Page 5 - Patrick Altman News Today

>> reporter: theres no way around it, cuba is giving pope francis the rock star treatment. what a cool pope, charmed young cubans in havana. certainly much cooler than the weather. even cubas scorching september sun couldnt prevent huge crowds from gathering to greet pope francis. vatican officials says the havana mass through 200,000 people. something cuban officials perhaps wary of francis star power have not confirmed. his was a rare message of inclusiveness in a country that we demands polit...

Service is never ideological, he says. for we do not serve ideas, we serve people. observers say pope francis is looking not to bring the revolution down. just curb its repressive exists. >> francis as a young man, a young jesuit. he was deeply disappointed when cuba went communist. and i wonder whether francis is now like reminding raul about something about what the revolution was before it went marxist. >> reporter: pope francis met rauls father, the father of marxist in cuba, fidel castro. c...

Presidential election heating up the white house is rejektding the notion the popes trip is all about politics. >> there is no plan or strategy thats been put in place to try to stage an event that will advance anybodys political agenda. >> reporter: thats a tough claim to make considering the popes positions. as the white house led the charge for same-sex marriage, pope francis has softened his own stance on gay priests. >> translator: if a person is gay and seeks god and has good will, whom am...

Badly to the united states. a lot of people feel theyre owed by the government, but pope francis definitely is a big chip. well see how much raul castro is willing to give. >> patrick altman, insightful peace. like it. when we come back, more coverage and well tell you about a special documentary weve done for you called the peoples pope. tuesday night 9:00 p.m. eastern. to understand the pope, you need to know who he is. we go back to where hes from, where he grew up, we talk to those who know ...

United states. >> thats right. and cuba has had papal visits before. but as our patrick altman explains, this one is special for many reasons. >> reporter: we are in havanas cathedral square, and this is going to be one of the places pope francis visits on his first stop to cuba and the united states. as you can see, lets walk over here towards the cathedral. theyre getting everything ready at a furious pace. still lots of work be being done here. streets being fixed up. builds being painted. th...

We have this information into cnn in the past hour or so. police in afghanistan say a u.s. air strike has struck an afghan army outpost killing eight afghan soldiers. >> it was on monday morning local time. a u.s. army colonel says the incident is under investigation. we will bring you more information when we have it. the decades-long relationship between the united states and cuba is entering a new era. >> today the two countries restore full diplomatic relations, each opening embassies in t...

captors, aka their parents. those two lost custody of four year old cole and two year old schas after a run in with police in louisiana last june. how they wound up in cuba and what happens next are matters that i put to my cnn colleagues. and victor blackwell who is in tampa. give me exactly what we do know from any cuban officials at this point who may be talking about this case. >> reporter: well, the kublen officials say that three are not aware of this. they have said that the u.s...

justice alana kagan is a very new justice, but she had a very important opinion this morning, she had a decision that struck down mandatory life terms for juvenile offenders. theres a law in several states that says on these circumstances, this person must be sentenced to life without parole. and what the court held by 5- 4, justice anthony kennedy joining the fourth liberals said that it is unconstitutional for a law to say a juvenile convicted of murder must automatically serve life ...

attorney general, an attorney day for your time, im sure you know the country and perhaps the world will be watching as you implement this law going forward. we start the 11:00 hour here on the east coast. several important decisions from the united states supreme court today. this headline, the big health care decision will not come until thursday, that will be the final day of this years supreme court term, including the charge of the presidents signature first term initiative, also ...

Many people have had to evacuate. there may be no better illustration of a low moving disaster than what you can see from the bough of a tanker coming down the mississippi. our patrick altman is along for the ride. >> reporter: take a ride on the mississippi river and you will see flooding and destruction you wont soon forget. this man has been navigating the waters for over 30 years. but a flooded mississippi means a late start to this trip for him and the crew of the merit jones. >> its easier...