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Pope Francis Goes Home; SNAP Unimpressed with Pope's Comments; Putin Addresses Russia's Intentions in Syria; Iranian President on Coalition, Alliances; Weather Watchers Watch the Gulf Coast; Supermoon Turns Red; The Leaders to Watch at U.N. General Assembly; Prime Minister Wants a Digital India; Trevor Noah Talks About His "Daily Show" Plans. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 28, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Ahead this hour, Pope Francis sits down with victims of sexual abuse during his final day in the United States. Critics argue that more talk alone is just not enough.
SESAY (voice-over): Plus, a number of global power players take the stage Monday at the United Nations with the fight against ISIS expected to be near the top of everyone's concerns.
VAUSE (voice-over): And it hasn't happened in more than 30 years, a rare supermoon lighting up the night sky.
SESAY (voice-over): Hello and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE (voice-over): Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. The second hour of NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
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SESAY: Pope Francis is on his way back to the Vatican after a whirlwind and historic visit to Cuba and the United States. He says the trip left him with a heart full of gratitude and hope. He left Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sunday night, surrounded by crowds.
VAUSE: Earlier in the day he led a huge outdoor mass for tens of thousands of Catholics. Pope Francis used his closing homily to stress the importance of little gestures which go a long way.
SESAY: Before the mass, Pope Francis went to a Philadelphia prison, where he met with and blessed about 100 inmates.
VAUSE: And during the visit, the pope sat in a chair made for him by the inmates at the jail. Francis is the first pope to ever visit a U.S. prison. SESAY: Pope Francis also met with bishops taking part in the World Meeting of Families at a Philadelphia seminary. While there, the pope prayed with five men and women, who were sexually abused as children.
VAUSE: And some of those people were assaulted by priests. During his meeting with the popes -- with the bishops, rather, Pope Francis said those responsible for the care of the victims violated their trust.
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POPE FRANCIS (through translator): God weeps for the sexual abuse of children. These cannot be maintained in secret and I commit to a careful oversight to ensure that youth are protected and that all responsible will be held accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Well, the organization known as SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has called the pope's words "disingenuous."
VAUSE: In a statement on Sunday, SNAP said Pope Francis' meeting with abuse victims was nothing more than a public relations move.
SESAY: Joining us now from SNAP, Manny Vega.
Manny, thank you so much for joining us this evening. SNAP very unimpressed with the meeting that the pope had with sexual abuse survivors. Explain to us why.
MANNY VEGA, SNAP: Absolutely. Of the people that they had, they had three women, two men; the abuse victims were abused by family, educators and priests. The Vatican didn't give a specific number of how many of these victims were actually priest victims.
But the signal that the Vatican is giving to the American people is that they're trying to say, hey, look, it happens in other organizations; it happens within the family, abuse of children.
But we have to remember the important thing here is that the Catholic Church for decades has had a problem, a systematic pedophilia within the church, and a cover-up.
VAUSE: The question which I'm wondering here is that this has been such a hugely successful trip by the pope and he's been embraced, not just by Catholics but by hundreds of thousands of people. They really like him. He's seen as a progressive.
Do you think there's a feeling now for many Americans the church has dealt with this issue, they've moved on, hey, the pope's a good guy; this has all been dealt with, problem solved?
VEGA: Absolutely. I agree. The pope's a good guy. He's very charismatic. You can't say no to that.
But the problem is that the church in the United States has, for the last decade and decades before that, has fought against victims, feverishly spent millions of dollars, especially here in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, to keep the names of pedophile priests, those who protected them, redacted away from the public.
That's a serious issue. The pope wants to be transparent. But his bishops and cardinals here within the United States are preventing that.
SESAY: So Manny, would you say the pope has made any difference to this issue from where you sit?
VEGA: Obviously, he's spoken about it, but, then again, so did Pope John Paul II. So did Benedict.
But what has really changed? To this day, when the pope came on board a couple years ago, only three bishops in the United States have somewhat been held accountable. They've actually been allowed to resign, gone into retirement, without facing any type of punishment.
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VEGA: And I think crimes against children should never go unpunished. And this is what we're talking about.
VAUSE: It seems to me like you agree with some who say, listen, yes, the pope is the head of the Catholic Church, he's God's emissary on Earth, but, hey, there's only so much he can do. There's this entire organization around him, the Vatican, and he's making the changes that he can but slowly.
But do you think that he has more power to do more?
Or is he hamstrung by the organization around him?
VEGA: I believe that he does have power to do more. In fact, there was a trip where he was coming back from Argentina, back to Italy.
Somebody asked him about gay priests, and he made a comment, "Who am I to judge?"
And just based on that, I'm not going to say he changed church doctrine but he certainly set a tone and set a tone for new dialogue within the church.
