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New Scandals Hit Catholic Church; Four Missing at Sea; NYPD Accused "Cannibal Cop" on Trial; T'eo Explaining Girlfriend Hoax; Yahoo! Employees Come to Office or Quit.

Aired February 25, 2013 - 13:30   ET

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


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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Pope Benedict XVI's final days in office now have been tarnished by scandal, sordid allegations involving sex, prostitution and blackmail. The pope issued an order allowing the cardinals to choose his successor to start their work a little earlier. Now they don't have to wait 15 days after he steps down.

But there is one cardinal who is not going to be there, part of the process when the conclave starts. Scotland's cardinal, Keith O'Brien, who has resigned amid allegations, he abused four men studying to be priests back in the '80s.

Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, joins us from Rome.

Christiane, talk to us about what "The Observer" newspaper is now reporting. One of the priests in his 20s, in the '80s, accuses O'Brien of inappropriate approach and action on his behalf. What are we talking about?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, this is, you know, been reported by "The Observer" newspaper in England and talking about these four priests, three were priests, one was a clergy member, over a period of years that stretched back for a long, long time, to the '80s.

Now, it has to be said that Cardinal O'Brien vigorously denies this and is considering -- or is now taking legal counsel. And he has, as you know, decided to not come to Rome for the conclave. Now, many here would say that was a wise decision.

The pope today decided to accept O'Brien's resignation. He had to resign because of his age, and he did so several months ago. But often popes allow certain priests to carry on for a period of months before they have to step down. In any event, his resignation was accepted. He's not coming. His own web site, the Church of Scotland, has said that he would rather not be the focus of attention here. The attention should be on Pope Benedict and his last few days. So that's the situation at the moment.

MALVEAUX: Christiane, do we understand what he's actually been accused of? AMANPOUR: You know, it's this murky, murky description of inappropriate sexual misconduct, inappropriate sexual relationships. So we don't really know more than that. These people have not come forward publicly. And details of their allegations have not been made public.

Now, the question is -- and I just spoke to a former clergyman who's done a lot of reporting on this -- why now? It appears that a lot of it has to do with both O'Brien's resignation and potentially the resignation of Pope Benedict, that they wanted to get these allegations out and in the open around this time so that, you know, some statute or the other doesn't expire. Obviously, so much more investigation needs to be done into these allegations. But what is known about Cardinal O'Brien, apart from the fact that he denies all this, is that he was very publicly anti-homosexual. He spoke very publicly against that, including against homosexual adoptions.

But also one of the news-making interviews he gave just recently before these allegations were reported in the London "Observer" is that he felt it was time to start talking about marriage for catholic priests. As you know, in the catholic faith they are meant to be celibate. We're not sure if there's any connection with how that came out publicly, but that's something he made public in an interview not so long ago.

MALVEAUX: Is there any talk about how this might impact Pope Benedict's own legacy here? I mean, he was the first one who acknowledged, apologized to the victims of sexual abuse, that he met with those victims. Is this going to taint his legacy or do you think this is going to basically clear out and make room for the next pope, you know, not without a record?

AMANPOUR: Well, Suzanne, as you rightly say, Pope Benedict XVI did make several firsts, the apologies, the attempt for more transparency, the attempt for more accountability for these serial sexual abusers, frankly, committing not just sins but crimes against children that date back generations. So, he did tackle this publicly.

However, the criticism has been that it's certainly not gone far enough. As you know, senior cardinals are still being questioned about this. Just last week Cardinal Dolan of New York was deposed about what happened in Milwaukee, you know, when all these children from a deaf school were abused by a priest called Father Murphy. The archbishop of Los Angeles, Mahoney, was deposed over the weekend about shielding and covering up. Again, scores and scores of abusers. So it doesn't seem to end, this scandal.

And clearly people do believe it will taint the legacy of the pope because here it is happening in the full light of mass communications, social media, accountability, much more trend towards transparency in the world, and yet the Vatican has not been able to fully hold these abusers accountable and give the kind of transparency and the kind of redress the victims demand.

