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As Pope Benedict XVI left the Vatican and his papacy, he slipped out of his trademark red shoes and put on a pair of Mexican leather loafers. The shoes, actually three pairs, two burgundy and one brown, were a gift to the Pope during his trip last year to Mexico.

Armando Martin Dueas is the Catholic cobbler who made the pope's new favorite footwear. Martin Dueas hails from the Mexican city of Leon, which has a 400-year history of shoe making. His great grandfather started the family tradition. But they've never received so much attention as they have this week. Tuesday the Vatican's spokesman said the pope would forgo wearing red papal shoes and spend his golden years in Mexican shoes.

The red shoes, by the way, is a tradition that dates back to 1566, when St. Pope Pius V, a White Dominican, decided to change the papal vestment from red to white. The pope's cap, cape and shoes are the only bits of red left from the pre-1566 days.

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Hear Laura Sydell's report for Morning Edition by clicking the audio link.

Groupon co-founder Andrew Mason has been fired as the daily-deal company's CEO, one day after Groupon posted financial results that showed it lost $67.4 million during 2012. Board chairmen Eric Lefkofsky and Ted Leonsis will jointly fill the CEO post on an interim basis.

Shares in Groupon sank by nearly 25 percent to $4.53 at the end of trading hours Thursday, as investors digested the news of another losing quarter and a financial outlook that predicted first-quarter 2013 revenue would fall short of analysts' estimates by tens of millions of dollars.

In a message to Groupon employees, Mason started off on a light note, but he soon acknowledged the troubles the company has endured, as it recorded consecutive quarters of multimillion-dollar losses:

"After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I've decided that I'd like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding - I was fired today. If you're wondering why... you haven't been paying attention."

Mason, well-known for his open and joking personality, later compared his tenure at the company to a charmed session of playing the video game Battletoads. And he asked for suggestions for "a good fat camp to lose my Groupon 40" — a request he later said had met with sufficient responses, via his Twitter feed.

The daily coupon business, seen just years ago as a sector of expansion and fast-growing profits, has struggled recently, due to international volatility and a slide in popularity for daily discounts.

Last month, LivingSocial, a smaller rival to Groupon, announced that it lost $650 million in 2012. LivingSocial received a cash infusion of $110 million last week.

Groupon has also come under pressure from Google, which famously attempted to purchase the company for nearly $6 billion back in 2010.

Announcing the change, Lefkofsky said, "I want to thank Andrew for his leadership, his creativity and his deep loyalty to Groupon. As a founder, Andrew helped invent the daily deals space, leading Groupon to become one of the fastest growing companies in history."

Groupon's board says it will conduct a search for a new CEO.

He can't do "a Jedi mind meld" with Republicans and get them to see his way about taxes and spending, President Obama said Friday.

About which CBS News' Mark Knoller immediately tweeted:

"Pres Obama Mixed Metaphor of the Day: The 'mind meld' is not a Jedi tool from Star Wars, but a Vulcan ability from Star Trek."

The fight over reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act is now behind us. But like much of what happens in Washington, the process wasn't pretty.

In the debate leading up to Thursday's House vote, you had Democrats accusing Republicans of continuing a "war on women," and Republicans accusing Democrats of crass political pandering.

Some background: The Democratic-led Senate passed a bipartisan reauthorization in the last Congress, which the GOP-controlled House failed to act on. After the current Congress began in January, the Senate once again passed a reauthorization bill.

The Senate reauthorization contained elements some Republicans opposed. For instance, it allowed non-Native Americans accused of committing violent acts against women on tribal lands to be tried in tribal courts. Some Republicans said that was unconstitutional.

It also brought LGBT victims and illegal immigrants under the law's ambit, two other aspects many Republicans criticized. House Republicans offered as an amendment an alternative that lacked the Senate bill's features. That alternative failed to pass in the House before the Senate bill was approved Thursday

So with that, what are some takeaways from the 286-to-138 House vote that sent the measure to President Obama for his signature?

1. As much as the two sides of the aisle in the House often can't seem to stand each other, they remain lashed together when it comes to issues like VAWA that divide House Republicans but unite Democrats.

And, boy, were Democrats ever united; 199 of the 200 House Democrats voted for VAWA. One didn't vote. Meanwhile, only 87 of 232 Republicans voted for the bill in the House.

As in the votes for Hurricane Sandy emergency aid and for the "fiscal cliff" agreement before that, House Republican leaders had to rely on Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her Democrats to put the legislation over the top.

2. Despite being on the wrong end of the gender gap in recent elections, many House Republicans remain willing to risk a stance that lets Democrats frame them as hostile to women's concerns.

Why? The main worry for some House Republicans remains a primary challenge from their political right, not from a moderate Democrat in the general election.

The failed GOP VAWA alternative was about giving House Republicans the ability to say they voted for a better, conservative alternative. And by allowing a vote on the Senate bill, Republican leaders ensured that House Republicans couldn't be accused of defeating VAWA during the 2014 midterm elections.

3. Whether or not you accept House Republican arguments that the Senate bill was flawed, it wasn't just GOP lawmakers who questioned whether the legislation was operating as intended.

As Time recently reported, critics of the law far removed from the corridors of Congress criticized the legislation for various reasons, including the possibility that requiring the arrest of accused abusers has caused some victims not to report violence against them.