even with the pain ♪ ♪ i'll tell you one thing we ain't gonna change love ♪ ♪ the sun still rises even through the rain ♪ ♪ can we go on like it once was ♪ ♪ can we go on like it once was ♪ ♪ everybody feels a little crazy ♪

♪ (can we go on) (like it once was) ♪ ♪ everybody feels a little crazy ♪ ♪ (can we go on) (like it once was) ♪ ♪ can we go on like it once was ♪ >> tonight on "nightline." taken. one woman's journey to find her son, taken from her by the catholic church and given for adoption. it's an ongoing saga. "nightline's" cynthia mcfadden

talks to the real life philomena. tonight, we meet the pope. can. >> extreme parenting. would you encourage your 8-year-old to do this? ? or this? pressuring kids to win at any cost. the parents and coaches pushing pea wees to dangerous limits. >> i don't care if you don't get up. let's go. and olympic outrage. just one day away from opening ceremonies, shaun white dropped out of an hotel event due to a dangerous course. and hotels that are anything but accommodating. is russia ready for its closeup?

>> good evening. and thanks for joining us. imagine 60,000 babies taken from their mothers by the kath lidge church and given up for adoption, often to the united states and for a shocking price. this story didn't originate on the silver screen, but one woman's struggle to find her child is now the subject of an oscar-nominated film "philomena." cynthia mcfadden traveled with the real life philomena to the heart of the catholic church, the vatican, looking for answers. >> i am very honored to meet you. >> reporter: you might as well say this moment has been more than 50 years in the making. as the two welcomed eye, both committed catholics, trying to reconcile one dark chapter in the church's history. >> holy father, it's a pleasure to meet you. we were right there. philo a's real story and journey, now the subject of

film. the latest chapter started 48 hours ago, with her daughter jane and the movie's writer and co-star as they made their way to rome at the invitation of the vatican. >> have you figured out what you're going to say? >> reporter: her mission to find closure for herself and help explain why 60,000 children, including her own son, were taken from their unwed irish mothers and sent by the catholic church to be adopted, many by u.s. families. often for a price. the movie tells the story of a naive 18-year-old philomena who lost her mother at 6 and then became a mother herself long before she was ready. >> did you take your knickers down? answer sister hildegard. did you take them down? >> yes. >> i dependent know what pregnant was, of course. >> did you feel ashamed? >> i was frightened out of my

life. i couldn't tell you, when she said you're going to have a baby. i thought oh, my god in heaven. i didn't know how this baby was going to come out, you know? >> you literally didn't know how you were going to deliver the baby? >> no, dear, no. >> her family sent her away to have the baby in a home for unwed mothers. >> it was a very bad birth. it was a breech birth. >> don't let them put the baby in the ground. it's cold in there. it's dark in there. >> i thought i was going to die. >> no medicine? >> no medicine whatsoever. you just get on with it. you suffer for your sins? >> is that what you were told? you suffer from your sins? >> after you have your baby, you have to stay in the abby for four years in order to thank the sister for taking you then? >> was it just. but then you just got on with it. we thought well, we commissioned a sin, very grievous sin, having

a baby out of wedlock as we were told. signed a paper to say we would allow them to be adopted. where else could i go? can you find us a job outside where we can take the babies? no, you can't. you've got to stay here until the baby is adopted. >> and that is what happened. one of the film's most heart wrenching scenes, without letting her say goodbye, philomena watches helplessly as her son is adopted and taken to america. >> oh, my god, i tell you. i was in pieces. you know? i just couldn't -- that little face looking out of the back of the car. >> steve kugen read an article about philomena and the sel

self-described lapse catholic decided to tell the story in a film. >> it made me angry. it made me cry. . >> as for the casting of judi dench -- >> whoever you ask in the production, they claim it's their idea. >> because it was such a good one. >> i think i would like to go. >> there are about three scenes in the film where there's very little dialogue. it's just on judi's face. and it's all about her thoughts. her private pain. and it's very powerful, but you can only pull that off if you have an actor with great charisma. >> kugen played a journalist who helps philomena find her son. >> her faith throughout is a very moving aspect of the film. the character you play, the journalist is very cynical and skeptical and sometimes even funny about all of it. i think she thinks what happened to her was wrong, but she's not filled with hatred.

