shake up the church

RIO DE JANEIRO -Pope Francis showed his rebel side Thursday, urging young Catholics to shake up the church and make a "mess" in their dioceses by going out into the streets to spread the faith. It's a message he put into practice by visiting one of Rio's most violent slums and opening the church's World Youth Day on a rain-soaked Copacabana Beach.

Francis was elected pope on a mandate to reform the church, and in four short months he has started doing just that: He has broken long-held Vatican rules on everything from where he lays his head at night to how saints are made. He has cast off his security detail to get close to his flock, and his first international foray as pope has shown the faithful appreciate the gesture.

Dubbed the "slum pope" for his work with the poor, Francis received a rapturous welcome in the Varginha shantytown, part of a slum area of northern Rio so violent it's known as the Gaza Strip. The 76-year-old Argentine seemed entirely at home, wading into cheering crowds, kissing people young and old and telling them the Catholic Church is on their side.

"No one can remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world!" Francis told a crowd of thousands who braved a cold rain and stood in a muddy soccer field to welcome him. "No amount of peace-building will be able to last, nor will harmony and happiness be attained in a society that ignores, pushes to the margins or excludes a part of itself."

It was a message aimed at reversing the decline in the numbers of Catholics in most of Latin America, with many poor worshippers leaving the church for Pentecostal and evangelical congregations. Those churches have taken up a huge presence in favelas, or shantytowns such as Varginha, attracting souls with nuts-and-bolts advice on how to improve their lives.

Lobsterman who survived 12 hours in water is home

OAKDALE, N.Y. - A Long Island lobsterman who spent 12 hours floating in the Atlantic Ocean after falling off his boat joked Thursday that he may have the two rubber boots that kept him afloat bronzed.

John Aldridge was rescued a day earlier when the Coast Guard found him floating in the ocean off Montauk Point, about 40 miles from where he tumbled off the 44-foot lobster boat Anna Mary around 3 in the morning.

Aldridge, 45, was treated at a hospital in Falmouth, Mass., for dehydration, exposure and hypothermia and released Thursday morning. Relatives drove him back to Long Island, where he arrived mid-afternoon to hugs from his parents and relatives, including young nephew Jake, who peppered him with questions about his experience.

Aldridge, who has been a lobsterman for 19 years working out of Montauk, said he was preparing for a day of fishing when he attempted to move a beverage cooler.

Investigators focus on speed of locomotive

By all accounts, the train was going way too fast as it curled around a gentle bend. Then in an instant, one car tumbled off the track, followed by the rest of the locomotive.

A day after Spain suffered its deadliest rail disaster in decades - which killed 80 people and maimed scores of others - one question surpassed all others: Why was the train moving so fast?

Investigators opened a probe Thursday into possible failings by the 52-year-old driver and the train's in-built speed-regulation systems.

- The Associated Press