And if he really wants to be -- wants to put an end to this, he has to be completely transparent, allow the names to go unredacted, allow the files -- allow researchers to get into the Vatican files and take a look at everything that's happened. There has to be complete disclosure. That hasn't happened yet.
SESAY: And as you talk about setting a tone, I can only imagine that when he made those comments earlier in the week to U.S. bishops, speaking of the courage that they have shown in dealing with the issue that that -- tell me how that made you feel and how that may have altered how you view this pope. VEGA: Courage for me is something that I've lived. I am the son of an immigrant. My parents came here as immigrants. I joined the Marine Corps at the age of 17. I'm highly decorated as a Marine.
I became a police officer. I've been highly decorated as a police officer. That's courage.
And I had the courage to stand up as a grown man, married with two children, and say, look, I've been sexually abused. And I fought for the rights of other victims and those who don't have a voice. That's courage.
VAUSE: Yes, there aren't too many bishops out there who are being held accountable for this at this point.
VEGA: Not at all.
VAUSE: Manny, thank you for coming in.
I guess the last point in all this is that the pope talked about little gestures that go a long way. Maybe this was a little gesture that really didn't go anywhere.
VEGA: I hope so.
VAUSE: Or maybe it will.
SESAY: Manny Vega.
VAUSE: Manny, thank you.
SESAY: Thank you.
VEGA: Thank you.
SESAY: We very much appreciate it. Thank you.
VAUSE: OK. Well, France has launched its first airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria. President Francois Hollande says the strikes destroyed a training camp.
SESAY: Six planes flew in the mission which France coordinated with the U.S.-led coalition. Until now, France had only bombed ISIS targets in Iraq.
VAUSE: Iraq has altered its strategy for fighting ISIS militants. The Iraqi military now says it will share intelligence on ISIS with Russia, Iran and Syria.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is becoming increasingly concerned about Russia's recent military build-up in Syria and the Iraqi announcement adds to American suspicions of new cooperation between Baghdad and Moscow.
SESAY: Well, U.S. President Barack Obama says he wants to know what is behind Russia's military build-up in Syria.
VAUSE: And he's hoping to get some answers at the U.N. General Assembly meeting today.
SESAY: Mr. Obama says he won't be holding back this time when he makes his seventh speech to the world leaders. On Sunday, he said many of the world's current crises could have been avoided with strong leadership.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I profoundly believe that many of the conflicts, the refugee crises, the military interventions over the years might have been avoided if nations had truly invested in the lives of their people and if the wealthiest nations on Earth were better partners in working with those that are trying to lift themselves up.
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VAUSE: For more on what to expect at the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, John Defterios will join us in just a moment, live from Abu Dhabi.
SESAY: Let's start with our own Matthew Chance, who joins us now from Moscow.
Matthew, as we witness this build-up of Russian hardware and personnel in Syria, in recent days, the prevailing question on everyone's mind is what is Russia's true intention here?
We know that the Russian president sat down with "60 Minutes," the news program here in the United States.
Did we learn any more on that front as to what their true motivations are?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think we got a sort of restatement of what the Kremlin and what Vladimir Putin has been saying for the past several weeks, as this alleged build-up, because they're denying that they're adding this additional forces to Syria, has been taking place.
Russia has strong military ties to Syria. It's got a naval base there at Tartus. It's got economic ties as well, billions of dollars' worth of investment in that Arab state that it wants to protect.
But it's the issue of the international fight against terrorism, which Vladimir Putin is promoting as his main motivation for bolstering the Syrian government.
Take a listen to an excerpt of that interview on CBS "60 Minutes."
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): We support the legitimate government of Syria. And it's my deep belief that any actions to the contrary in order to destroy the legitimate government --
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PUTIN (through translator): -- will create a situation which you can witness now in the other countries of the region or in other regions; for instance, in Libya, where all the state institutions are disintegrated. We see a similar situation in Iraq.
And there's no other solution to the Syrian crisis than strengthening the effective government structures and rendering them help in fighting terrorism but, at the same time urging them to engage in positive dialogue with the rational opposition and conduct reform.
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CHANCE: So again, very much a restatement of the Kremlin line there from Vladimir Putin, as we'd expect. They're saying that, look, it's important to bolster what he calls the legitimate government of Syria, the regime of Bashar al-Assad as the kind of first line of defense against the spread of Islamic radicalism.
So that's what Vladimir Putin's pushing. What many observers, though, of this situation are sort of believing or thinking or analyzing is that, yes, look, this is the last toehold of Russia in the Middle East; he's really trying to put himself front and center in the diplomatic conversation about Syria as a way of maintaining Russian influence, not just in the region but in the wider world as well.
SESAY: CNN's international correspondent Matthew Chance, joining us there live from Moscow. Appreciate the insight.
