Midday Roundup: Pope streamlines marriage annulment process

Lifelong union? Pope Francis created more rumbles of dissent among conservative Catholics today when he announced a change to church policy that will make it easier for couples to get annulments. The Catholic Church does not recognize divorce, but allows couples to dissolve their marriages if they did not meet certain conditions when they said “I do,” including free will in entering the union, psychological maturity, or openness to having children. The new policy allows local bishops to have a greater say in granting annulments and ends the requirement for a second evaluation before an annulment can be approved. Francis titled the document outlining the new rules, “Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus,” Latin for “The Lord Jesus, the Gentle Judge.” While streamlining the annulment process, the pope reiterated the church’s traditional teaching on the “indissolubility of marriage.”

Under attack. A police officer in Las Vegas is recovering today after he was shot in the hand Sunday during the latest cop ambush. Police Sgt. John Sheahan said there was no provocation for the attack. Two officers were sitting in their patrol car, stopped at a traffic light when the suspect opened fire with a semi-automatic handgun. Officers chased down the suspect, identified only as a Hispanic male, blocks from the shooting, and he’s now in custody. Sunday's incident was the second ambush on police in Las Vegas in two days. Police say they have no motive in the shooting. Meanwhile, in Antioch, Ill., mourners attended a viewing for fallen police officer Joseph Gliniewicz, shot and killed last week while pursuing three suspects on foot in Fox Lake, Ill. Those suspects are still on the loose.

Steady stream. Refugees continue to pour through Greece and the Balkans into Serbia and Hungary. They are fleeing the fighting in Syria and Iraq and seeking sanctuary in Austria, Germany, and France. Those countries, plus Great Britain, have now begun taking in tens of thousands of refugees, but Mark Wade, a volunteer from the U.K., says they can’t move fast enough. “We’re busing people out now, and the volunteers, who are just ordinary people from Hungary and around the world are loading the buses, but the people are coming quicker than we can load them.” On Monday, migrants clashed with police blocking a road between a holding station and a camp where they must register before continuing their journeys. Today, a crowd of migrants broke through the police line and ran across fields of sunflowers outside the holding station.

Abortion hearings. Two survivors of attempted abortions will testify before the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow. The panel is investigating Planned Parenthood’s possibly illegal abortion practices. Gianna Jessen and Melissa Ohden, both pro-life activists, will speak at the first of a series of hearings on Planned Parenthood’s activities. “I didn’t survive so I could make people comfortable,” Jessen said in Australia in 2008. “The abortionist had to sign my birth certificate.” Two other congressional committees already are looking into whether the nation’s largest abortion provider altered surgical procedures to obtain intact body parts for sale to tissue procurement agencies. Federal law forbids selling parts of aborted babies for profit.

Parsing the polls. There are more troubling poll numbers for Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton. A new NBC/Marist poll of registered Democratic voters shows Bernie Sanders’ lead in New Hampshire is holding firm. The socialist U.S. senator from Vermont holds a nine-point edge over Clinton in the poll. Three straight polls now show Sanders with at least a seven-point lead in the Granite State. Clinton’s lead in Iowa continues to shrink. She’s up 11 points in the latest poll, but she’s seen her edge over Sanders in that state cut in half in recent months. “I think the secretary’s people are getting very nervous about the kind of energy and enthusiasm our campaign is bringing forth,” Sanders told reporters this week. The NBC/Marist poll of Iowa Republicans shows political outsiders are cleaning up. Donald Trump leads with 29 percent of voters’ support, followed closely by Ben Carson with 22 percent.

Run, Joe, run? A fiery Labor Day speech by Vice President Joe Biden is further fueling speculation he will run for president in 2016. With some onlookers chanting, “Run Joe, run,” Biden marched in Pittsburgh’s annual Labor Day parade. He donned a black-and-gold United Steelworkers union hat and told hundreds of union members, “Our job is one thing, all of you, to make sure every parent can look their kids in the eye, knowing they’ve put in a full day’s work and say honey, it’s gonna be OK. That’s what unions are about.” The vice president added that the gap between the wealthy and poor is hurting the nation. Biden says he still hasn’t made up his mind about making another White House run.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry and Kent Covington contributed to this report.