Thats all for us tonight. Anderson cooper starts right now. Good evening. Tonight 11 days on the stand even one more twisted and shocking than the last. Jodi arias on trial for her life once again turns the courtroom into a triplex theater and paints her boyfriend as something out of a horror movie. Also, dr. Sanjay gupta digs into the diet that could protect you from Heart Disease. Eating mediterranean and just maybe living longer. Keeping them honest with the man records show helped dozens of child rapists escape justice. Its all documented in tens of thousands of pages of previously secret personnel files covering 124 accused sexual predators who were shielded from justice with the authority and often with the knowledge of this person. You may ask yourself is he now awaiting trial on obstruction of Justice Charges . No, hes in rome getting ready to select the next pope. Hes Cardinal Roger mahoney of los angeles. Get this. Hes complaining about people who are offended and lashing out at the media for reporting on the controversy. Hes tweeting a lot about it, about Pope Benedicts final general audience tomorrow. Hes tweeting about the nice climate in rome, mid50s he says during the day, upper 30s at night. Great holy spirit weather, he says. Hes tweeting and blogging about how unfair people are being to him. Bear in mind this is a man who until late last month was stripped of all public duties after being revealed in church documents as someone who protected sexual predators. In a moment well talk to an abuse survivor and first casey wian with more on the controversy. Reporter members of a nationwide group of reformminded catholics gathered outside the home church of retired Cardinal Roger mahoney. I would respectfully ask that you deliver this petition on to Cardinal Mahoney, that he recuse himself from the papal conclave. Reporter nearly 10,000 signatures pleading with the disgraced head of the roman archdiocese not to vote for the next pope. His participation in the conclave would only bring clouds of shame in a time that should bring springs of hope. Reporter the following day Cardinal Mahoney left for rome anyway to help choose the next leader of more than a billion catholics worldwide. May almighty god bless you. Reporter many u. S. Catholics are outraged because recently released Court Documents show mahoney helped protect accused pedophile priests from Law Enforcement. His attendance at the conclave is a slap in the face to catholics and to victims. Reporter in the 1980s, she was abused by a Catholic School teacher. Shes now an activist with s. N. A. P. , Survivors Network of those abused by priests. Heres a man that we now know through these documents released over the past month, for 25 years in the archdiocese of los angeles he covered up for child sexual abuse. Reporter newspaper columnist michael fit gerald was an altar boy in the 80s for mahoney. Its an issue of moral authority. They flouted the law, so he has no place voting for the churchs highest spiritual authority. Reporter but mahoney isnt staying silent. Far from it. On monday from rome he enraged his detractors by blogging this response to the controversy i cant recall a time such as now when people tend to be so judgemental and even selfrighteous, so quick to accuse, judge and condemn. And often with scant real facts and information. Mahoney also lashed out at the media saying, 24 7 news broadcasts provide little context. He seemed to be comparing himself to the suffering of jesus, which is the height of megalomaniac selfpity and should be seen for what it is. Jesus didnt deserve to be crucified. Cardinal mahoney brought this public ridicule on himself. Reporter mahoneys successor, archbishop jose gomez called the files of mahoneys efforts to cover up abuse by priests brutal and painful reading and he stripped mahoney of his public duties but not as a sacred duty as cardinal elector of the next pope. I dont think theres any question to disqualify him. Reporter mahoneys defender, even some of his critics, praise his work on behalf of the poor. As the prince of the church, one of the most important religious figures in the United States within the catholic church, Cardinal Mahoney gave voice and face to undocumented immigrants. And before him, these voices were silent. Reporter archbishop gomez who had earlier excoriated mahoney wrote to fellow priests later im confident that Cardinal Mahoneys accomplishments and experience in the areas of immigration, social justice, sacred liturgy and the role of the layity in the church will serve the college of cardinals as well. His first obligation was to children, his social justice obligation was to child safety, his immigration obligation was not to send perpetrator priests into immigrant neighborhoods and Spanish Speaking parishes. All these claims he has of being a reformer, is all tarnished. Reporter mahoney seems to be taking the scathing criticism in stride offering a tweet from rome asking, anyone interested in loving your enemies or doing good to those who persecute you . See my blog for today. Wow, jesus is demanding. Casey wian, cnn, los angeles. Cardinal