he feels very peaceful with his decision. >> greg burke, live in romement thank you for your insight. >>> we're going to have more ahead on the sudden announcement from pope benedict xvi. we'll get reaction from catholics around the world. a look at scandals during his time at pontiff, and a preview of what's ahead as the church looks for a new pope. all coming up. >> first, we're awaiting an update from a police deadly shooting inside a courthouse today. it happened this morning in loomington, delware. police say three people died in the shooting, including the gunman. two officers were wounded, according to the mayor, the shooter estranged wife was among the dead but police have not confirmed that. sources tell our fox station, wtxf in philadelphia, the shooter father out on parole and was set to appear at a child support hearing today. let's go now to the police news conference for details. >> the identifications of the victims will be released pending the positive identification made by the medical examiner's office and proper notification to the next of kin. so we do not have a t

>> well, i'm joined here by greg burke and george weigel, our vatican analyst.on a very short and trademark humility in a speech in which he says i am just a pilgrim. what a pilgrim and life he has had, george? >> savannah, i was struck and moved by how much of the mileage of that pilgrimage you can see on this man's face. he has really poured himself out for the church. for the church's lord. and you can see that in him. and that is something that i think commands respect. it certainly commands the love and affection of the crowds and catholics around the world. the hpilgrimage has not been a simple or easy one and he's showing the effects. >> a the few moments, greg burke, your thoughts of these scenes? >> sort of like john paul, i have run the race. you know, you get very much the sense of that, he's run the race or carried the cross. i think the timing of the pope's decision is also interesting. now in probably new folk by the time of holy week, very symbolic he's carried the cross to where he can. he said, i'm not abandoning, but obviously, somebody else's

. >> greg burke, who did not get a holiday and will not be getting one for at least the next month or thanks. i'm joined now by carl bernstein, contributor to the daily beast, who co-authored a book about pope john paul and who was here with me in rome when we covered the death of john paul. and carl, it is good to see you. and i'm wondering just about your general reaction now, eight years later, when many people thought this would be a placeholder pope, what are your thoughts today? >> i think that it was worse than a placeholder pope. that the church fell into a kind of morass because of its internal problems and the failure to modernize its institutions, the conclave that elected benedict probably could have seen this coming, it didn't. but the truly revolutionary act of this papacy is the resignation of benedict while he's still somewhat able. it breaks tradition and it's an extraordinary and brave act that perhaps will enable the next conclave to think differently about the future of the church. and i started doing some thinking and going back and looking at modern history of th

the vatican spokesman, greg burke. greg, tell us the back story of this, when you first knew that the pope was even considering taking this momentous step. >> well, all of us knew, but none of us paid a lot of attention two years ago when the pope mentioned in a long interview -- there was a book interview "light of the world" and he mentioned that "pope could resign. he said he hadn't thought about doing it in the moment. it was a very difficult from then, but he said there are occasions when the pope can resign. there are occasions when the pope should resign. that was a couple of years ago, and i think that was a warning bell. i didn't find out please until early this morning. i got a call to come in early, which i did, and i was told about it, and then, of course, it just happened a couple of hours later. it is certainly a surprise because historically it's such a surprise, but knowing cardinal ratzinger, it's not such a surprise. >> greg, what are the next steps from inside the vatican as you begin this extraordin

are sad he is going but respect his decision, according to senior vatican communications adviser greg burke really a courageous move because somebody who was considered such a traditionalist making a decision which goes against six centuries of tradition. >> reporter: benedict will leave vatican city by helicopter at 5:00 p.m. local time on february 28 for castel gandolfo, about 16 miles away. three hours later he will officially go from being the spiritual leader of 1.2 roman catholics to the first living former pope in more than 600 years. but until then, duty calls. alan pizzey, cbs news, vatican city. >> pelley: and that's the cbs evening news for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. captioning sponsored by cbs @ó t >>> the "ncis" connection to the california man hunt's explosive end. >> "e.t." is on the set today. i'm nancy o'dell. >> i'm rob marciano. >> like other people, i've been obsessively glued to the television. >> they've got dorner cornered in a cabin. >> the minute by minuteman manhunt. >> will it be turned into a movie? >>> beyonce up staged

are sad he is going but respect his decision, according to senior vatican communications advisor greg burke this is really a courageous move because somebody who was considered such a traditionalist making a decision which goes against six centuries of tradition. >> reporter: benedict will leave vatican city by helicopter at 5 pm local time on february 28th for castel gandolfo about 16 miles away. three hours later, he will officially go from being the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion roman catholics to the first living former pope in more than 600 years. but until then, duty calls. allen pizzey, cbs news, vatican city. >> and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. >>> good evening, i'm elizabeth cook. >> i'm allen martin. we're going to begin with breaking news out of the south bay where we are piecing together the story of explosive devices found inside a hoarder's house. we have now learned the man who lived on humboldt avenue in santa clara is under arrest for making threats against a prominent bay area politician. kpix 5's

