World/Nation Briefs October 20, 2014
Pope beatifies Paul VI after remarkable synod on families
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Sunday beatified Pope Paul VI, concluding the remarkable meeting of bishops debating family issues that drew parallels to the tumultuous reforms of the Second Vatican Council which Paul oversaw and implemented.
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI was on hand for the Mass, which took place just hours after Catholic bishops approved a document charting a more pastoral approach to ministering to Catholic families.
They failed to reach consensus on the two most divisive issues at the synod: on welcoming gays and divorced and civilly remarried couples. But the issues remain up for discussion ahead of another meeting of bishops next year.
While the synod scrapped its ground-breaking welcome and showed deep divisions on hot-button issues, the fact that the questions are on the table is significant given that they had been taboo until Francis' papacy.
"God is not afraid of new things!" Francis exclaimed in his homily Sunday. "That is why he is continually surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us in unexpected ways."
Obama says Democrats fighting for opportunity for all
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - President Barack Obama said Democrats this year are fighting to ensure that opportunity in America is not limited to the elite few, but to everybody.
Obama was making his first major campaign appearance of the year at a rally for Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown at a high school outside Washington. Obama said Brown is running for governor to improve Maryland's infrastructure, education and job-training. He said Republicans are blocking equal pay for women and a minimum wage hike.
Invoking the American Dream, Obama said Democrats are fighting to ensure every child can make it in America if they try. He asked the crowd: Which party will fight for you?
Roughly 8,000 people attended. Brown faces Republican Larry Hogan on Nov. 4.
Marine suspected in killing tests country's American alliance
OLONGAPO, Philippines - Inside a funeral parlor, a Filipino mother sits and weeps next to a coffin containing the body of her daughter and demands answers. On a hulking American assault ship moored at a nearby port sits a man who might have them - a U.S. Marine authorities suspect in the brutal slaying at a cheap hotel more than a week ago.
"We don't eat without praying first. We don't sleep without saying a prayer. Where were you when this happened?" Julita Laude beseeched God. "She had so many dreams and that killer destroyed them all."
U.S. authorities are cooperating in the investigation, and have ordered the ship to stay at the Subic Bay Freeport, about 50 miles northwest of Manila, until it is completed.
The killing of Jennifer Laude, a 26-year-old transgender whose former name was Jeffrey, has sparked public anger in the Philippines and revived a debate over the U.S. military presence in a country seen by Washington as a major ally in Southeast Asia. The nations signed a new accord in April that allows greater U.S. military access to Philippine military camps, part of Washington's pivot back to Asia where it wants to counter China's rising might.
Philippine police have identified the suspect as U.S. Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton. He was one of thousands of American and Philippines military personnel who took part in joint exercises earlier this month. He and other U.S. personnel were on leave in Olongapo city when Laude was found dead.
- The Associated Press