MALVEAUX: Christiane Amanpour.

Thank you, Christiane. Appreciate it.

Another story, they're out sailing but their boat reportedly sank. Now four people, including two young kids are now missing. The search off the coast of California.

And then he is accused, believe it or not, of plotting to kill and cook women. The trial begins in the so-called "Cannibal Cop" case. We'll have the very latest straight ahead.

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MALVEAUX: The Coast Guard is searching for a couple and two children in the waters off San Francisco. They radioed in after their 29-foot sailboat began taking on water Sunday afternoon. It's about 65 miles from Monterey Bay. An hour later, they had abandoned ship and the Coast Guard lost communication with them.

Want to bring in Dan Simon, who's in San Francisco.

What do we know about where they are? Do with have any idea? Does the Coast Guard know?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Suzanne. We're at a Coast Guard sector in San Francisco. This is where the search is being coordinated.

Let me tell you the latest information we have. We know there are about 65 miles west of Monterey. That's apparently according to the Coast Guard listening to the radio transition and trying to sort of isolate where this family is. We're talking about a husband, a wife, their 4-year-old son and a cousin. At this point, there's an all-out search to try to find this family. They have helicopter, above looking, for them, boats on the water.

I want to bring in Petty Officer Pam Boehland from the Coast Guard.

You've heard some radio transmissions from the father, who radioed in yesterday afternoon at 4:30, then again at 5:30. How did he sound? What did he say about their condition?

PAMELA BOEHLAND, PETTY OFFICER, U.S. COAST GUARD: He contacted the Coast Guard at 4:30. He sounded relatively calm, considering the fact they were taking on water and they had children on board. He sounded like he wasn't -- panic hadn't set in. He contacted the Coast Guard several times. Each time we learned a little more about the situation. And then the last transition we got from them, he still sounded pretty calm. They had to abandon ship. That was the last thing we heard from them and it's been an all-out search ever since.

SIMON: What struck me is that they apparently had no life jackets on board. They were trying to apparently make a make-shift like preserver using a foam cooler and maybe an inner tube, something like that. That's obviously not the way you want to be prepared.

BOEHLAND: Certainly. We always tell sailors that every time you get under way, even in the San Francisco Bay, have you to do everything you can to prepare for the worst case scenario. So, life jackets, life rafts, flares, emergency position radio, beacon radio. They had a radio on board, which was good for them to contact us so we could start the search, but they didn't -- they didn't have a life raft, so they had to improvise. Now we're trying to find four people who are -- we don't even know if they made it onto that make-shift life raft.

SIMON: What happened specifically with this boat? Were they out in high seas or did they run into some rocks? What happened?

BOEHLAND: They were out about 68 miles or so off the coast, so the weather was pretty rough yesterday, as it most always is in the Pacific. It's always rough and always cold. They started taking on water. Their boat was disabled. They started taking on water. Eventually, the water became too much for them and their electronics failed, their GPS failed, and they decided it was best to abandon ship.

SIMON: Petty Officer, thanks very much.

So, Suzanne, the search still going on. Again, we don't know if they were out for some sort of leisurely outing or if they were going from point A to point B, if they live somewhere else. But we know that there is an all-out effort to see if they can find them.

Back to you.

MALVEAUX: I hope they're OK.

Thank you, Dan. Appreciate it.

This is a pretty weird, gross story. This guy is being called "cannibal cop." Today, he's going on trial in New York. Prosecutors say Gilberto Valle's smile disguises a sinister crime. Police say he collected information and pictures of 100 women, conspired with another guy to kidnap, murder and eat one of them, allegedly part of something that involved a violent sexual fantasy.

Want to bring in Deb, who is covering the story.

