This just in from the NY Daily News: "Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is making a one-of-a-kind campaign stop — at the Vatican. The Vermont senator was invited out of the blue Friday by Pope Francis to speak at an April 15 church conference on social, economic and environmental issues.
"Sanders will then return to New York for the final days of campaigning before the April 19 primary.
"While a Jewish socialist from Brooklyn and an Argentine Catholic pontiff sounds like an odd couple, Sanders said the two shared similar views on many issues — particularly the economy and specifically the 1% of America’s wealthiest people." READ MORE
HEREREMNANT COMMENT: Sanders describes himself as a “big, big fan of the pope,” and has reportedly invoked Pope Francis many times, even on the campaign trail. Pope Francis in return describes the avowed socialist Sanders as a “world leader.”
What's it going to take to wake our friends the neo-Catholics from their interminable slumber?
UPDATE: The Vatican has clarified that contrary to a Bloomberg report stating that Sanders had invited himself to the Vatican, it was in fact the Vatican that formally extended the invitation to Bernie Sanders:
Here's the
Reuters report: U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was invited to speak at an April 15 Vatican event by the Vatican, a senior papal official said on Friday, denying a report that Sanders had invited himself."I deny that. It was not that way," Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo told Reuters in a telephone interview while he was traveling in New York. Sorondo, a close aide to Pope Francis, is chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is hosting the event.
He said it was his idea to invite Sanders.
A Bloomberg report quoted Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that Sanders had broken with protocol by failing to contact her office first.
"This is not true and she knows it. I invited him with her consensus," said Sorondo, who is senior to Archer.
An invitation to Sanders dated March 30, which was emailed to Reuters, was signed by Sorondo and also included Archer's name.
(Reporting By Philip Pullella in Vatican City and Alana Wise in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Toni Reinhold)