VAUSE: And from Moscow let's go to Abu Dhabi. John Defterios joins us there live.
So, John, when it comes to Syria it seems, Iran's Rouhani very much aligned with the message which we're hearing from Russia's Putin.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, indeed, John. The new coalition forming in the Middle East would hasten to say that since July 14th nuclear agreement, Iran has been able to emerge from the shadows, if you will, and have a much louder voice when it comes to finding the solution on Syria.
The quieting down of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine allowing Russia to do the same.
And it's a new coalition forming between Iran, Russia, Syria and even Iraq to the mix, adding over the last 24 hours that it's sharing intelligence with Iran, Syria, and Russia at this time.
In his interview with Christiane Amanpour, Hassan Rouhani talked about this new coalition forming and trying to reach out to the West at the same time. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HASSAN ROUHANI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Now Iran with the United States does not have any direct talks vis-a-vis Syria. But Iran, simultaneously with the European Union as well as other countries, does have talks regarding Syria and those parties to the talks with Iran about Syria are in direct conversations with the United States as well. So perhaps not direct but there are talks.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: It seems to be that the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia obviously, Iran obviously, are now all talking about a potential transition that involves President Assad staying where he is for the moment.
ROUHANI (through translator): I think today everyone has accepted that President Assad must remain so that we can combat the terrorists.
However, as soon as this movement reaches the various levels of success and starts driving out terrorists on a step-by-step basis, then other plans must be put into actions, so as to hear the voices of the opposition as well.
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DEFTERIOS: President Rouhani speaking with Christiane Amanpour.
This stresses, regionally at least, John, the influence that Iran exercises not only over Syria but also in this proxy war that's being played out in Yemen and even stretching its influence into Lebanon.
At the same time, there's the political influence of Iran while it's trying to open up economically. I think it's interesting to note that over the weekend President Rouhani met with U.S. CEOs, kind of holding out the carrot here to this market of maybe a million consumers.
And since that July 14th agreement that we saw signed, more than 10 country delegations have beat a new path to Iran, including Germany, France, Italy, South Korea and Japan, looking to tap this market, the fourth largest oil reserves and the second largest gas reserves in the world.
While Iran's slowing down, President Rouhani needs to see advancement here for his people on this July 14th agreement not being stalled by the political negotiations of Syria as well.
VAUSE: An economy which seems it could take off when those sanctions are off and the development gets underway. A lot of people, a lot of companies trying to make the most of that.
John Defterios live for us there in Abu Dhabi; before that, Matthew Chance in Moscow. Thanks to you both.
SESAY: Thank you.
Now, U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump also appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes" and weighed in on ISIS. While most of his fellow Republican hopefuls are calling for a bigger U.S. military fight against ISIS in Syria, he's calling for less. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: ISIS in Syria, Assad in Syria, Assad and ISIS are mortal enemies. We go in to fight ISIS. Why aren't we letting --
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TRUMP: -- ISIS go and fight Assad and then we pick up the remnants?
If you look at Syria, Russia wants to get rid of ISIS. We want to get rid of ISIS. Maybe let Russia do it, let them get rid of ISIS.
What the hell do we care?
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VAUSE: Trump's plans for fighting ISIS also includes stepping up military action in Iraq and bombing the oil fields now controlled by the terror group.
It's going to be huge.
SESAY: Huge.
Spanish separatists are celebrating a victory in the regional parliamentary election in Catalonia. An alliance that supports independence won a majority of seats on Sunday. The group wants to break away from Spain within 18 months but the Spanish constitution does not allow that.
VAUSE: It's a potential blow to Spain's prime minister, who opposes secession for Catalonia. The vote is expected to have an impact on the general election scheduled for December.
SESAY: Well, next on CNN NEWSROOM, we're tracking a powerful storm expected to make landfall on the island of Taiwan. A live weather report is coming up straight ahead.
VAUSE: Also ahead, stargazers and astronomers treated to a special lunar event more than 30 years in the making.
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PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning to you, meteorologist Pedram Javaheri, CNN Weather Watch and weather across the Americas. All eyes right now on the Gulf Coast states of the United States.
We do have a tropical disturbance trying its hardest to form across this region. A 40 percent probability. The National Hurricane Center giving a storm that sits about 1,500 kilometers north of the Yucatan. Very difficult to pick out as far as satellite depiction on this, not
very organized and we don't think it will get organized because of the shear, essentially the winds above this storm system moving at different speeds in different directions.
Regardless of it getting full-blown tropical status, we think Monday afternoon and Monday evening heavy rainfall continues around the Florida Panhandle into portions of the southern U.S. So maybe rainfall that is beneficial certainly but the amount of rain that is expected to come down, any flash flooding concern remains very high over that region with 100-plus millimeters in a 24- to 48-hour period.
