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Pope Keeps Christmas Message Simple, to the Point; Cold Weather and Power Losses; Top-10 2013 Weather Stories; Meet Barry Black, U.S. Senate Chaplain

Aired December 25, 2013 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SINGING)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Some beautiful, and these are historic images from the Vatican. This was Pope Francis presiding over his first Christmas celebration in his new role.

And while the ceremonies involved a lot of pomp and circumstance, Erin McLaughlin shows us the pope kept his Christmas message simple and to the point.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As you can see, they're streaming into St. Peter's Square. People from all over the world, pilgrims and atheists, men, women and children of a multitude of religions flooding the square to hear what Pope Francis has to say to the world on Christmas day.

(CHEERING)

POPE FRANCIS (through translation): God is peace. Let us ask him to help us to be peacemakers each day.

(CHEERING)

MCLAUGHLIN: What did you think of the pope's message?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it was wonderful. It was beautiful. Very touching. And I felt even like crying. He's a very humble person.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really don't know if humanity will listen to him. But he -- he's strong to say this.

POPE FRANCIS: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MCLAUGHLIN: His message delivered in Italian, and even though not everyone here understands exactly what he is saying, they're here to see him and experience history.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was wonderful to be in such a large crowd. People were nice. We were trying to communicate with each other but we were all from many different countries. People were happy to be here and calm about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a great moment just to see him speak to all the people. It's a lovely day here in Rome. A great experience.

MCLAUGHLIN: His message to the world one of peace. He asked for prayers for the victims of conflict in places like Syria and the south Sudan. It was a message that seemed to resonate here in the square. The excitement and energy was palpable. An illustration of the power of Pope Francis.

Erin McLaughlin, CNN, the Vatican.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And let's take a look at other Christmas celebrations around the world.

Thousands of Christians packed the town of Bethlehem in the West Bank for Christmas celebrations. A top Roman Catholic leader in the Holy Land said the message of Christmas is peace, love, and brotherhood. This was the highest turnout in years at the Church of Nativity, which is the Biblical birthplace of Jesus.

In the Philippine city of Tacloban, church goers remembered those lost to last month's deadly hurricane. They relied on candlelight because electricity is not fully restored.

In Australia, revelers celebrating in the surf, on the sand. Santa parked those reindeer and he padded around in flip-flops to deliver gifts and good cheer. I think he was holding a beer there, actually.

In China, Christmas is not so much a religious holiday as it is a wacky excuse to celebrate. Kind of like St. Patrick's Day here in the U.S. But China's government does take pride in its massive exports of toys, saying that without its cheap products, Americans couldn't enjoy the piles of gifts under the tree.

Coming up, heat waves, hurricanes and tornadoes, like this one, we'll be counting down the top-10 weather events of 2013.

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KEILAR: I don't know about where you are, but Christmas day is chilly and cold here in the mid-Atlantic. And in parts of the northeast and Midwest, thousands of people are actually without power. They're spending Christmas in the dark. In Michigan, crews are working around the clock. They are trying to restore power after that recent ice storm that hammered some areas.

So let's bring in Jennifer Gray in the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta.

It's a white Christmas but not a warm Christmas for a lot of people.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, hundreds of thousands without power. Good news is no additional ice is falling. This is all leftover from the wicked ice storm we saw over the weekend. We are seeing though snow and we're seeing snow in place like Grand Rapids and that's all pulling into places like Upstate New York, and even into northern Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. This is just one of the many pictures that were sent into CNN. This is from Sarah Hadley in Lansing, Michigan. You can see the ice hanging on the branches. It just weighs them down and it doesn't take much for the branches to fall. The power lines to go down, and so that's why we're seeing a lot of power outages in that part of the country.

As for snowfall, during the next 48 hours, we're going to see possible one to three inches in Detroit. Syracuse could pick up two to four. And one to three inches in Vermont, New Hampshire, even on into Maine. Most of the country though enjoying a very tranquil Christmas. Sunny and mild across the Deep South. We are going to see a couple of showers in south Texas but that lake-effect snow is really the only hang up we are seeing.

