Sanders is headed to the Vatican next week to talk about what he and Pope Francis like to talk about: income inequality and climate change. Sanders announced that he’ll be speaking at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences conference about “an issue that is very dear to my heart, which is how we create a moral economy that works for all of the people rather than just the top one percent.” He will also be discussing “the planetary crisis of climate change and the moral imperative to make sure we leave this planet in a way that is healthy and habitable for future generations.”
Sanders will also meet with Francis, whom he seems to adore. “I’m a big, big fan of the Pope,” he said in an appearance Friday morning on Morning Joe. “He has played an unbelievable role, an unbelievable role of injecting a moral consequence into the economy. He is talking about the idolatry of money, the worship of money, the greed that’s out there, how our whole culture is based on: ‘I need more and more and more. And, I don’t have to worry about veterans sleeping out on the street or elderly people who can’t afford their prescriptions.’”
In other papal news, Francis released documents today arguing that, while divorce is “still an evil,” Catholics should help divorcees “find in the Eucharist the nourishment they need to sustain them in their present state of life.” The documents also reinforce the Catholic Church’s strong stance against same-sex marriage.