CNA<\/a>).- Pope Francis didn\u2019t attend U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 (D-Vt.) speech at the Vatican, but the presidential candidate provided a long reflection on Catholic social teaching, as he saw it.<\/p>\nSanders spoke Friday at a conference celebrating the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II\u2019s \u201cCentesimus Annus.\u201d The senator commented:<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the fall of Communism, Pope John Paul II gave a clarion call for human freedom in its truest sense: freedom that defends the dignity of every person and that is always oriented towards the common good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The April 15-16 conference was sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which fosters dialogue between scientists, politicians and various experts.<\/p>\n
At the start of the gathering, Archbishop Sanchez Sorondo, the academy\u2019s chancellor, read a letter from the Pope. The letter said he could not make the event. Pope Francis said that his agenda was \u201cquite complicated\u201d because of his Saturday trip to visit migrants and refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos.<\/p>\n
Pope Francis\u2019 letter to the gathering did not mention Sen. Sanders or any of the other participants.<\/p>\n
John Paul II\u2019s 1991 encyclical marked the anniversary of Pope Leo XIII\u2019s \u201cRerum Novarum,\u201d a major landmark in Catholic social teaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are few places in modern thought that rival the depth and insight of the Church\u2019s moral teachings on the market economy,\u201d Sanders said in remarks to the conference. He cited Leo XIII\u2019s encyclical that described the challenges of \u201cthe enormous wealth of a few opposed to the poverty of the many.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cAt a time when so few have so much, and so many have so little, we must reject the foundations of this contemporary economy as immoral and unsustainable,\u201d Sanders commented.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are now twenty-five years after the fall of Communist rule in Eastern Europe. Yet we have to acknowledge that Pope John Paul\u2019s warnings about the excesses of untrammeled finance were deeply prescient.\u201d<\/p>\n
The senator cited problems with financial speculation, illegal flow of money, environmental destruction, globalization, financial deregulation, corporate power in politics and weakening rights of workers. He said that \u201cwidespread financial criminality on Wall Street\u201d helped cause \u201cthe world\u2019s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. Sanders said that economic consequences for working families have been direr.<\/p>\n
He repeatedly cited Pope Francis. \u201cMan is not in charge today, money is in charge, money rules,\u201d he said, citing the Pope\u2019s words against the world\u2019s \u201cnew idols.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal,\u201d the Pope had said.<\/p>\n
The senator also cited the Pope\u2019s criticism of ideologies that \u201cuphold the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation,\u201d because this denies States the right to control them for the common good.<\/p>\n
Sen. Sanders echoed the Pope\u2019s rejection of \u201ca financial system that rules rather than serves.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the face of financial corruption, Sanders said, Pope Francis is an example \u201cagainst such a surrender to despair and cynicism.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has opened the eyes of the world once again to the claims of mercy, justice and the possibilities of a better world. He is inspiring the world to find a new global consensus for our common home.\u201d<\/p>\n
The senator also drew on Pope Francis\u2019 2015 encyclical \u201cLaudato Si.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenges facing our planet are not mainly technological or even financial, because as a world we are rich enough to increase our investments in skills, infrastructure, and technological know-how to meet our needs and to protect the planet,\u201d he said. \u201cOur challenge is mostly a moral one, to redirect our efforts and vision to the common good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. Sanders, who is Jewish, is currently battling for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The New York primary election, a major event in the campaign cycle, will take place April 19.<\/p>\n
While Sanders applauded parts of Church teaching, some of his beliefs are strongly at odds with Catholic belief.<\/p>\n
In his April 14 debate with Clinton, Sanders said he has a \u201c100 percent pro-choice voting record.\u201d He called for increased federal funding for the politically powerful abortion provider Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n
Sanders has also sided with LGBT political causes over religious liberty concerns, vowing to veto \u201cany legislation that purports to \u2018protect\u2019 religious liberty at the expense of other\u2019s rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Vatican City, Apr 15, 2016 \/ 01:51 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis didn’t attend U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (D-Vt.) speech at the Vatican, but the presidential candidate provided a long reflection on Catholic social teaching, as he saw it.<\/p>\n
Sanders …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\n
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