So a lot of folks waking up to a white Christmas. We also have temperatures staying in the 30s and 40s across the Midwest. 44 in Denver today.

KEILAR: All right. I am jealous of you. It looks nice and sunny down there. It's a little cool here in D.C., Jennifer Gray.

(LAUGHTER)

GRAY: It's chilly in Atlanta but it's beautiful.

KEILAR: Yeah. Have a happy holiday.

GRAY: You, too.

KEILAR: A thousand-year flood, a tornado with winds of almost 300 miles an hour, and a typhoon that destroyed millions of homes, mind boggling numbers to go with some of the extreme weather stories we've covered this year.

Chad Myers counts down the top-10.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: 2013 was quite a year weather-wise. Let's go to the top-10 weather stories right now.

We'll start at number 10 in Mexico. Twin hurricanes hitting that country, one from the Gulf of Mexico, the other from the Pacific. $5 billion in damage, more than 100 people killed in flooding.

To South Dakota, 12 days into autumn. We're looking at four feet of snow, 70-mile-per-hour winds. 20,000 cattle were killed in this storm as ranchers were caught off guard.

Now to the northeast. The nor'easter, a big storm back in February. 83 mile-per-hour winds at one point, but the pressure was equal to a category 2 hurricane. Now to Arizona, where the wildfires struck. A lightning strike north of Phoenix created this wildfire. It grew to 6,000 acres. The Granite Mountain Hotshots were sent in, the wind shifted directions on them, and blew the fire right back at those firefighters. 19 died that day. That's the largest loss of life from firefighters since 9/11.

To East Asia, right here. Big dome of high pressure, very populated area here, Shanghai into Shamanto, Japan. Shamanto, Japan, had 106 degrees. It's never been that hot. No city in Japan had ever been that hot on any day in any summer as long as they were keeping records.

Now to Oklahoma City. A 210-mile-per-hour tornado an EF-5 headed to Moore, Oklahoma. Right here. And it was coming in from the west. And we knew it was moving into a populated area. We watched it live on CNN from our local affiliates and broadcast it live to the world. And that school is Plaza Towers. It took a direct hit. Seven children were killed in that school. But look at the damage that that school had.

Now on to El Reno. I was there 11 days later. This is a 2.6-mile- wide tornado that moved to the southeast for a while. But when it got very strong, almost 300 miles per hour with some mobile Doppler radar units, it turned to the left, caught an awful lot of storm chasers out of where they thought they should be in a very bad position. That's where the storm should have gone. It didn't do that. It turned to the left and the storm chasers were right there. In fact, even "The Weather Channel" was right there. Their storm chase vehicle was hit by this tornado. But sadly, Tim Samaras (ph) and two other chasers were killed in that vehicle right there as the tornado overtook them.

Colorado, flash floods. This is a once in a 1,000-year flood. 17 inches of rain in eight days. Nine inches of rain in 24 hours. When you get that kind of rain in the mountains, it's going to run off. It can't all soak in. So the rain came down and it ran down the mountains and washed away towns, washed away bridges and roads. And there was significant damage all the way into Boulder. Also had very effective video. Look at this. We watched this just for hour as they rescued people out of some of these creeks and streams. These high water rescues went on for a couple days.

Now to India. 15 inches of rain in 24 hours. And look at what happened here. These towns were eaten alive by the water, washed away into the rivers here, one building after another. There were religious pilgrims in the area, as well. And more than 5,000 of them died.

Now on to Europe. This isn't a flash flood like we've just seen the past two. This is a long-term rain event. It rains in the mountains and the plains and it all gets down into the rivers. And the rivers there in Europe went up. The Danube, the Rhine, the Elbe, all at historic levels. They've been keeping records for some of these rivers since 1501, even broke those rivers, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, all hit by the flood. Now, to number one, Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm to ever make landfall in recent history. A 200-mile-per-hour monster super typhoon. We had 20-foot storm surge. Andrew Stevens (ph) was there. Anderson Cooper was there. 6,000 people died as a 200-mile-per-hour wind rolled through Tacloban. Also with that 20-foot storm surge, there are still 2,000 people missing. There are millions of people that don't have homes right now, still, in the Philippines.