Deb, what do we know about what this was all about?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's fascinating. Right now, prosecutors are inside this courthouse, basically laying out their case in opening arguments. They say this wasn't sexual fetish or fantasy, this was an actual conspiracy in which the former NYPD officer conspired with others, both in the United States and elsewhere, to cannibalize women, not only to kidnap and torture them but then to eat them. And the conversations, extremely graphic.

Valle is a six-year veteran of the NYPD. He's facing charges of that conspiracy. He's also facing another charge of accessing, illegally accessing a computer to develop in-depth profiles of several of these women.

Defense will lay out will lay out their opening, saying this is exaggerated, nothing more than a dark fetish. Yes, is it disturbing, but they say there was no evidence ever to suggest that it was going to go from talk to operation to actually taking place.

And right now, prosecutors addressing the jury. And the prosecutor even apologized, Suzanne, saying, look, we are sorry, the evidence you're going to hear is very, very disturbing.

And this all came to light when the police officer's wife, apparently very suspicious about what he was doing online at night, decided to track his movements, and that's when she came upon these sites and the conversations he was having with these other people, the conspiracy, the alleged conspiracy. But apparently he had compiled files on at least 100 different women. And 10 of whom were known both to the officer and though knew him -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: So, Deb, just to be clear, this is a trial where there was a plan, alleged plot to do this, that this did not actually take place, is that true?

FEYERICK: No, it didn't. That's a very important distinction you make, Suzanne. One thing you're hearing prosecutors say is that these were real women. This was a real conspiracy. But there's only one count, one conspiracy to kidnap charge, basically, and one for illegally accessing a computer.

I'll tell you, Suzanne, that courtroom is actually packed, packed with prosecutors, packed with spectators, packed with members of the media. But, again, two counts, was it real or was it just a fantasy? That's what's going to have to be proven.

MALVEAUX: Wow. What a weird, weird case.

Deb, thank you. Really appreciate it.

This guy, of course, back in the spotlight, Notre Dame Linebacker Manti Te'o. Why he's now asking NFL teams to judge his skills, not his personal life.

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MALVEAUX: Manti Te'o's future, of course, the NFL. But the problem, his recent past, the scandal over his fake girlfriend. It's got some people wondering if the teams want to invest millions of dollars in the player. He's showing his talents for the NFL this week, trying to explain as well what happened.

Our Rachel Nichols is there in Indianapolis for the week-long showcase of NFL talent there.

Great to see you. How he is handling all of this?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Yes, you know, Suzanne, it is interesting. He's on the field right now doing the drills that really are the benchmark for most players that teams use to decide whether to draft him. Nerve wracking stuff for most players. And he ran a little slower than people expected.

For him, as important as the drills are, they're really child's play compared to the press conference he gave here on Saturday. Now, it was just 15 minutes, but it was the first time he met the media en masse since this whole scandal. And a lot of teams said they were looking at that more closely than even the carefully controlled one on one interviews he's given because this is really under pressure, unpredictable and the reviews afterward have been pretty good. I spoke or texted with personnel people on several teams and they said they were impressed with the way he took responsibility for himself, they were impressed with his confidence.

Take a listen to how he sounded a couple of days ago.

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MANTI T'EO, NOTRE DAME, LINEBACKER: It is definitely embarrassing. You walking through a grocery store and people are staring at you, that's embarrassing. And it's -- I guess part of the process, part of the journey. But, you know, it is only going to make me stronger and it definitely has.

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NICHOLS: Now, you see that growth that he's talking about. That's going to be a big message from him. It is what teams want to hear. You've had a lot of teams like the Carolina Panthers say that as long as he seems like he's learned from this experience, they don't se that his draft stock is going to fall at all.

Remember, NFL teams are asked to consider players with all kinds of off field scenarios, some much more serious than this -- DUIs, domestic-battery situations. The general manager of the New York Giants, as he put it, I've seen people with a lot more issues than his issue.