our clerk today is victor young and at sfgtv we have jessie larson and greg burk. mr. young, do you have any announcements for us? >> yes. please turnoff all cell phones and electronic devices. completed speaker cards and any documents to be included as part of the [speaker not understood] should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today will appear on december 4, 2012 supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. >> thank you very much. would you call item 1? >> item 1, resolution approving cellular service equipment sites leases between new cingular wireless pcs, llc nextel of california, inc., and sprint spectrum realty, july 1st, 2009 for the term of five years and approving amendment 1 to the cellular service equipment leases. >> thank you very much for this item. we have cathy wetener from the airport. >> good morning, chair chu, supervisor avalos. [speaker not understood]. the airport is here seeking your retroactive approval for four leases with cingular, sprint-nextel, verizon and t-mobile to continue to provide cellular services to our passengers at cfo

greg burke is the vatican spokesperson and once upon a time he was for many years a fox news correspondentng to you. >> good morning. >> steve: greg, you've been a reporter for a very long time now. you're a spokesman. did you see this coming? >> well, i didn't see it coming, but i warned some people, doing my job for fox a couple years ago issues i said, hey, guys. in one of the pope's own books, he did say this is a possibility. he says if a pope, he didn't refer to himself, but he says if a pope feels that he's not up to the job physically, that he can't do it, it is a very demanding job, then in those cases not only could he resign, but that he should resign. so i don't want to say i wasn't surprised. i certainly was surprised when i found out this morning a little while before everybody else. i was surprised, but i wasn't shocked. >> gretchen: greg, tell us how the role of the pope in this generation may have changed. we spoke to father jonathan a little earlier. he said this hasn't happened because the pope was really sitting in the back room studying the scripture and the bible. but

. >>> okay, let's get more on this now from vatican media adviser greg burke, who is in rome this morning. thanks for joining us, greg. let's begin with more on the pope's health. we learned about the operation on his pacemaker a few months back. the resignation has been in the works for some time. what else can you tell us about the pope's health right now? >> the pope's health right now is what you see. and we'll see him again tomorrow. an 85-year-old who is almost 86, who is starting to slow. essentially, he does have that heart condition. and that wasn't the reason, obviously, for the resignation, however. people have pacemaker batteries replaced all the time. that does happen. but essentially, it's of age. his mind is obviously clear. we saw him talk a couple nights ago off the cuff. he was very, very clear. but it's more in mobility and slowing down a bit. but nothing immediate. there's been rumors of bone cancer, as well. that's certainly not true. nothing immediate. just age catching up with him. >> the pope will be living in the vatican. he'll no longer be pope. he's going to go

>> i asked greg burke that question and history will tell the story, he says.his pope is successful but i spoke to more people out on the street and bringing people into the church because, of course, pope benedict there is aggressive secularism out there and that bringing people is very important. >> having people to return to the church and getting people come back to the church and getting other people to join the faith. >> there you have it. i think we'll be watching this very closely. everybody is speculating on whether it's going to be a pope from the first world, third world, the important thing is that its pope that is charismatic and a pope like this one or some s a globetrotter like the last one remains to be seen. we're waiting for the white smoke. >> shep: most democrats and republicans back home say automatic spending cuts could harm the country but they can't agree on a plan to avoid them. latest from d.c. and plus president obama set to make a major announcement. that is coming up as we approach the bottom of the hour and top of the news as studi

we have greg burke on the phone from vatican city. thank you for being with us on what i know is a busy morning for you. >> good morning. yes, it's a little hectic, straight away. >> the first question is how much of a surprise was this? clearly the pope was not in great health. he had talked about his willingness to step aside if he felt his health was such that he couldn't perform the duties of pope and yet we hear from our producer in rome, real surprise, almost shock at this. >> well, it is a surprise. although i think people had fair warning because it was a few years ago in a book called "light of the world," a book that i suggest to a lot of people, long interview with the german journalist, peter seawald and the journalist asked the pope if he would resign at any time. he said something interesting, because this was in the midst of a scandal and all that stuff. and he said well, now is certainly not the time. it's not a time to run when you're at great risk or in an emergency period. but he said, i do believe there are times w

