Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Friday that he is accepting an invitation to speak at a conference at the Vatican, though there’s one problem — Sanders asked for the invite.
It was first revealed on MSNBC Friday morning that Sanders will be speaking at a conference at the Vatican held by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. He will be speaking about a “moral economy that works for all people instead of the top 1 percent.”
Pope Francis has used his role as the head of the Catholic Church to rail against global warming and capitalism. This has led the Jewish Vermont senator to say, “I’m a big, big fan of the Pope.”
Sanders said, “It was an invitation from the Vatican.” He added, “I was very moved by the invitation.”
However, Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences told Bloomberg, “Sanders made the first move, for the obvious reasons.” She described this as a “monumental discourtesy.”
“I think in a sense he may be going for the Catholic vote but this is not the Catholic vote and he should remember that and act accordingly — not that he will,” Archer said.