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His name is Roberto Francisco Daniel, but he goes by Padre Beto. He sports an ear clip, and a rosary around his neck that dips into an open-necked patterned shirt. In short, Padre Beto looks cooler than your typical priest.

His decision to become a Catholic priest came late, he says. He was 28. He'd been to college, worked, and he wasn't a virgin. He says he thinks that's why he has a different way of looking at church doctrine.

"When I came back to Brazil from Germany in 2001 and became a parish priest, I naturally included my views in my homilies," he says in Portuguese. "I don't think that there are some things people can't hear or that shouldn't be discussed."

In fact, it wasn't only in church that he discussed his opinions, but also on YouTube and on the radio. He was popular; he was gaining a following. The problem: What he was preaching went against church doctrine.

"What really shaped my views was what I heard in the confession box as a priest," he says. "I had men who came to confess who were homosexual, who had tried to live a life according to the church. They got married, they had children, but they found themselves in a terrible situation, thinking that they were sinners. It was hell for them."

They were living a lie, Padre Beto says, in order to comply with their faith. And, he says, that can't be right.

"The Catholic Church is one of hypocrisy, and because of what I heard in the confessional, I decided to engage in the debate," he says.

Padre Beto not only believes in gay marriage, but is in favor of divorce and of open marriages where either party can have an extramarital affair as long as both spouses agree.

"The Catholic Church has to change. We know now because of scientific discovery a great deal about human sexuality, for example," he says.

How can we, he says, in this day and age, expect people to be chaste before matrimony?

"I would have young people in their 20s confessing as if it were sinful that they had sexual relations with the person they were going to marry before they said vows," he says. "Sex is the most natural thing in the world. How can someone get married without first knowing their partner sexually? That's absurd nowadays."

The Pope's Visit

Against this backdrop, Pope Francis has received a rapturous welcome in Brazil, and on Wednesday he led the first public mass of his first international trip. In a sermon, he spoke of helping the young turn away from what he called the "idols" of "money, success, power, pleasure."

But there have also been protests. Dozens of activists supporting gay marriage demonstrated in Rio de Janiero on Monday. Same-sex unions have become big issue in the region.

The percentage of those between the ages of 15 and 29 who describe themselves as Catholic in Brazil has fallen sharply, and Brazil's main religion is facing a growing challenge from evangelical Christians.

More On Brazil

Parallels

Brazil's Evangelicals A Growing Force In Prayer, Politics

In a conflict zone, getting the basics — food, water, shelter — is a constant challenge. And it likely involves being on the move.

Now imagine pregnancy. There might not be a functioning medical facility for miles. And your environment makes you and your baby more susceptible to complications.

Aid groups are increasingly relying on conflict midwives to help women in these situations. Take Emily Slocum, a midwife with Doctors Without Borders, who worked with women affected by the violent conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some traveled days to reach her.

The Congo war lasted from 1998 to 2004, but as NPR's John Burnett has reported, ongoing conflict continues to disrupt daily life. The country has millions of displaced people.

Slocum worked at a hospital in South Kivu, where the conflict still lingers, from November 2011 to May 2012. She tells Shots that one of the challenges was keeping underweight newborns warm. Without an incubator, the best practice is to have the mother hold the baby to her skin, to keep its body temperature up, she says. She had to teach nurses and mothers to do that when she arrived.

"The baby was immediately sort of taken away and assessed by the nurse and sometimes not given back to the mom immediately," she says. In Syria, an MSF midwife encountered a similar problem, and to improvise, she heated IV fluid bags in the microwave to make small hot water bottles to warm the newborns.

Breastfeeding is also critical in situations where potable water and food access is limited and general hygiene is poor, the Inter-agency Working Group on Reproductive Health says.

Crises also put people at higher risk for sexual violence. In the Congo, women had very limited access to health care at all – nevermind contraceptives, Slocum says. But even for a population that's constantly fleeing violence, Slocum could provide long-term solutions with particular birth control methods, such as implants that can last up to five years.

In our "Weekly Innovation" blog series, we explore an interesting idea, design or product that you may not have heard of yet. Previously we featured the sink-urinal and Smart Bedding. (Do you have an innovation to share? Use this quick form.)

You can easily lose your wallet, but it's pretty difficult to lose your face. That's the motivation behind Finland-based startup Uniqul, which is testing a system that lets users conduct payment transactions with their faces. PopSci reports:

"A Uniqul tablet at check-out stations would take the customer's photo as they approach. Within seconds the tablet processes biometrical data to locate the individual's account within the database, which can be registered with any major credit card, Uniqul says. All the customer needs to do is confirm the payment by pressing the 'OK' button."

The city of Detroit may be on the skids financially, but one of its traditional "big three" automakers just scored a big win.

For the first time since it began making such comparisons between sedans in 1992, Consumer Reports magazine has given its top rating to a model made by a U.S. automaker — not one made by a European or Japanese company.

The 2014 Chevrolet Impala "rides like a luxury sedan, with a cushy and controlled demeanor, while delivering surprisingly agile handling, capable acceleration, and excellent braking," writes Consumer Reports. "Inside, the spacious cabin sets a new standard for Chevrolet fit and finish, with generally high-quality materials and trim."

According to Jake Fisher, director of the magazine's automotive testing, "the Impala's performance is one more indicator of an emerging domestic renaissance. We've seen a number of redesigned American models — including the Chrysler 300, Ford Escape and Fusion, and Jeep Grand Cherokee — deliver world-class performance in our tests."

The Impala outscored not only sedans that are comparable to its "mid-range" price, but much more expensive models as well — such as the Acura RLX and Jaguar XF.

It was just four years ago, as Pro Publica's timeline reminds us, that:

"GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As part of the restructuring, the U.S. government agreed to provide the company up to $30.1 billion [on top of earlier loans]. In exchange, the U.S. received a 60.8 percent stake in the company when it emerged from bankruptcy protection about a month later."