The southern tier of the U.S. will take temps into the 30s in Dallas, 24 out of Atlanta while, back to the west, Vancouver, British Columbia, sunny and 18 degrees to start off the final week here of September.
We go to the Caribbean. Temperatures in San Juan, Puerto Rico, into the low 30s. Managua makes it up to about 33. Mexico City cooling off with the wet weather in place, about 19 with some thunderstorms in the forecast and temps across Panama and portions of northern South America should be into the upper 20s and mid-30s there.
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VAUSE: And there it is, the moon. That is what it looks like right now. But a little earlier, it was actually red. It was a supermoon. Some call it a blood moon but that wasn't correct. But this was a pretty special night for people who are into lunar things.
SESAY: Are you not into lunar things?
VAUSE: Not really, no.
There it is. That's what it looked like because this was a special lunar eclipse or supermoon. It's also known as, as I said, the blood moon.
SESAY: It is -- I thought it was spectacular.
Witnessing the supermoon and lunar eclipse together, that is rare indeed.
The question is how rare?
Well, let us tell you. The last one happened back in 1982. That's exactly what illuminated the skies above Earth over the last few hours. That was the view.
We were in here; we did not see it. VAUSE: We did not see a thing.
But Paul Vercammen did. And he joins us now live from Griffith Observatory here in Los Angeles.
It was a huge party out there. Even though it's all over, the party's still going?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's still going because all of these people now have to get back down the Hill, thousands of them, a very diverse crowd. They came from Australia -- John, you will be happy to hear that.
We ran into people from Vietnam, from China, from everywhere. And they were all enjoying this.
And Griffith Park Observatory really put on a show. They had a piano player here. Dr. Krupp himself dressed as a wizard at one point and was sort of chanting, "Dragon, begone," owing to the sort of historical or archeoastronomical roots of eclipses.
And with me, one of the guides here. And talk about a diverse crowd. Now Kopona (ph), born in Botswana, lots of relatives in India.
This is a great celebration for you tonight, isn't it?
KOPONA (PH): Absolutely. If you saw the crowds that came out tonight, you can't label it anything but a celebration.
VERCAMMEN: When the eclipse finally could be seen, because we did have some cloud cover, people were whooping and hollering, just euphoric.
What was that like for you?
KOPONA (PH): It reminds me as to why I work here. You know, astronomy's always been a huge nerdy hobby of mine. But I love educating the public on science, especially astronomy.
And when you see that many people enthusiastic about science, it really reminds me as to why I work here. It's just so cool to see how into it they really were.
It became -- I remember at some point people were howling at the moon, which was pretty awesome. Never experienced that before. But even though there was cloud coverage, people were still so excited and that's awesome.
VERCAMMEN: What do you think it says about some of these people literally walking an hour or two hours up the hill just to be part of this?
KOPONA (PH): I think it reminds us how much we're still kids inside because this takes us back to like 5th grade science, looking at the stars when we were kids, laying on the grass, and the fact they want to hike up here, which you know, hiking is very big in L.A., but even in this heat people still want to come see the blood moon.
Where else would you be?
We live in such a great city, where you have an observatory here, free to the public.
Where else would you be?
I just think people who came up here, that's exactly what I would do if I wasn't working here.
VERCAMMEN: Well said. We appreciate your insights.
By the way, that observatory over there, there's the telescope, 12- inch refractor. And it is free. It's one of the few observatories in the world where you can go ahead and take a gander at it. They weren't allowing that tonight because the crowds were overwhelming.
But Griffith Observatory, all part of the big show, that rare supermoon eclipse, when the moon is at perigee or close to the Earth. It all happened in one fell swoop tonight and, John and Isha, it really was quite a great time up here on the hill.
SESAY: Yes, it definitely looks like it was. Paul Vercammen there for us, enjoying the festivities, Paul, appreciate it. Thank you.
I love the fact it happened on the night we launched.
VAUSE: And I think I asked Paul to keep an eye out for my wife and my daughter. I can tell you they made it home. They're home now.
SESAY: Yes, Paul was worrying about that.
VAUSE: You could tell. SESAY: Yes, I could tell.
Well, for more of the science behind the supermoon, let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
Pedram, break this all down for us. Because it's pretty rare; a number of things had to happen to pull this off. Explain it to our viewers.
VAUSE: And to me.
JAVAHERI: Absolutely -- and John. Absolutely. This all comes down to the perfect alignment of the sun, the moon, the Earth occurring at the same time. When it comes to supermoons we're talking about it being essentially 14 percent brighter, 30 percent larger what appears in the night sky. That happens four to six times per year. We've certainly seen that.
