this is d.w. news live from berlin and pope francis kicks off his visit to the baltic states in lithuania right now francis is holding a mass from tens of thousands of catholic faithful encounters later he'll pay tribute to holocaust victims of the vilnius gets her memorial we'll go live to our correspondent there for more also coming up. a precarious homecoming coffee years in lebanon it's now safe enough for some syrian refugees to return home we'll see how one family is struggling to rebuild lives that were interrupted by years of war

. also coming up one of the world's biggest parties is in full swing right here in germany. in its annual big festival total says just kicked off in the very in capital flows show you some of the fun from opening day. i'm rebecca rate is good to have you with us. pope francis is in lithuania for the first stop on a four day tour of the baltic countries he's visiting the three nations as they mock the one hundredth anniversary of their independence from russia following world war one the pope is urging them to draw on their past experiences with oppression to speak up the tolerance in europe. a warm welcome on the streets of it yes. a greeting that comes with the shadow of recent sex abuse scandals in the

catholic church looming large but pope francis has traveled to lithuania to deliver a different message one of solidarity at a time when europe's migration crisis and the rise of populist governments is highlighting deep differences in the e.u. . the. more and more voices are sowing division and confrontation often by exploiting insecurity or situations of conflict and proclaiming that the only way possible to guarantee security and the continued existence of a culture is to try to eliminate council or expel others here lithuanians have a role to play by instead welcoming differences through dialogue openness and understanding you can become a bridge between eastern and western europe. is the point of the message sparked plenty of discussion among lithuanians. in

general were taller and and will receive migrants as we have a juicy to do so when chording to the quota. holds on to one carry ons are refusing to receive migrants but we're fulfilling our. i'm not against migrants some quotas should probably be introduced or the number of people coming should be limited somehow but we definitely can take in a certain number of people and we can increase the quota i want lithuania to be more open. to. the pope also visited vilnius cathedral where he met clergy and local religious leaders. he'll spend two days in lithuania before continuing on to latvia and estonia. well for more i'm joined by constantine fun agate a political analyst and journalist in vilnius is following the pontiff's visit constantine today is also the seventy fifth anniversary of the near extermination

of lithuania is jewish community during the holocaust how does that fit in with the pope's message that it's a very well rebecca it actually continues on he's a seam of being a welcoming strangers that he develops yesterday and i think it's a very significant thing also because all three baltic states struggling with their memories of the holocaust because elements of local population to parts in hounding and eventually extermination of jews in the three baltic states and this is a day full memory which decides it is a relatively successful at trying to tackle but there is still there the think the pope's message fits here very well and modernizes if you push these memories makes them relevant to society. well the baltic states were all my old so once an expired the soviet union and the catholic church they would have been persecuted does the catholic church have

a large following with the white house. yes but he is the largest catholic country in northern europe actually probably the only well we didn't say seventy five percent to seventy seven percent of the population identifies catholics as in many posts a communist society is well if the site is emerging from communism status very frequently tightly linked to cultural identity attendances are lower than in neighboring pulled in but once you know you've seen these pictures of this williams welcoming the poke you see that the face is still there and in many respects it's a very very religious a compared to may bring the story out which ranks among the least really just countries in europe probably close to the majority at least right now he or in germany the influential magazine dish beagle has a cover story this week focused on the church sex abuse scandal its title yvel shalt not lie attacking the pope's handling of the abuse crisis is this trip into

the baltic regions a break away from all of that very much so rebecca i think that's here this scandal wasn't. big news at all let me let me put it like that to some extent because people here see the church differently as you rightly mention it's been persecuted i would say nearly eliminated in the soviet union and people still feel that the church is a kind of beacon of trust in all public opinion polls the church tops the list of institutions that the twentieth trust and i think that because of this tragic pops people at ten tend to give more if you wish to be more forgiving of the church and also because church struck just didn't exist until pretty much didn't exist yet until the early ninety's or the late eighty's there is much less if you wish to count on sort of a war much less basis for this debate because just that is such a short history of modern catholicism in in the territory of the twentieth.

