News stories from Sunday October 7, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Pope John Paul II ended his visit to the United States with a blessing as he prepared to leave Washington for Rome, but he admonished American Catholics to "stand up every time human life is threatened" by abortion, weakened marital standards, and the modern tendency to limit family size for material comfort. He heard one dramatic demurral to the strict doctrine that he had been urging Catholics to follow. This came from a nun who asked that he reconsider his rejection of women as priests.
The Pope was urged to reconsider his stand against the ordination of women as Roman Catholic priests as he was about to address 5,000 nuns in Washington's National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The plea came from Sister Theresa Kane, president of the Leadership Conference of the Women Religious, who told him, "The church must regard the possibility of women being included in all ministries of the Church." She spoke on behalf of a contingent of about 50 nuns, who stood in silent protest.
[New York Times] - A strong curb on speculation in financial and commodity markets is a key aim of the anti-inflation measures announced Saturday by the Federal Reserve, which also aims to restrain excessive money growth with its increase of a full percentage point in the discount rate. [New York Times]
- Forged identification cards were sold to illegal aliens in the San Francisco area and a veteran employee of the Immigration and Naturalization Service has been charged with falsifying immigration documents, according to an F.B.I. investigation. Federal investigators and prosecutors suspect that corruption is widespread in the immigration service, and its enforcement arm, the Border Patrol. [New York Times]
- Protesters at Seabrook, N.H., were driven back by policemen, using clubs and chemical mace and aided by National Guardsmen. Nine persons were arrested, bringing to 19 the number taken into custody since the protest against nuclear plants started Saturday morning. [New York Times]
- Chiropractic is under scrutiny as medical researchers try to determine whether spinal manipulation has therapeutic effects, if only for back pain. Chiropractors maintain that "adjustments" of the spine can ease, eliminate or even prevent ailments ranging from back pain to appendicitis, tonsillitis, diabetes and constipation, but this claim has never been substantiated to the satisfaction of independent scientists. Now, a study is under way to determine whether patients who undergo spinal manipulation for back problems fare better than those with similar problems who are given different treatments. [New York Times]
- The party that has governed Japan for 24 years again won a working majority of more than half the 511-member House of Representatives, according to early election returns. As vote counting continued, the Liberal Democratic Party, which is conservative despite its name, was expected to capture about 256 seats and the support of 10 independents. [New York Times]
- China is attempting to revive small businesses and services that disappeared under its Communist system. The government's purpose is to provide jobs. The minor enterprises are known as collective enterprises. Employees are paid salaries, but profits are taken by the state. [New York Times]
- China's disgraced radical leaders may be tried for their alleged crimes during the Cultural Revolution and the early 1970's, Chairman Hua Guofeng indicated in a news conference. [New York Times]
- The Soviet withdrawal of troops and tanks from East Germany is apparently intended to impede the American deployment of a new generation of medium-range nuclear missiles in Western Europe, Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter's national security adviser, said in commenting on Leonid Brezhnev's announcement Saturday in East Berlin. [New York Times]