mahoney is not the only one who arrives in rome under a cloud of a global scandal. Just a few days ago new yorks archbishop Cardinal Timothy dolan was grilled by lawyers for Abuse Victims back when he was an archbishop of milwaukee. Joining us Christiane Amanpour, john allen of the National Catholic reporter and abuse survivor, former priest and currently cofounder and president of road to recovery, an organization that counsels fellow survivors. John, the tone of Cardinal Mahoneys blog post, he clearly seems to feel that he is being persecuted and he says hes praying for those who unfairly attack him, he blames the media. For viewers who have not been following this closely, according to internal Church RecordsCardinal Mahoney and a top adviser discussed ways to hide the sexual abuse of children from Law Enforcement for years, preventing police from investigating priests who had admitted to Church Officials they molested young boys, correct . Yeah, that is correct, anderson. I think when Cardinal Mahoney argues that hes being unfairly treated, what he means is that while those failures that youre talking about are abundantly documented he would contend that later on once he became aware of the enormity of this problem he turned the corner and tried to become a reformer. Some would suggest his later years he moved the archdiocese of los angeles forward. Robert, do you think Cardinal Mahoney gets it . Hes apologized, but does he get it . No, he doesnt get it. A man of his stature and his reputation should be able to come before the entire public and say, i blew it. I made real serious mistakes, and im going to pledge to clean it up. But no, unfortunately, it becomes the pity party for priests again. You know, that everybodys attacking the cardinals, the hierarchy. The hierarchy should be attacked because it was they who masterminded the serial coverup of children for years and years. Christiane, were talking about how the vatican claims that some of these scandals were hearing about is an attempt to influence the selection of the next pope. Are there any signs that any of this is having an impact on the process . Look, i dont think so, but i can actually confirm what you just said and what your guests just said. There is a feeling of being really under siege here by the vatican. Theres a feeling of being beleaguered. Theres a feeling that were all focusing far too much on these scandals. And there isnt a feeling that we just need to get this out in the open and staunch this wound, if you like. And certainly today you had victims groups, victims who came over here and had a press conference and laid out what they would like the vatican to do to finally make this a fully transparent, accountable and for it to go away and certainly for the next pope to really start making the whole vatican accountable for all this. But they have really, really lashed out at all of us and accused us well, some of us anyway, of trying to influence the next conclave and the election. But its kind of strange that kind of accusation. Its interesting, robert, because the accusation by some Church Officials that the media is focusing too much on this, i dont think the media has focused much on this at all over the years. If you report on this a lot, frankly, people kind of turn it off because they feel like ive heard about it, theres nothing new there, but the details that came out, the stuff Cardinal Mahoney is accused of doing, its shocking. No one is to blame for any of this, anderson, except the hierarchy. They masterminded it, they covered it up. Theyre now continuing to behave in a way as if theyre the victims. Theyre not the victims. And youre right, it has not been covered the way that victims would like it to be covered. But the new pope is going to have to take this bull by the horns and do Something Real radical including firing anybody who has covered it up. I was fired, you know, when i was a priest for calling for the resignation of any bishop who has covered up clergy sex abuse. I was called into my Bishops Office and fired. Have any bishops been fired for covering up sexual abuse. No. Cardinal law was the only one who resigned. No bishop has really been held accountable for this tragedy. Christiane, you covered the election of this pope to become pope. How is it different this time around . I dont think anyone anticipated, certainly not in the vatican, the allegations, the scandal weve seen in just the last couple weeks. I think in that regard, obviously, its very different. We didnt have quite this deluge of information 2005 when Pope John Paul died and as we watched the election of Pope Benedict xvi. Obviously it had already come out in the United States and there are lots of reports but hadnt exploded in europe. Im talking to vatican insiders and watchers who say this may explode in other parts of the world as well, that it is a bit of a ticking timebomb. In that regard, it is different. Clearly the church is really they just simply cant believe that all these headlines are happening the very final week of Pope Benedicts reign. So theyre desperately trying to get out from under this