Some of the images around the world of this particular supermoon and lunar eclipse all happening together, which you guys touched on, doesn't happen very often, it's since the 1980s. But of course we know our planet's atmosphere blocks every color besides the color red so when you have the various phases taking place you get the color red because of our region of our atmosphere creating that haze, the color red that you see cast on the moon.
But I want to show the another big story that's occurring around the world right now because we're watching a very menacing typhoon, a category 4 equivalent, Typhoon Dujuan, that is sitting just offshore of Taiwan. And some detailed images to zoom in on for you and show you the perspective on because the satellite imagery really doesn't do it any justice when it comes to how incredible the presentation is.
The eye of the storm system, John and Isha, is about 60 kilometers across. We're talking about a distance roughly from, say, Hollywood, California, to San Bernardino. That is how large the eye is.
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JAVAHERI: The cloud field stretches somewhere on the order of 1,000 kilometers across. So we're talking about a very large-scale feature. We'll show you exactly what it has plans to do inside the next six hours as it nears land over portions of Taiwan.
With Taiwan, keep in mind we're talking about the highest density of tall mountains of any island in the world. Nearly 3,000 -- near 300 mountains, I should say, with 3,000-meter-high peaks across Taiwan. Certainly this storm system will interact significantly with that when it makes landfall sometime Monday evening.
But we've already had 16 named storms across the Western Pacific, 12 typhoons so far this year across the Western Pacific, half of which have been supertyphoons. So certainly a story that has transpired over this region over and over again.
But major populations of Taipei in line for a lot of rainfall. The life-threatening rainfall is the main concern with this storm system. After it makes landfall at around 6:00 to 8:00 pm Monday night local time in Central Taiwan, which is not densely populated, the heavy rainfall stretches on into portions of the Taiwan Straits and eventually by Tuesday morning into early Tuesday afternoon we think Fuzhou, Quanzhou as well could get tremendous rainfall.
This is the wettest time of the year in Taipei. They get about 360 millimeters per September; they will pick up similar amounts in a 24- to 48-hour period. That's why this is a dangerous situation.
The storm moves in eventually toward Fuzhou and Quanzhou to the south, where we think 200 millimeters of rainfall is possible and you put this together in a very densely populated area, the population density, darkest areas of red, indicate where the most dense population resides. About 20 million people, Isha and John, are living in the direct path of this storm system. So this is the story we're going to follow the next couple of days as we send it back to you.
VAUSE: Batten down the hatches, here it comes.
(CROSSTALK) SESAY: Pedram, appreciate it. Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, India's prime minister has been making the rounds in Silicon Valley in the past few days. Who he met and why. That's just ahead.
SESAY: Plus an unusual theme park closes its doors to provide shelter for migrants. Do stay with us.
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[01:30:19] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay.
The headlines this hour, separatists in Catalonia have won a majority of seats in the regional parliament, setting up a showdown with Spain over independence. The Together for Yes alliance wants to break away from Spain within 18 months. It will be a critical issue during Spain's general election in December.
VAUSE: France has launched its first air strikes against ISIS targets in Syria. President Francois Hollande says the strikes have destroyed a training camp. Six planes flew in that mission which France coordinated with the U.S.-led coalition.
SESAY: Pope Francis has ended his first trip to the U.S. and is headed back to Rome. And he said he leaves the U.S. with a heart full of gratitude and hope.
Earlier in the day, thousands of Catholics lined the streets of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to attend the pope's outdoor mass.
VAUSE: As the saying goes, always leave them wanting more. And Pope Francis did just that on his historic visit to the United States. Amid all the euphoria, he stopped to pose for selfies.
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UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I got a selfie!
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VAUSE: He also held mass for hundreds of thousands of people, and many believe the Francis effect may be the reason why more American Catholics say the church is in touch with their needs. He even scores high marks from non-believers as well.
He also went beyond the spiritual, talking about climate change, immigration, and even pleaded with the U.S. Congress to end the division and work together.
Father Thomas Reese is a senior analyst for the "National Catholic Reporter." He joins us now from Washington for more on the pope's visit. So, Father, let's first talk about the pope's statement on Sunday to
the victims of sexual abuse by clergy. Earlier this week, the "National Catholic Reporter" had urged Pope Francis to simply use the words "clergy sexual abuse of minors." His comments on Sunday seemed to live up to that, go beyond that. Were you surprised by this? And why do you think he made those comments now?
FATHER THOMAS REESE, SENIOR ANALYST, NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER: Well, he made the comments, of course, because he met with victims of abuse. And this is extremely important. It's so important for the pope, for priests, for bishops to sit down with these people, these survivors, and hear their stories, hear the tragedy that impacted their lives, and to listen to them in a way we understand we believe them, what they're saying. And we want to help them and that we are terribly, terribly sorry for what happened. And that's what people wanted to hear about from the pope. And that's what he said. He said how sorry he was that it happened, how sorry he was that they weren't believed when they first came forward. And how sorry he was that the bishops didn't do what they were supposed to do to protect minors.