All of this happened in a year that the IPCC put out their climate report. Those are the climate gurus for the United Nations. And they say we're going to have more heat waves in future. We're going to have more floods and more droughts because of climate change. So maybe what we think of right now as extreme weather might just be the new normal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Now, still ahead, I have someone that I really want you to meet, the Senate chaplain. He made a name for himself by admonishing Senators in his daily prayers during the government shutdown.

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KEILAR: During 2013, the Senate had some particularly contentious battles. You probably remember them. Maybe you tried to tune them out. On so many occasions, we watched lawmakers refusing to extend an olive branch to the other side. But one man dealt with it on a day to day basis. That's the Senate chaplain. Before the holidays, Dana Bash went to Barry Black's office, tucked away inside the capitol, and she got fascinating insight about his approach to ministering to politicians.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARRY BLACK, U.S. SENATE CHAPLAIN: Let us pray.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senate Chaplain Barry Black got a lot of attention this fall by using his daily prayers to admonish Senators during the government shutdown with lines like this.

BLACK: Cover our shame with the robe of your righteousness.

I was in an environment where most of the people I ministered to had been furloughed because of the federal shutdown. So these were people who were not getting paid and who definitely needed their checks. If I could not muster up some passion, if I could not muster up some candor, and if I could not be somewhat prophetic in what I was talking to God about, then shame on me. I really don't need to be in this job.

Forgive us also when we put politics ahead of progress.

BASH (on camera): Did you get any blowback from any Senators saying this isn't your job, sir? BLACK: I didn't. I tried in my prayers to be sufficiently nonpartisan, that nothing I said could not be used as a description for both sides of the aisle.

BASH: That's not easy.

BLACK: Deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable. Anyone watching the debates would know that that indictment could be made for both sides.

BASH: You were parodied on "Saturday Night Live."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE ACTOR: (INAUDIBLE) and just drown everybody!

(LAUGHTER)

Or at least allow your cleansing waters to carry them to a place far, far away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACK: Yes, I thought it was funny. I thought the premise was quite humorous. That, you know, not that I would want a flood to come.

(LAUGHTER)

I certainly would extend a hand if I were in a boat to help a lawmaker out of the water, but it was funny.

BASH (voice-over): Black is known for his public prayers but most of his work is in private, ministering to the Senate community, a place he says really needs it.

BLACK: I am providing spiritual guidance through religious education. I officiate at weddings and funerals. I'm in the hospitals for hospital visitations. I have been with a number of Senators when they died.

BASH (on camera): Whose bedside were you at when they died?

BLACK: Well, most recently with Senator Daniel Inouye from Hawaii.

BASH: A year ago.

BLACK: Yes.

BASH: What's that like?

BLACK: He was a great American, an amazing man, and a very dear friend. The last thing he did was scribble the word "aloha" on a piece of paper. There is nothing more instructive I think than being with someone who dies well.

BLACK: Do any Senators ever come to you for advice on how they're going to vote?

BLACK: I have Senators who ask me, how would you vote on this issue, which is one way of saying, how do you think I should vote.

BLACK: How do you answer those questions?

BLACK: Well, I tell Senators I'm more interested in you having ethical reasons and evidence for your vote, and so I would rather teach you about ethical decision-making than to tell you which way to go on a particular issue.

BASH: It's not unusual, unfortunately, for Senators to have ethical problems. Have you had those Senators come to you seeking --

BLACK: I usually know about the ethical challenges long before it hits the media. Yes, I have had Senators who have attended my Bible study who have had ethical challenges and ethical problems. The 50th Psalm says we're born in sin and shaped in inequity. A poet once said there's a little bit of bad in the best of us and a little bit of good in the worst of us, so it behooves the best of us not to talk about the rest of us.