greg burke has more. >> some of the cardinals are known. but a lot are not. so it's interesting. they get together a few times every year. but it's not like they all know each other really well. so it's actually a very important time. >> so many people showed up to yesterday's service, the police were actually needed to help people get out of st. peter's square safely. >>> still ahead on eyewitness news at 4:00, she hit the top of the country charts before personal problems sidetracked her career. more on the death of mindy mccready. >>> violent television means violent children? a new study about how much television your child should be watching. >>> meteors, road rage, and accidents. why people in russia are obsessed with dash cameras. >>> a beautiful day outside. today, chilly. but the clouds will be returning soon. don't miss your updated first warning weather forecast. people are stuck in very old habits of using toothpaste to clean a denture. but dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can grow and m

he's a theology professor, and he joined us the morning when we were stunned with the news and greg burke, a vatican media adviser. good morning. mr. burke, will we see or hear will we hear, from pope benedict again? >> well we'll hear from pope benedict probably this evening when he arrives at castel gandolfo. he is scheduled to go to the balcony there. there's a courtyard outside the palace, the summer palace where he often goes in the summer to greet people as well so i expect he will say some words there because they're obviously going to be people gathered. it won't be long but he'll certainly say something to them. after that once he comes back here, he will grow to the monastery and it's know coincidence it's a monastery/convent. he does expect to retire from view. we may be able to get photos of him walking in the garden but i don't think we'll hear a lot from pope benedict. >> the first thing the college of cardinals will do after the resignation? >> the first thing is he'll meet and they'll make a decision whether or not they'll move things up. there's been a lot of talk about w

pope again district 16th humble and on during according to greg burke who is now a spokesman with theican he said i'm convinced there are great popes and small popes. he was talking about john paul ii as a great pope and himself as a small pope which is a little bit strange because is he obvious agreat intellectual but he he knew he didn't have either the energy or if you will the pizzazz of john paul ii, the media savvy. he didn't have that. >> bill: not as much pizzazz but pretty snazzy shoes. here is a look at the famous red loafers. is he stepping down at the end of the month because is he not up to doing the job anymore physically, psychologically and spiritually. greg palkot live in london with more. been covering this throughout the day for us now. hey, greg. >> hey, bill. pope benedict xvi leaving just under years at the post. it has been a busy time now and tumultuous for the catholic church and this pope. take a look. >> pope benedict xvi took over as conservative theologians reaffirming traditional values of the church. modern day controversies. former german cardinal josep

. >>> with us on the phone, greg burke, senior adviser.orning. >> did the holy father share this with anybody because it's stunning, to even people inside the vatican. >> he did share with some of the top officials. i got a heads-up this morning. the scheef of staff, the pope's secretary and one other person, the cardinal's secretary of state, they have known for weeks but other than that, it was really, really kept quiet. i found out a couple hours earlier, it was surprise, but maybe not a shock. >> why so quick, the resignation? >> i think it doesn't leave a whole lot of time for confusing the interregnum, what they call the period between two popes. he doesn't want to leave too much time for that. it will be interesting. a couple weeks still. he officially resigns on february 28, to be precise, 8:00 p.m. rome time, and everything happens like a regular conclave, except this time you don't have the nine days of mourning for the pope so they can get off to their regular meetings and as allen pizzey was mentioning, i'm not sure they need a

a crucial inltd rim according to senior adviser greg burke. >> some of the advisers are known. a lot are not. it's interesting. they get together a few times a year, but it's not like they all know each other well. >> reporter: the last time he saw the pope he was hard of hearing, thin, and partially blind in one eye. >> we're joined now from vatican city. good morning. >> reporter: bongiorno, charlie, bongiorno, norah. >> that's a nice start. >> reporter: the official word is we have heard it will be at least 15 20 days before it's deemed restudied right now. it looks like there's a pretty good chance it may be moved up. the reason is since we know exactly when the seat of peter is going to become open and we know that the cardinals are going to be making their way to rome hopefully to be here in time for that day of the 28th then we might as well move it up a little bit and get the ball rolling. >> is there any reason not to move it up? >> reporter: well, one of the benefits of waiting is that it gives the cardinals the opportunity to spend some time together and get to know

