Women Ask Pope to Change Celibacy Rules for Priests
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You put them up, you put them down, so did the guy who was sitting down there before you, and before them and before them. MRSA can live for five days -- five days -- on a window shade, and MRSA is the antibiotic-resistant type of bacteria. A leather seat, MRSA can live for six days. And a tray table, MRSA can live for five days, and a particularly vicious kind of E. coli can live for three days. So it's just something that airlines actually were behind this study, and passengers need to know about it, and just not to freak out, but to keep it in mind.</s>BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You often wonder, because you're sitting at the gate, right, and some folks are late coming off the plane before, and you want to get on that plane, places to go, people to see. And so you often think about that little window in between, how much time and how thoroughly are they really cleaning that plane before you hop on? What, if anything, can we as passengers do about it?</s>COHEN: You know, it's actually really quite simple. You can carry around some wipes, alcohol-based wipes, and you just rub down those surfaces. So rub down everything near you, like the tray table and the arm rest between you and the next person. It's really very, very easy. Now I want to say that we did reach out to airlines, because we were wondering about their cleaning habits. And we heard back from Delta. And they said that they clean all their surfaces thoroughly every day. And they said, you know, we are so interested in -- we want to know about what's going on on our planes, that we actually gave the Auburn University researchers our armrests and our tray tables and our window shades, so that they could grow this bacteria. So, you know, you have to give it to them, that they actually encouraged and supported this research. They want to know what's going on, too.</s>BALDWIN: Good for them. And I was just looking at your video, wondering what your seatmate was thinking as you're scrubbing down your tray table. I think I'd probably be thinking, can I have one?</s>COHEN: That's exactly what he was thinking. He asked me if he could borrow some, so you.</s>BALDWIN: I'd be like, what does she know that I don't? Elizabeth Cohen, thank you and stay clean, to all of us. Thank you.</s>COHEN: Thank you.</s>BALDWIN: Forget the real housewives of Atlanta, Orange County, how about real secret lovers of priests? Yes, there was a group of 26 women who say they are in love with, or already in relationships with Catholic priests. They have written specifically to Pope Francis, asking him to please change the rules of celibacy, and that letter was published in La Stampa newspaper's Vatican Insider Web site. So let's take you to Rome to Barbie Nadeau. She is the Rome bureau chief for "The Daily Beast. And, Barbie, let me just quote some of what these women were saying here in this letter specifically. They said, 'We love these men. They love us. And in most cases, despite all efforts to renounce it, one cannot manage to give up such a solid and beautiful bond. "Unfortunately, this brings with it all the pain of not being able to live it fully. This continuous giving and then letting go is soul destroying." Wow. Is there really any chance that the pope might be moved by their letter and their plea?</s>BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, ROME BUREAU CHIEF, "THE DAILY BEAST": Well, I think it's very highly unlikely this pope at this point, certainly, is going to lift celibacy and allow these priests to make their lovers honest women. But it's very interesting conversation, though. This pope has given interviews in the past about celibacy. He has been put on the record saying that celibacy is not a doctrine al issue, it's a discipline, which means he could lift it. But there's a huge logistical problem. If they allow priests to marry, there's not an infrastructure in place for all these priests. They don't make enough money to support a family. They're living in communal situations, living in churches, things like that. It's not that easy to say, go on and marry your secret lover. But it is interesting, because this topic comes up every few years. You've got women pleading with the pope, pleading with the church saying, we love these men for who they are. They're not asking them to leave the priesthood, they're asking the pope to allow them to be legitimate.</s>BALDWIN: What about flipping the script, we're hearing from the women. Has anyone ever heard, albeit anonymously, from any of the men, any of the priests? How do they feel?</s>NADEAU: Well, of course, if a priest goes to the Vatican and says, I want to make a legitimate relationship with a woman, I want to marry her, he will be defrocked. He can't be a priest if he admits to having a sexual relationship with a woman. Of course, it's got to be up to the women to make this plea. It's unlikely the women will hold any sway with this particular pope. I think what they want more than anything is bring the dialogue to the table, to have the pope -- we talked about it before -- to think about it again. Celibacy is not a very difficult thing in terms of the rules of the church to live. It's just probably not going to happen anytime soon.</s>BALDWIN: OK. Barbie Nadeau, live for us in Rome tonight, thank you so much. Coming up, the powerful story behind this picture, superheroes, and the casket of a 5-year-old boy. Stay with me.