The Vatican Fires Back At Italian Media's Speculation On Pope Benedict's Resignation; Oscar Pistorius Granted Bail
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, 3:00 on the east coast, noon out west. Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. A look at our top stories right now beginning with the Vatican and it's hitting back and Italian media reports on why Benedict XVI became the first Pope in centuries to resign. A newspaper and a weekly magazine said, the pope made his decision on the same day he received a report on gay priests and financial corruption. CNN's international correspondent Ben Wedeman is in Rome. So Ben, is the Vatican saying this report doesn't even exist?</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly what they are saying is that it's unverified, unverifiable and completely false news stories. The dossier itself, we do know three cardinals were assigned by Pope Benedict XVI to look into wrongdoing at the Vatican after the so-called Vatileak scandal. That's when his butler, the Pope's butler leaked hundreds of sensitive documents to the Italian press. Now, these two publications, "La Republico," it is the daily newspaper and "Panorama," a weekly magazine are alleging that this dossier, 300 pages, bound in red leather, contains not only reports or allegations of a network of gay priests within the Vatican being blackmailed by a network of male prostitutes, but also that there was serious financial wrongdoing within Vatican financial institutions. Now, according to these reports, the allegation is that people within the Vatican violated the sixth command which is thou shall not steal and the seventh commandment, thou shall not commit adultery. And so, very -- these reports are really going around Rome like wildfire. The Vatican frantically trying to deny them, but certainly people are paying a lot of attention to this topic just days before Pope Benedict steps down as Pope.</s>WHITFIELD: And what's the feeling as to how influential this might be on the conclave that will pick the new Pope?</s>WEDEMAN: Well, Vatican watchers are saying this could be critical, that these allegations, whether true or not, underscore the need for the next Pope to really clean up house, to look throughout the institution of not only the Vatican state but the catholic church itself and take a very hard look at how the Vatican has dealt with pedophile scandals, homosexuality within the church, and allegations that go back decades of financial wrongdoing within the Vatican bank - Fredricka?</s>WHITFIELD: And meantime, Ben, there was some movement or a proposal to try and change the parameters, the dates, the window in which a Pope can be selected. Is there any new development on that?</s>WEDEMAN: Well, what we're hearing from the Vatican is that if there is any change to the timetable for the conclave, that meeting of 116 cardinals to elect the next Pope, it will come after the Pope steps down on the 28th. There had been talk that the Vatican constitution might be modified to move it up, but at this point, I think the Vatican's attention is now elsewhere.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Ben Wedeman, thanks so much in Rome. All right, one of the men who will help elect the next Pope is Cardinal Roger Mahony. He is giving a legal deposition today in this country about alleged sex crimes by priests when he was archbishop of Los Angeles. CNN's Miguel Marquez is in L.A. So, Mahony had he's been deposed before. Why is it different this time?</s>MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Different because this is the first time he has been deposed since a release of massive release of documents related to his time in the late '80s as archbishop here and his handling of sex abuse cases, 12,000 pages of documents, hundreds of victims and over 120 priests involved in those documents. He was subsequently stripped of his public duties but not of being a cardinal and not of his duty of being able to go to Rome. The case that they are deposing him on today and we believe that is just about concluded now is on a priest Nicholas Aguilar Rivera who is accused of molesting some 26 people. He fled to Mexico, has been there ever since. But certainly lawyers wanted to know what cardinal Mahoney's role was in protecting him along the way. A member of the citizens, the guy who runs citizens united opposed to cardinal Mahony going to Rome to cast his vote for the Pope had this to say.</s>JAMES SALT, CATHOLIC UNITED: If Roger Mahony participates in the conclave, it will be a major distraction for the worldwide church that should otherwise be celebrating the future of Catholicism. Instead, we will be reminded of the sins of our leaders and their general lack of accountability.</s>MARQUEZ: Now, I should say that cardinal Mahony has apologized for his past transgressions. He has said it was a different time and things were handled differently there. But when you read through these documents that were released by the archdiocese here, it is shocking the level of disregard for what was right and what was wrong, given what the archbishop was facing at that time. We expect that deposition should be wrapped up soon. I have been e-mailing and calling lawyers in there and hopefully we'll have a read out on that fairly shortly -- Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Would it be possible that Mahony would recues himself from the papal vote?</s>MARQUEZ: Church watchers -- yes, church watchers say it is possible. It is possible that it could get there and the cardinals in the conclave could say thanks, but no thanks you're not invited. But, in the moment, he has said he is going to Rome. He may leave hours, minutes after this deposition is over. Get on a plane, head to Rome. They've all got to be there by the 27th. So, he is going to be there fairly soon if not today, perhaps tomorrow -- Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Miguel thanks so much in Los Angeles. On to South Africa now where Oscar Pistorius is intending his first full day out on bail. But, as part of his bail conditions he is not allowed to go back to his house. He is staying with his uncle in Pretoria instead. He's due back in court on June 4th. The Pistorius family meantime says the twitter account of Oscar's older brother has been hacked. So, they are now deleting all of their social media accounts. Oscar Pistorius is accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Stenkamp. All right, she has made history by becoming the first woman to get the pole position in tomorrow's Daytona 500 putting her in the best starting spot. And now Danica Patrick is focused on another record, being the first woman to win that race.</s>DANICA PATRICK, NASCAR DERIVER: As Tony said, I can go out there and treat it like a video game and get after it and give it all I've got and not have to be concerned about, you know, being smart and taking care of the car. I mean, can I win? Yes, absolutely.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Danica also says her success is not just for her. She hopes it inspires other young women and girls to compete in sports. All right, now, let's talk about the snow that folks are dealing with across the middle of the country. Take a look at this right there.</s>WHITFIELD: People in this building in Wichita, Kansas, thought it was an earthquake when sheets of snow started sliding off the roof. Our i-reporter who shot the video described is the sound as a thunderous roar. And then there's the northeast. It's bracing for its turn again. Forecasters expect slushy snow or rain in the northeast and the Deep South. Also, this massive weather system is rolling in toward the Atlantic Ocean, likely to bring a lot of rain. In New England they could see as much as 10 inches of snow. All right, a mystery death at a Los Angeles hotel. What killed a young woman whose body was found inside the hotel's water tank? We will have more on the investigation. And would you be willing to trade in your Smartphone or for rather a pair of glasses? We will show you what life would look like through Google glass. And Danica Patrick, well she has already made racing history at Daytona. Ahead, a look at the unconventional road the NASCAR driver has traveled to get to the pole position.