Pope Francis defended his meeting with US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders last week, saying it was a “polite” gesture. The Pope met the Democrat senator last Saturday before flying to Lesbos. Mr Sanders was staying in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse, where Francis lives.
The Pope told reporters on the flight home from Greece: “If someone thinks greeting someone is to get involved in politics, I recommend he see a psychiatrist.”
A day earlier, Mr Sanders had spoken at a conference organised by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Centesimus Annus, Pope St John Paul II’s teaching on the economy and social justice.
His speech quoted heavily from Pope Francis, Pope St John Paul II and even Pope Leo XIII, who more than a century ago “highlighted economic issues and challenges in Rerum Novarum that continue to haunt us today, such as what he called ‘the enormous wealth of a few as opposed to the poverty of the many’.”
The situation is worse today, Mr Sanders said. “In the year 2016, the top one per cent of the people on this planet own more wealth than the bottom 99 per cent, while the wealthiest 60 people – 60 people – own more than the bottom half – 31⁄2 billion people,” he said.
He quoted Pope Francis: “We have created new idols. The 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.”
He continued: “Pope Francis has called on the world to say: ‘No to a financial system that rules rather than serves’ in Evangelii Gaudium. And he called upon financial executives and political leaders to pursue financial reform that is informed by ethical considerations. He stated plainly and powerfully that the role of wealth and resources in a moral economy must be that of servant, not master.”
Mr Sanders concluded: “Our challenge is mostly a moral one, to redirect our efforts and vision to the common good. Centesimus Annus … and Laudato Si’ are powerful, eloquent and hopeful messages of this possibility. It is up to us to learn from them, and to move boldly towards the common good in our time.”
Poland will remain true to Christianity, says bishop
Poland marked the 1,050th anniversary of its conversion to Christianity last weekend with three days of celebrations.
Politicians and Church leaders flocked to the western city of Poznan, in honour of the baptism of Duke Mieszko I in nearby Gniezno in about 966 AD. President Andrzej Duda said: “Poland is and will remain true to her Christian heritage, in which we have a well-tested, strong foundation for the future.”
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, praised the faithfulness of the Polish people, saying: “[Your] faithfulness to God, to the Gospel and to the Holy See has garnered the respect and esteem of other nations, and made the Church in Poland a bulwark of Christian faith and charity and a light in the darkness that has enshrouded Europe so many times.”
Earlier last week Archbishop Juliusz Paetz, formerly of Poznan, who resigned after molesting seminarians, was warned by the Vatican to stay away from the celebrations.
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the nuncio, said the Pope “decisively reiterates his invitation for you to live a life of privacy in repentance and prayer”.
Pope: give thanks for Benedict
Pope Francis said we should give thanks for Benedict XVI on the Pope Emeritus’s 89th birthday last Saturday.
“Today is Benedict XVI’s birthday,” he tweeted. “Let us remember him in our prayers and thank God for giving him to the Church and the world.”
Speaking to journalists on the way to Lesbos, Pope Francis said: “One last word. I would like to remind you that today is Pope Benedict XVI’s 89th birthday. A prayer for him!”
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