VAUSE: This gets to, I guess, the question of P.R. here. Victims of sexual abuse by the clergy, they're dismissive in many ways of what the pope said. They did say that no child is now safer today than they were yesterday, there needs to be this independent investigation, the church needs to remove abusers immediately and actually needs to actually do something rather than just make these kind of statements.
REESE: Well, the rule in the church today is zero tolerance for any abuse. That means any priest who's involved in abuse is out. He can never wear clerics. He can never act as a priest again, period. Now, we've got to make sure that rule is implemented. And that is extremely important. And we have to make sure that every bishop follows the rules and implements it and make sure that these priests never are allowed to act as a priest again. So I -- in a sense, I agree with the survivors groups that, you know, we can't just pretend this is over. We have to keep an eye on it, make sure that everything is -- all the rules are followed. Make sure that proper training is done and proper background checks are done. And we have to make sure that this is done not just in the United States but all over the world.
VAUSE: In many ways, this trip by the pope -- I mean, he's not your father's pope. He weighed in on issues like climate change. He even made this plea for Republicans and Democrats to come together to actually try and work together, end the divisions. Do you think that those words will last longer than the contrails of his jet as he flies home to Rome?
REESE: Well, certainly those words were very popular with the American people, who are sick of this polarization. They like the pope would like to see the politicians sit down, work together to solve the problems of our country and the world. And I think that's what he's asking them to do. And there's so many problems, I mean, the environmental crisis, the poor, the homeless. You know, the pope went from Congress to a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C. There should not be homeless people in the United States. And so he was there to speak for the homeless, for the immigrants, for the refugees, and for mother earth. And we need our politicians to get to work to deal with these problems.
[01:35:24] VAUSE: Final question, do you think the pope is a bit like Steve Jobs in a way, he's using his personality and his charisma to reinvent an organization but, at the end of the day, it's still basically selling the same product?
REESE: Well, you know, I think as you noted, people in the United States love this pope. And lots of people who used to be Catholics like this pope also. And they're thinking about you know, maybe I should give the church a second chance, maybe I should go back. Well, the problem is that the pope is important in the Catholic Church but he's not the whole story. Catholics live their faith in the local parish. And if these people return they're going to look for somebody like Francis. They're going to want a priest who's like Francis. So we clergy have to adopt his style. We have to adopt his way of being welcoming and compassionate, non-judgmental. Otherwise, people are going to turn around and walk right out the door again.
VAUSE: That is a very good point to finish this on.
Father Thomas Reese, thank you for being with us. We appreciate it.
REESE: Good to be with you.
SESAY: He made some very good points.
VAUSE: And very honest, too.
SESAY: Yeah.
VAUSE: I think people may go back to the church, the Catholic Church, looking for Francis. They're not going to get Francis.
SESAY: Yes. They're not going to get that.
It's a huge gathering of power players from all over the globe, and they'll be talking about the most pressing issues of our time.
VAUSE: So who are the leaders to watch at the U.N. General Assembly?
Our Richard Roth has the details.
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RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United Nations General Assembly is celebrating its 70th anniversary with no shortage of issues on the agenda. Leaders from more than 160 countries will be in attendance. But here's five speakers you should definitely tune in to during the general debate.
President Obama is going to be the second speaker at the podium ahead of political rivals, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Hasan Rouhani. White House aides say the president of the United States will focus heavily on climate change, with a "do or die" summit coming up in December. The president will also again question Russia's intervention in eastern Ukraine and increased presence by Moscow in Syria.
In his inaugural U.N. G.A. appearance, Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to address China's contributions on climate change and diplomatic peace initiatives around the world, but comments on a possible cyber crime agreement with the U.S. and expansion initiatives in the South China Sea can't be ruled out.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely come under a lot of scrutiny. He's expected to defend Russia's intervention in the Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea, and may propose a deal allowing Iran and the United States to try to stop the conflict in Syria and Iraq.
All eyes will also be on Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, particularly when it comes to his tone and substance on Iran's recent nuclear agreement with the West. Other critical issues, Iran's support of Syrian President Assad and the imprisonment of a "Washington Post" reporter.
Rounding out the top five, Cuban President Raul Castro takes the podium Monday afternoon. It's his first trip to the U.S. since he visited Houston in 1959 with brother, Fidel. Castro will likely address the restoration of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba, and efforts toward removing the United States' 55-year-old embargo.
All the talking continues here through October 3rd. But Monday's superpower line-up is a must watch.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And our thanks to Richard Roth for that report.