. >>> this morning we spoke with greg burke the senior communication adviser to the holy see in rome. we began by asking him how much of a surprise this was? >> it is a surprise. i people think had fair warning. it was a few years ago in a book called "light of the world," a long interview with a german journalist. the journalist asked the pope if he would resign. and he said something interesting. in the midst of a candle and all that stuff. he said now is not the time. it's not the time to run when you're in great risk and emergency period. but he said i do believe there are times when a pope, if he doesn't have the strength, can and even should resign. so we did have fair warning. but at the same time, since it is something that hasn't happened in centuries, it always does come as a surprise. >> and, greg, of course, it raises the natural questions about what is going on with the pope's health as the associated press is reporting that the pope's brother said his doctor said no transatlantic trips. we've seen it this week. his gait, using a cane in resent weeks. how severe is his he

here is the vatican spokesman, a former fox news correspondent, greg burke by phone a bit earlier todayw to step, you know. it's a gradual. i think a lot of people here were shocked today, oh, my gosh, what happened? it is severe and this grave? no, i don't believe it is. i think we've seen some things. he looked a little more tired. you see him he doesn't walk as well. doesn't manage steps as well. and that, you know, that kind of thing but there has been nothing really, it hasn't been drastic. bill: sure. >> just a gradual slowdown. bill: greg coven, author of, hole father, pope benedict xvi, pontiff for a new era. >> good to be here, bill. bill: you told our producers this that is a move pope john paul ii, his predecessor would not have considered. explain that. >> pope john paul ii had been ill for a long time before he finally passed away in two how five and there were people who advised him, critics from the outside, as well as insiders, at least to consider this idea but he felt it was a lifetime responsibility. that he would not give up this important role as shepherd of the ent

and i asked the vatican's media adviser, greg burke, about that dichotomy a few moments ago. >> and today the pep rally and that joy. and the catechism was more personal, you lose your privacy. >> and now, the cardinal has turned to the job of the new pope they're going to meet on monday. and set the date when the conclave begins. you see it behind me. the sistine chapel behind there. the cardinals will cloister there until they come up with a pope. and we'll see the white smoke coming out of the chimney of the sistine chapel. we hope before easter. >> all right, george, we'll be right back with you. >>> but we're going to begin with the headlines of the morning. it's a fierce storm that sam's been telling us about all morning long, bearing down on more than 20 states. children caught in blizzard conditions actually had to spend the night at their school near colorado springs. heavy snow, grounding flights in chicago, leaving hundreds of travelers stranded at o'hare airport. meanwhile, in north carolina, falling trees snapped ice-covered power lines, knocking out power to thousands. and o

i just spoke to greg burke, now as we know is the head of communications for the senior adivsor for communicationsn the vatican. he said it is likely pope benedict xvi will meet the next pope. we may not see it. we may hear about it if in fact that does happen. bill? bill: stand by at the vatican. amy kellogg live in rome. martha. martha: for a recap this is what happens after the pope has officially stepped down from his duties. when his resignation takes effect, that will happen at 8:00 p.m. local time, the swiss guards will no longer protect the pontiff as they have done throughout his years at the vatican. they are charged with guarding only one pope and that will be the new pope as soon as he is chosen. at that moment benedict's official title will become his holiness benedict xvi. roman pontiff emeritus. this is uncharted territory for the past 600 years. we're all just learning the language of this. he will continue to wear the white kasak he will no longer see in the prada-made red shoes. a lot is made of that. he will put on the brown shoes he got from mexico. even that a small symbolic o

. >> greg burke's son joined the cub scouts in the second grade.ssistant scout master of his son's troop. >> after decades of being out of the closet, the boy scouts of america forced me back into the closet with its don't ask don't tell policy. >> now in high school, isaiah is on the verge of becoming an eagle scout, but his dad has lost his rank because he's gay. >> i pose no harm to anyone. i passed all of their background checks. i go to church every sunday with my family. lord knows, we're fill anthropic. i don't know what else they want from us. >> scouts and others who support ending the policy of barring openly gay scout masters and scouts delivered what they say are 1.4 million signatures on several online petitions to boy scout headquarters. in a statement, the boy scouts of america says it is discussing potentially removing the national membership restriction regarding sexual orien tashz. the policy change under discussion would allow the religious, civic, or educational orlgizations that oversee and deliver scouting to determine how to

greg burke is the senior communications adviser just with the pope in the final audience.ood morning it's good to see you. >> good morning. >> sometimes tone can be lost in translation. you heard this address. how does the pope seem to you these last few days? what's his mood? . he's a serene person. i have known him as cardinal ratzinger. he took a lot of hits from john paul ii. i see him now calmer than ever. he showed a little emotion from sunday. not so much today. a beautiful speech. one was precisely about the weather. as mentioned before. he said we're in the middle of winter. let's thank god fort beautiful day we have. >> this was stunning in terms of timing and opened up a wrath of conspiracy theories, some saying this dossier containing allegations of corruption among some members of the church body. do you confidently say this pope's decision has to do with his health and health alone? >> i think we should take him on his word. people sell novels, millions of copies with conspiracy theories, he's repeated now on several occasions. and you see it. i watched him o