The real question is, how does this affect NFL teams going forward, the way they look at everybody? We had teams like the Minnesota Vikings say the Te'o scandal made them change the way they consider social media. They're going to start pouring through player's Twitter and Facebook pages, looking to form a more complete picture of who they are when they decide whether to draft them.

And, Suzanne, you know college kids everywhere get that message from companies. You don't have to be a future NFL prospect to know you got to be a little more careful these days.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. A lesson learned there. Good lesson.

Rachel, welcome to CNN. Thanks. Good to see you as always.

NICHOLS: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: So if you didn't stay to see the very end of the Oscars, you missed a surprise guest presenter. Watch this.

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MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: And now for the moment we have all been waiting for. And the Oscar goes to "Argo."

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OBAMA: Congratulations!

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MALVEAUX: This was a first. First Lady Michelle Obama live from the White House announced the best picture Oscar winner. The award, of course, she said went to "Argo," a good film -- saw it myself -- about the daring rescue of six American diplomats from Iran during the Carter administration.

And for the red carpet winners, losers, watch Piers Morgan tonight 9:00 p.m. eastern, all things Oscar.

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MALVEAUX: Parents, listen up. There are more restrictive guidelines on how to deal with your kids' ear infections. Doctors hope that they'll reduce the amount of antibiotics being unnecessarily prescribed to kids. The new guidelines say pediatricians should not be quick to use antibiotics if a child only has a mild infection. They say infection could get better before the antibiotics even start working.

More changes to come. The Internet giant, Yahoo!, employees working at home, going to have to come now into the office or quit.

Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.

That's a huge change, Alison, for a lot of people staying at home and it is, you know, a lifestyle, get to work, take care of the kids, that kind of thing. There must be a huge reaction.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There is. So, yes, this is stemming from the fact that there is really no secret that Yahoo! needs serious changes. And sometimes the best way to get a company turned around on the outside is to, you know, change the internal culture. It sends a signal inside and out that things are going to be different and the old way is not going to fly anymore.

Now what we have is a private internal memo that is all over the Internet. Originally, it was leaked to the tech news website, All Things D. I want to show you part of it. It says, "Communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side by side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings."

Of course, there is a big downside to this. It will change a lot of people's lives who work there. People will probably quit. At this point, Yahoo! really needs to cut costs. It may not really mind seeing unproductive employees wind up giving themselves their own pink slips. This could wind up working out for Yahoo! in the end.

MALVEAUX: But, Alison, what about the people working at home, they have kids, you know? They're trying to balance their lives a little bit. That must be pretty frustrating.

KOSIK: It is. That's why, if you look online, there is a harsh negative response on Twitter from Yahoo! employees and sympathizers. The new CEO of Yahoo! is really taking a lot of heat from this. There are accusations of her taking this sort of in a way of feminism, going backwards.

But you also have to remember this is actually coming from the woman who took only two weeks for her maternity leave, so that work-life balance, the bar is already pretty high. So she's taken only two weeks, she's setting a precedent that if you want to work, you got to come into the office if you want to work for Yahoo!.

MALVEAUX: You have to work work.

Alison, thank you. Appreciate it.

This story, apparently, Americans have one too many at the bar. A new government study finds that 18 percent of men, 11 percent of women, drink more alcohol than federal guidelines actually recommend. Government recommends Americans limit themselves to two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. Interesting detail here, the heaviest male drinkers are in their 30s. While the heaviest female drinkers in their 50s and 60s.

And also, want to end with this. Women, ruling the world. South Korea has a new leader and, for the first time, it is now a woman. She joins a small but elite group of female heads of state around the world. There are only 18 other female presidents or prime ministers out of almost 200 countries. The most well known, Germany's Angela Merkel, Australia's Julia Gillard and women also ruling in India, Liberia, Argentina and at least a dozen other countries.

That does it for us. CNN NEWSROOM continues.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Blackmail, sex, scandal. Allegations involving the Catholic Church swirl as the pope gets ready to leave.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.