Please stay with us right here on CNN for all the very latest from the U.N. General Assembly. Our live coverage from New York begins at 2:00 in the afternoon on Monday, in London, only here on CNN.
SESAY: You will not want to miss it.
Now, India's prime minister has millions of followers on social media, but has he been making some new friends in Silicon Valley. Details of his visit are just ahead in a live report.
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[01:42:57] SESAY: Dismal Land started as an odd attraction in southern England, a morbid parody of Disneyland. But after five weeks, the entire theme park is being torn down. Its timber will be used to build shelters for migrants in Calais, France.
VAUSE: About 5,000 migrants are camped out around the port city. Dismal Land was created by illusive artist, Banksy. It featured a fire-damaged fairy tale castle and some unnerving art like a pond with model motor boats filled with asylum seekers. SESAY: Very, very unnerving.
VAUSE: Yeah, very poignant, too.
SESAY: I think Banksy's a genius.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says social media has changed the way he thinks and now he wants to bring that change to the nearly one billion Indians who don't have Internet access.
VAUSE: The prime minister sat down with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in California on Sunday, and connectivity was a big part of their discussion.
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NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA (through translation): When I came to government all these doors opened for me. I saw that one of the problems that government has is there's a big gap between government and the people. And you know, five years go by and then you have the next election and you come to know that we're just not connected to the people. So with social media, we have a daily bonding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: New Delhi bureau chief, Ravi Agrawal, joins me now.
Ravi, before we get to the prime minister's plan for a digital India, let's talk to the visit itself at Facebook, because I understand it was a rapturous welcome for Prime Minister Modi.
RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, it was at Facebook and also at the other speech he gave in front of some 20,000 Indians in San Jose. Modi has made this a feature of his trips abroad. Whenever he goes to different countries he tries to speak directly to the people of that country but also to the Indian diasporas in that country. And Facebook, remember, is a great constituency for Modi. He has about 30 million likes on Facebook. And as the Internet grows in India, as the number of users grows in India, Modi's very conscious he needs to reach out to those people, those young vibrant Indians he talks about all the time. That's some of the reasoning behind why he was there. He got a great welcome. He answered questions about doing business in India. He even got emotional when he was talking about his mother. The whole event really being talked about a lot here in India today.
[01:45:21] SESAY: And what about his plan of a digital India, a country where 80 percent of the population is without Internet access right now? I mean, how realistic a goal is that within the realistic time frame?
AGRAWAL: So Modi's basic plan with digital India is to make the services of government much more easily available through the Internet. He wants to sort of leapfrog the rest of the world when it comes to making doing business much easier in India. And part of the reason why he is so optimistic about that is the incredibly quick uptake of the Internet in the last few years. In 2010 there were 100 million Internet users in India. Today there are more than 300 million Internet users. And part of that growth, Isha, is not coming from P.C.s. Most of the people we speak to in India, who are discovering the Internet today, they're discovering it on cheap Smartphones. And so in many ways Modi and many Indian leaders, business leaders here, they see that as a great opportunity to bring low-cost tech to people, poor people all over India, and then use that as a tool to make governments much better.
SESAY: The digital landscape is certainly changing and changing quickly.
New Delhi bureau chief, Ravi Agrawal, joining us. Thank you, Ravi.
VAUSE: No change, though, in China. Facebook is still banned in China. But that has not stopped the Chinese President Xi Jinping from signing up. Hypocrisy. Here's the verified page. It's got about a million likes so far.
SESAY: It's full of status updates, photos and videos from his first official state visit to the U.S. this month, but no selfies. Here's the thing. China's 1.3 billion people won't see any of those posts because government censors block the social media network as well as sites like Twitter and Google.
VAUSE: Well, some people will see them because there are ways around the censors. It's just not particularly easy. And you don't want to go to all that trouble to see the president's Facebook page. I guess that's a good question.
A short break. When we come back, a South African comedian's career about to make a very big change. We'll have a conversation with Trevor Noah, soon to be of "The Daily Show."
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley, with your CNN "World Sport" headlines.
Jordan Spieth finished off a season to remember by winning the tour championship by four shots on Sunday. And the victory means the 22- year-old Texan becomes the youngest player to win the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus. It was Spieth's fifth victory of the year, which includes two majors, as his nearest challenger, the Swede Henrik Stenson, never really threatened. And what's more, Spieth will now return to the number-one spot in the world rankings when they come out.
It was a busy day at the Rugby World Cup with three big wins across stadiums in England. Australia literally got the ball rolling, running in 11 tries against Uruguay in the biggest win of the World Cup so far, a 65-3 victory. Then a score off the pluck United States, final score 39-16. And Ireland finished off the set of games easily defeating Romania, 44-10.
