Bernie Sanders Says Pope Francis is a Socialist

By Derek Welch --
24 Feb 2016 --

By Michael Vadon [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders believes he and the Pope both share Socialist views.

Bernie Sanders, the presidential candidate from the Democratic Party, has termed Pope Francis a person with socialist leanings in a media interview. Reverend Thomas Rosica, responsible for assisting Vatican press office, asked Sanders whether he thought that the pontiff is a socialist and Sanders replied in the affirmative.

Bernie Sanders Says Pope Francis is a Socialist[/tweetthis]

Sanders, who calls himself a democratic socialist, said that he believes that the pope is like him as the former talks about the use of money to serve the people and not an end by itself. Francis has done a service by raising the subject of money worship, its idolatry and the saying that human life should not all be about money. He has made an extremely radical critique of the hyper-capitalist system, the world system which is present today. The Democrat further said that since the pope is saying that human life must be greater than wealth accumulation, he agrees with this contention.

Rosica grilled Sanders on the support given by Sanders to abortion rights because this is opposed by the church. The candidate said directly that he has a number of constituents and supporters who does not share the same opinion regarding abortion, and he requested that a collaboration will be done only on those parts on which both sides agree.

Sanders mentioned that a few “liberal friends” of his has expressed ambivalence regarding Francis due to the view of the church on abortion. The friends also have doubts on the opposition of the church to same-sex marriage. The candidate praised Francis for using his voice to solve poverty issues.

Sanders made an attack towards the large inequality concerning wealth and income all over the world. He suggested that at a time when the rich has become excessively greedy and greed has become their religion. The noticeable thing is that they do not apologize for it.

It must be said that the pope does not need such praise like being a Socialist pope. This is the reason the interview of the pope came with a number of qualifications. It was insisted that the views expressed in the publication was of Senator Sanders and does not reflect that of the media house. It also mentioned that the publication did not endorse Sanders or any other Democrat, Independent or Republican candidate in the presidential fray. Pope Francis has gone on record saying that Marxism is not right.