deluge of bad news and hope at least the next two days are going to be much more devoted to the final religious tasks of Pope Benedict. Tomorrow he has his final general audience. Theyve handed out tens of thousands of tickets. St. Peters square behind me is going to be filled. Theres going to be the traditional popemobile circular around st. Peters square. Then the gradual ceremonial steps that are going to be taken before Pope Benedict xvi leave. But unprecedented in this way and, of course, because this is a pope who is resigning. Its not like a pope has died. The next pope will be elected with a pope emeritus, as hell be called, still here, still looking over his shoulder, if he so chooses. Robert . John allen mentioned that the church should be applauded for its zero tolerance policy, but that policy is not being followed. There are pedophile priests still in ministry, there are many priests in ministry. I asked to be relieved of my priestly vows last year. In record time i was given that dispensation. Now pedophile priest, theyre still being coddled, theyre still being paid. Theyre still being treated as if theyre still members of the clergy in good standing. So the church still has not confronted the real issues here, the real issues here, people have to be held accountable for what has gone on in this church and theyre not being held accountable. Robert, i appreciate you being on with us. John allen and Christiane Amanpour as well. Thanks. Thank you. Lets continue this discussion during the commercial break on twitter right now. A lot of folks are tweeting about this already saying that Cardinal Mahoney should not be part of this conclave. Anderson Cooper is the twitter address. What House Speaker boehner said about the budget mess. It was not lets make a deal, may not even be fit for family viewing, but was he actually speaking the truth . Well play it for you. You can decide for yourself. Raw politics. Very raw. Also well take you places that are buried in the biggest snowfall in decades. Well tell you who is next in the path of yet another deadly storm. [ male announcer ] ive seen incredible things. Otherworldly things. But there are some things ive never seen before. This ge jet engine can understand 5,000 data samples per second. Which is good for business. Because planes use less fuel, spend less time on the ground and more time in the air. 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Or our savory, new grilled Maine Lobster and lobster tacos. Its back, but not for long. [ woman ] our guests go crazy for lobsterfest. My favorite entree is the lobster lovers dream. Whats yours . Come celebrate lobsterfest and sea food differently. This is what its like. Paying full price for a hotel room. And this is what its like getting a highend hotel room for 45 off published prices. With travelocitys top secret hotels. Ooo, tingly. Raw politics now. Just in case you thought your elected representatives were actually working hard to solve the latest budget mess that they made for themselves, well, you just werent paying attention the other three times. Many in washington think now is not the time to hammer out a deal to avert spending cuts. Many in washington seem to think that now is the time for both sides to point fingers or, as the speaker of the house did today, point fingers and drop an abomb. Reporter it has come to this. We shouldnt have to move a third bill before the senate gets off their ass and do something. Reporter versus the Senate Majority leader whose mother made ends meet by cleaning brothels. I was raised in a little town that had 13 brothels in it. Im used to some pretty salty language. I think he should understand who is sitting on their posterior. Were doing our best here to pass something. The speakers doing nothing to try to pass anything over there. Reporter that off color verbal volley took the blame game to a new rather low level as democrats and republicans conceded forced spending cuts they created in 2011 with no intention of actually kicking in now almost certainly will starting friday. President obama took his bully pulpit to virginia where the white house said across the board cuts will force the navy to cancel maintenance of 11 ships. That hurts this community. Because of these automatic cuts, about 90,000 virginians who work for the department of defense would be forced to take unpaid leave from their jobs. Reporter then rapid fire warnings of other real world effects from forced spending cuts. More than 2,000 College Students would lose their financial aid. Delays at airports across the country. Tens of thousands of parents will have to scramble to find child care. Reporter republicans argue consequences from the countrys debt would be worse than 85 billion in spending cuts and they liken the president to chicken little. Saying that the sky is falling all in an effort to try to scare congress and scare the American People into doing what he wants, which is raising taxes. Reporter that speaks to the heart of the divide. Republicans say no new taxes in any deal to prevent indiscriminate cuts. Democrats want tax increases and spending cuts.