And Slovakia's Peter Sargen has won gold in the men's elite race at the Road Cycling World Championships in Richmond in Virginia. The 25- year-old made his move on the penultimate climb in the course. In fact, he built such a lead on silver medalist, Michael Matthews, of Australia, that he was able to ride hands-free across the line. Sargen says it was his biggest win of his career.
And that's a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.
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[01:51:32] Welcome back, everyone. U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Carly Fiorina, had her speech interrupted when part of the stage collapsed around her.
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(SHOUTING)
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VAUSE: It all came crashing down. She was actually in San Antonio talking to a crowd there. That was in Texas. Fiorina was not hurt, surprisingly. And she went on to make that speech. But it looked pretty dramatic.
SESAY: It certainly did.
Moving on, well, Trevor Noah makes his debut as the new host of "The Daily Show" Monday night, and the task is admittedly daunting.
VAUSE: These are incredibly big shoes to fill. He takes over from Jon Stewart, who hosted the satirical news program for 16 years.
The 31-year-old South African spoke with Brian Stelter about his plans for the show.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: "The Daily Show's" one of the most important liberal institutions in America. For liberals, for progressives, Jon Stewart was an icon. How can you come in and possibly give people that same kind of comfort or encouragement or whatever it is, at the end of the day, that Jon Stewart was giving to those people who were fed up with the rest of the media?
TREVOR NOAH, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: I consider myself a progressive, you know, but I don't limit myself honestly to the world of liberal or conservative because I didn't grow up in that world. We didn't have those staid views or political standpoints. So in political parties in South Africa there were conservatives and liberals within the party. There's fights within it, which I think is a healthy thing to have. And so that's what I'm going to try to do, is get to a place where I go, this is how I feel. I also live in the world. You know, I'm also seeing these things. It's not like I sleep and live in a vacuum that is "The Daily Show." I want the world to be a better place. I want things --
(CROSSTALK)
STELTER: So there will be some advocacy?
(CROSSTALK)
NOAH: Oh, yeah, definitely. That's who I am as a human being. That's why I connected with Jon Stewart, you know. We had a connection. We shared that. So we would talk about that. And that's why he said come on to the show, let's do more of this.
(CROSSTALK)
NOAH: So we'll continue that.
STELTER: Yeah. You said you're not a political junkie. So will the show be a little less political, maybe less of the outrage that we heard from Jon Stewart toward the end of his tenure?
(LAUGHTER)
NOAH: I think his outrage was very justified. I hope that the time it takes for me to become outraged is a long time. I hope to enjoy my period of peace, you know, in terms of how I look at the news and what I interpret from it. But to not be a political junkie does not mean that I am not immersed in what is happening around me. I think politics and social issues affect so much more than we generally think it does. You know, it works its way into the media. It works its way into the entertainment industry. And even into sports in the smallest ways possible. So once you identify that, you find that everything is linked and you can make any story or you can bring to the attention of the audience any story you that feel pertains to what we're going through in life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Wish him well.
SESAY: Wish him well.
VAUSE: Do you know what the first penguin is? When all the penguins line up to go fishing, the first penguin that jumps in the ocean is the one that gets eaten by the seal. And then the other penguins know it's OK to go get the fish. I think he's going to be the first penguin. It's going to be the other person on the show to take over.
SESAY: Let's keep it simple. Following in the footsteps of Jon Stewart being that first person is incredibly -- penguins, fish. We wish him the very best.
VAUSE: We do. SESAY: He's very, very funny. And very, very talented.
VAUSE: He's a nice guy, too.
SESAY: Yes. He's a nice guy. But penguins?
And this brings us to the end of our first two hours of CNN NEWSROOM from Los Angeles. And some people have been asking us this question: Why L.A.? Why California?
[01:55:13] VAUSE: Yeah, why? Ah. OK. So perhaps a better question may have been, why haven't we been here before now?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE (voice-over): From Barbie to B-2 bombers, supermarkets and McDonald's, and the first message sent on the Internet, it all happened here in California. An economy so large, if it was a country, it would be among the top-10 biggest economies in the world. What happens here changes the way everyone lives wherever they might be. And at the center of it all is Los Angeles, the city and the sprawling communities around it, a world unto themselves. 10 million people call L.A. County home. And they come from 140 countries and speak nearly 90 languages. No ethnic or racial group is a majority here. This is home to the happiest place on earth, they say. It's a cultural center with more museums and theaters than any other U.S. city, and a dream factory as well, the epicenter of global entertainment. This is where they come to make it big.
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SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: I'm John Vause.
Stay with us. Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett, right back after a short break.
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[02:00:09] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Front and center. U.S. and Russian leaders prepare to make their arguments for action on Syria at the United Nations.