BASH: Pope Francis, you're not Catholic, but I'm curious to get your take on the kind of impact that he's making. He's making Catholics happy to be Catholics again. He's making non-Catholics look at the church and the tenets of the church based on what he has been saying. And it's kind of political. What do you think about it?

BLACK: I think there's a providence that seems to raise up great leaders at the right time. I think he brings a desperately need charisma coupled with this amazing humility. You rarely see that kind of a synthesis of just this marvelous charisma, and yet this amazing humility. Paying your own hotel bills and carrying your luggage and this kind of thing. Just a tremendous example of how people of faith ought to live. So I'm so excited.

BLACK: It is Christmastime. A lot of people are thinking about their spiritual center. What is your wish for Congress and for the Senate this holiday season?

BLACK: Well, my wish is that our lawmakers and all of those who labor for freedom will take seriously the notion of peace on earth, goodwill to humankind. That is so critically important. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God." And I want us all to be the children of God. We need to take peace a little more seriously than we do. So let there be peace on earth, as the hymn writer says, and let it begin with me. Let it begin with us.

BLACK (voice-over): Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Still ahead, it's got Christmas romance, a dance number, even a heartwarming plot twist. But does the movie "Love Actually" qualify as a holiday classic? A heated debate. We'll be taking you inside, next.

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MAJ. THOMAS HUSETT (ph), U.S. ARMY: Hi, I'm Major Thomas Husett (ph) in Stuttgart, Germany. Happy holidays, merry Christmas and a happy new year to dad and Mary and all my friends in Toledo, Ohio. I love you guys. Miss you much.

KEILAR: It is a film that's 10 years old, seems benign, but the movie "Love Actually" has sparked a great deal of debate in recent days.

As Jake Tapper shows us, there are those who love "Love Actually" and think it's a new Christmas classic, and those who love to hate it.

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(SINGING)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Does "Love Actually" deserve to be considered a new Christmas classic? Film critic Chris Orr says no. Associate editor, Emma Green, says yes. They write for "The Atlantic." Earlier this month is office conversation turned into a heated debate. "Love Actually" turned into a battlefield.

EMMA GREEN, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, THE ATLANTIC: Basically, every one of our co-workers got up and surrounded us fight-club style as we debated loudly over the merits of the movie.

CHRIS ORR, FILM CRITIC: It was awesome. Everything ground to a halt for five or 10 minutes.

TAPPER: They took their debate to the web with dueling articles. Their work garnered more than 50,000 Facebook shares. I confess I was one of them. The argument is brutal and fun.

(SINGING)

TAPPER: The decade-old British film "Love Actually" follows nine story lines each about some version of affection, young love, familiar companionship, ill-timed lust, truly joyful anticipation.

Orr argues these plot lines are superficial and even immoral, far from the wholesome virtues expected at this time of year.

ORR: I think "Love Actually" is not merely an un-romantic movie but an actively anti-romantic movie. It's almost a series of money shots. It's like a mash up of the first and last scenes of a variety of other romantic comedies without any of the middle parts in which people actually get to know each other and fall in love.

TAPPER: Green says love is the spirit of the season no matter how sloppy its expression.

GREEN: They don't have time to show all of the four-hour conversations that eventually lead people to fall in love intellectually. It's more about that magic chemistry moment that allows people to inexplicable call into the crush zone. And I think that's a very valid and magical and wonderful thing to show.

TAPPER: It should be noted that "Love Actually" got mixed reviews when it came out, including Orr's own scathing write up.

ORR: When I watched it again, it was even worse than I'd remember. And in particular, the nightly scene was even creepier than I remembered it.

TAPPER: For the record, "A Christmas Story" was originally panned. But I guess you could say that criticism didn't quite stick. And now that movie is an undisputed classic right alongside "Love Actually"? Actually, I'm not going to take a position in this great debate.

(SINGING)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: That was Jake Tapper reporting.

And that's it for me. Merry Christmas.

NEWSROOM continues right now with Fredricka Whitfield.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much. Merry Christmas to you, Brianna, and everyone else, as well at home.