>> well, she has a, i call it a serenity and a grace. but i don't want to seem like she's st. bernadette or anything. she's a very down to earth. he learns from her continued faith. >> did you feel that you were ever going to be able to live down the shame? or had the shame just taken -- >> i didn't. i didn't. for years i still had the shame. for years and years and years. that's why i think i kept it a secret for so long without telling my daughter and my son. i kept it for 50 years. 50 years. i think there's so many women in the same situation as me. >> reporter: so you were in your late 60s before your told your own family. >> i was getting on for 70 before i told anyone pop. >> reporter: so it was the desire to find him? >> i was desperate to find him. desperate. >> reporter: despite all the nuns took away from her,

philomea refuses to hate. >> you can't go through life being so angry. you've got to forgive. you just have to forgive. >> reporter: perhaps her forgiveness made another extraordinary event possible today. the film was screened at the vatican as part of a push called the philomena project, to open adoption records in ireland. >> i'm getting the royal treatment. i feel like the pope. >> reporter: they laughed at the jokes, but they also got the message. >> i did not abandon my child. >> reporter: although the pope himself did not attend, he did send one of his closest personal advisers standing next to francis when he was elected hope. >> is your presence here today a signal from the church? from the hope? >> of course. the pope, he knows that i'm here. >> reporter: do you see the pope intervening in some way to make the records available? of. >> i think. >> reporter: you do think so?

>> i think so. >> reporter: to open the records would be a sea change for hundreds of thousands of mother and children trying to find each other, who the nuns refused to help. openness would be an indication this hope want pope wants heali. >> what was it like to screen the film? >> i thought it was very emotional. and it was -- it was a very big gesture for the church to do this. >> i tried to stop the tears coming down. it was very emotional to see it again. >> reporter: do you think your voice was heard today? >> i think so. i think they were really listening. >> she's spent his whole life trying to find him. >> sometimes the film can open hearts and minds in a way nothing else can. sometimes one 81-year-old woman's story can change the world. for "nightline," i'm cynthia mcfadden in vatican city. >> our thanks to cynthia mcfadden. for more on the philomena project, go to our website at

abc news.com/nightline. up next for us, would you let your kid do this? and the 2014 winter olympics are about to begin. is russia ready for the spotlight? so i get invited to quite a few family gatherings. heck, i saved judith here a fortune with discounts like safe driver, multi-car, paperless. you make a mighty fine missus, m'lady. i'm not saying mark's thrifty. let's just say, i saved him $519, and it certainly didn't go toward that ring. am i right? [ laughs ] [ dance music playing ] so visit progressive.com today. i call this one "the robox." [ female announcer ] if you're struggling with bipolar depression, there are treatment options. ask your doctor if once a day latuda, lurasidone hcl,

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>> you're about to enter a world of pea wee sports that's far more intense than you might expect. in fact, some of these moves aren't even allowed in the nfl. two coaches have just been suspended after new video raised serious questions about parenting, safety and what's okay in the name of victory. many parents think their kids are getting good life skills this way, but when do they cross that proverbial line? >> it's called friday night tights a pea wee reality show that's a little too real. >> don't give me that soft crap. >> pint sized players encouraged by players and coaches to

toughen up, play like pros. these are third grader, 8 and 9 years old. >> quit crying. there's no reason to cry, dude. >> it's hard watching the show. it feels like you're watching child abuse. >> the show has caused a firestorm because of behavior like this. a coach cursing. another coach pushing his players to do things the nfl has banned. >> i want you put it in his helmet. you understand? i don't care if you don't get up. let's go. >> the coaches were both suspended. the question now, is this kind of coaching and sideline parenting just tough love? >> parents should definitely step up to a coach who is doing the wrong thing. it only takes a few bad coaches to cause some emotional, physical challendamage to a chi. >> it has to do with a child

