The Sanders campaign announced Friday its candidate will speak at the Vatican as part of a conference on social, environmental and economic issues.
Sen. Sanders, I-Vermont, is scheduled to visit Vatican City April 15 and deliver an economic speech about income inequality and the concentration of wealth among the wealthiest 1 per cent of Americans.
Appearing Friday on the MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” the presidential hopeful said he was a, “big, big fan” of Pope Francis, and credited the head of the Catholic church for, “injecting a moral consequence” into the economic discussion.
Sanders, who is Jewish, acknowledged differences with Pope Francis on “women’s issues,” and the role of gays and lesbians in the church, went on to credit the pope for shining a light on the, “idolatry of money.”
Sanders, a professed democratic socialist, also intends to address climate change in his remarks at the Vatican.
Sen. Sanders will address the The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which also highlighted the candidate’s appearance in a statement released earlier Friday.
The speech will take Sen. Sanders off the campaign trail just a few days ahead of the April 19 primary in New York state, the stakes for which have drastically increased since Sanders’ double-digit victory in Wisconsin over front-runner Hillary Clinton earlier this month.