journalist and political analyst constantine vonnegut in vilnius lithuania thank you you thank. now to some of the other stories making news around the world an indian bishop accused of raping a nun has been refused bail and order to remain in custody to face questioning bishop franco miller was arrested in southern carolla state after the pope suspended him from office has denied the accusations. the woman who is accused u.s. supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual assault has agreed to testify in front of a senate panel lawyers for christine blasi ford is said to be negotiating the conditions of her testimony the committee had earlier delayed a vote on cavanagh's confirmation. in the mold eaves police have raided the campaign office of the opposition presidential candidate a day before the election the move comes amid

a government crackdown raising fears that the vote will be rigged in favor of current president ability i mean observers have denounced a repressive campaign and lack of transparency. with the syrian government preparing to retake the last major rebel stronghold of it live there are signs the country's civil war could be entering its final stages the war drove hundreds of thousands of syrians to seek refuge in neighboring lebanon after years often three years now beirut wants them to return home to areas that have been deemed safe for one returning syrian family the last five years has been a struggle on both sides of the border. the small village of beit jr knew the lebanese border is home to mechanic mohamed. he returned to just a month ago he was forced to leave in two thousand and thirteen when fighting broke out between the syrian army and the opposition. well when we left because of the

armed groups my wife my children and i were able to escape when i opened a garridge in lebanon and before. that at least buckeye and his son malik found work in lebanon on many syrians don't the country is small and expensive syrians there also usually earn significantly less than the locals. it was tough we couldn't really live in lebanon comfortably we decided to come back but. the high cost of living and the low wages weren't the only reasons they left lebanon on after five long years. most people respected us but some kept telling us you're taking away our work in the field. his former house was badly damaged during the war now his family has to live in rented accommodation but they aren't complaining so it's

a wonderful feeling i can't explain it now we are here again in my village after all that's happened this is still my home if you travel or forced to flee as a refugee there's only one place you can call home. but just eleven years of age their daughter has lived almost half her life in lebanon now she's starting a new adventure joining classes at the local school. on the first day of school i was really happy that i knew friends at school different friends than those i had in lebanon. from our harvard it's not an easy restart he doesn't know who damaged his former house whether syrian government forces or rebel fighters for mohammed it's an important he's looking to the future. it's difficult to see my house like this but we're determined to rebuild it despite everything we're in god's hands and god willing and new house will stand here in

the coming year. along with others who have returned mohammed wants to bring life back to the village he once again calls home. now many t.v. stations around the world hand out a goal of the month award in football the likes of lionel messi mo salah and christiana rinaldo are serial winners but in germany a addie's t.v. t.v.'s goal of the month for august was not awarded to a megastar instead for the first time it was given to a blind for paula. settled chill of the dribbles of the ball close to his foot for half the pitch and then fires into the net for sam paoli. because that was in the book i'm just i'm postulating that i realised i had beaten a couple of players but i didn't know the goal was that great. in blind football football is extra heavy and it makes a noise so players can hear it. for outfield players and the psyche don't keep

a player on the team not many fans watch live football normally but celebrities goal of the month victory has given the sport valuable publicity the player himself was given a medal and a certificate in braille war footing that was a goal for blind football the sport and the whole of society i congratulate you and present your certificate it is doing. so that he was born in turkey but has lived for twenty years in germany he went blind as a teenager following a detached retina. what is more not all of the month of august twenty eighth being certain. it's good for the not for the young men of the shoulders a month is one for the history books and in january i enter the running for goal of the year another chapter awaits a chance at which blind football hopes will lead to even more recognition in the future. the world's largest beer festival the october

first is now officially underway here in germany in the bavarian capital munich some seven million liters of brew are expected to flow at the two the two week celebration the event attracts revelers from all over the world. oh. my oh my oh soft is he cries it's tapped in english the start of the one hundred eighty fifth october fast as announced by munich's mayor. and as tradition demands he's joined by various state premier mike. there's no shortage of pomp and ceremony at the start of the festival both inside. and outside the beer tents. an estimated six million locals and tourists are expected to descend on munich for the festivities which run for sixteen days and for many they have only one thing on

their mind. and very rarely to get a ten in trick all day lots of beer lots a month off in this mode of hopefully this year there won't be any problems it'll be nice to see the hill over there not used as a toilet i just want a festival to be quiet and peaceful. and to ensure that peace and quiet some six hundred police officers and hundreds of stewards will keep order at the fenced off fairgrounds. once inside revelers can enjoy some tasty german sausages. and did i mention the beer. october fest runs until october seventh. a lot of fun they have there and the shotgun is latest show follows after the break with saturday's highlights including by munich's trip to the last season runners up.

could the champions inflict a fourth defeat out of four on the royal blue find out shortly chris hansen. you're watching daily news from berlin wall coming up the top of the hour and don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock on our web site at state w dot com thanks for joining me. they make a commitment. they find. a shorter. africa .