wanting to compete than grooming the next entertainers and athletes. kids don't need con b tact at that level. they don't need to be banging heads. they need to be solving problems with their hands and their feet. and they can be introduced to contact in a more thoughtful kind of way. >> the question of how hard to push the youngest of players is as old as the game. and not just the game of football. this is from an old peter jennings report about little league baseball. >> you let me down. you did. i don't give a [ bleep ] what you do, you let me down. i don't care if you play 100%. i'll get you, buddy. >> more recently, we've seen controversial coaching in youth basketball in the documentary "little ballers." >> the next time you throw a temper tantrum, take off your uniform and go back to the hotel

and stay there. >> that full throated passion part of the cowl chur of sports in this country, lampooned in movies like "kicking and screaming." and celebrated by the original hockey mom herself, sarah palin in 2008. >> they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull -- lipstick. >> these third graders are being coached to drive men any monster trucks. even learning to ride bulls. so the full contact coaching and friday night tights are in good company. abusive behavior cost a rutgers basketball coach his job. encouraging brutal hits led to the suspension of one of the coaches of the new orleans saints. some of the parents depend the coaches on the show, saying they're not just sugar coating it for the kids.

>> sometimes the coaches can be rough and they're trying to bring out the best in the kids. they see the potential. they know when to push and when to pat on the back or the shoulder. and they've got great relationships working with the boys and with other coaches. >> then again, that same mom can be seen on the show demonstrating some pretty tough love herself. >> you can do this. you're stronger than this. don't you stop. >> i would be very concerned with what parents are doing and what the coaches are doing, because in some ways, it is bullying. there are situations where kids don't want to do some of these things that they're being told to do and don't know any better. and here are the coaches, here are the parents pushing them to do things that may be unethical or mean or aggressive. and that's going to translate into bull piing behaviors on the part of these children when they are in another arena, a more social arena away from the athletics. >> the two coaches, now benched, admit they were over the line.

>> i'm definitely apologetic for that. it was a bone head moment, a bad decision on my part but it was part of the passion that i have for the game. lacking back on what happened and what was recorded, it was not good. you don't realize what you say sometimes in the heat of the passion of what you're trying to pass on. and it's tough to bring words back after they're recorded and displayed. >> don't stop! >> in other words, they got carried away. >> i guarantee you i'll bury you if you do it. i guarantee it! in the wide world of sports these days is par for the course. i'm david wright for night lieng in new york. >> our thanks to david wright. up next for us, people have gathered in russia from around the world for the winter olympics. but they're facing bad conditions. and we're not just talking about the weather. ♪

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the 2014 winter olympics are t minus one day away and counting at sochi. so what could possibly go wrong in russia? security concerns at an all-time high as millions flock to the olympic host city. the latest threat -- toothpaste bombs. department of homeland security is warning those flying into russia to look out for toothpaste tubes that could be filled with ingredients to make a bomb aboard a plane. olympic star power, already dimming. two-time olympic gold medallist shaun white withdrawing from an event after jamming his wrist yesterday. white said the consensus from everyone is that there are changes that need to be made. now they're scrambling to make 11th hour changes to the slope style snowboarding course. but it's not just the athletes facing tough conditions. the international press corps, documenting disastrous

situations awaiting them at their hotels. an upside down universe where water is undrinkable. toilet paper, unflushable. and door handles and lightbulbs are luxury amenities that are hard to come by. an inprom tu bartering system has sprung up, but there's precious little to use for currency. we're betting a honey packet complete with a bee in it won't get that lightbulb. >> how did that bee get into that packet? i guess it's better than finding something else. i think. be sure to join us as we take you inside an only in america faith-fuelled showdown. we're there with our cameras as two well known and controversial figures and their respective fans faced off over creationism versus evolution in a heated debate. that's tomorrow night on "nightline." thanks to dan harris. thank you for watching abc news. "world news now" is coming up soon with overnight breaking news. tune into good morning america

tomorrow. and as always, we're online at abc news.com.