Of Course Bernie Sanders Was Invited to the Vatican, it Was a Conference on Pope John Paul II’s Writings. He Wanted to Meet the Pope. Who Wouldn’t have? Update: Faith and Social Justice Roundtable, Brooklyn

Update: In Brooklyn, NY Christians, Muslims and others with Bernie Sanders at the  "Faith and Social Justice Roundtable.” This is truly beyond anything I thought could happen in this country, it makes me proud. Gathering up everyone to work together for the same goals. Bernie Sanders is our best hope to get the people to force legislators to begin doing their jobs for us. 

Perhaps people need to see a psychiatrist like Pope Francis recommends or maybe do some reading. Bernie Sanders was invited to the Vatican to speak at a conference they had on the Centesimus Annus. Pope John Paul II wrote during the cold war about political and economic issues, discussing  social and economic justice. He hit on many topics including the rights of the poor, working people, how stronger nations should treat weaker ones, freedom, prevention of monopolies, responsibility to future generations, the role social structures play in causing our social problems, how supporting good for others is also good for ourselves and on and on and on. So of course Bernie Sanders was invited as he would work to make moral changes for the people, the opposite of Hillary Clinton who will give us more of what we are already getting.

The reason for the invitation is very obvious, on a daily basis Bernie Sanders speaks to the agenda of that conference and much of what Pope John Paul II wrote about, changing the world so we have equality and fair economics. At the core of every social issue, political issue and economic issue in the United States and the world is immoral economics that has allowed the ultra rich to take over our politics and every government agency, they have control of the news media and have swayed the public to believe things that are false. There were Democrats who were able to understand this until recently who have had some kind of amnesia set in...psychiatrists can help with that too. 

There was no scheduled meeting with the Pope but Bernie said he hoped it would happen, of course he did and so would have I. Bernie and Jane Sanders had a room close to where Pope Francis stays and Bishop Sánchez Sorondo as a host who it seems facilitated the meeting. Of course those who are working to help bring social and economic justice to the world would like a president in the United States who wants peace and has a desire to bring the miliary industrial complex "to heel" instead of another hawkish president. People all over the world are hoping and praying Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic nomination and then the general election. 

From the NYT:

'"Mr. Sanders continued to hold out hope. “I certainly would be delighted and proud if I had the opportunity to meet with him,” he said before leaving New York."'

************

'"But the most important words occurred in the middle of dinner, when a personal secretary for Francis arrived with the news Mr. Sanders had been hoping for, Mr. Sachs said.

If Mr. Sanders were in the foyer of the Casa Santa Marta at 6 a.m. the next day, he would be able to speak briefly with Francis as the pope headed to the airport for his Saturday trip to Greece, where the pope would be addressing the migrant crisis.

So early Saturday morning, Mr. Sanders stood in the marble foyer, which looks out onto a large cobblestone drive just inside the Vatican walls. Joining him were his wife, Mr. Sachs and his wife and Bishop Sánchez Sorondo, the senator’s de facto Vatican fixer.

The pope, speaking to reporters on his plane later in the day, described the meeting. “This morning when I was leaving, Senator Sanders was there,” he said, adding, “He knew I was leaving at that time, and he had the courtesy to greet me.”'

"No, never again war, which destroys the lives of innocent people, teaches how to kill, throws into upheaval even the lives of those who do the killing and leaves behind a trail of resentment and hatred, thus making it all the more difficult to find a just solution of the very problems which provoked the war." Pope John Paul II on the Iraq war.

Pope John Paul II began what the Catholic Church calls, "social mortgage", a way of thinking about property very similar to Native American cultures, that everything belongs to all of us. This is especially true of the planet and economics. He taught that people have the right to own property, but accumulating large amounts is wrong. They condemn accumulating large amounts while others have very little, that would include hogging up all the money, not even paying taxes on it and destroying the economy. 

Many stories about this visit are filled with people saying Bernie invited himself to visit the Pope. They also say he was stalking the Pope and that is why he met him. These people sound like jealous bullies. He was invited to a conference at the Vatican, you know where Pope Francis lives. Do they really think the Pope did not shake the hand of others who came for that conference? If I was at the Vatican at the top of my agenda would be meeting this Pope, I did not care about meeting any other Pope in my life but Pope Francis is an amazing man who cares about the poor and abused people of the world. I love the man and I say this as an atheist. There is much I disagree with the Pope about such as, women's rights and L/G/B/T rights, but on economic justice, taking care of those who need help, reforms of human evils such as over-incarceration in the United States, the refugee crisis created by our own imperialist country, the masses of people who are refugees within their own country (homeless) due to lack of affordable housing such as myself and identifying the causes we are aligned. Finding people from different backgrounds who can work together on something they can agree on is beautiful magic, great things happen. In politics in the United States there is little beautiful magic, except for Bernie Sanders and a few other politicians who have the courage to speak up and now we have new people coming forward as candidates.

Press conference at the Vatican.



The people at the Vatican loved Bernie.



Bernie Sanders speaking about Pope Francis in 2015, of course he wanted to meet the Pope. 


The Pope on meeting Bernie.

 

The Pope is recommending a psychiatrist for those who think he is being political rather than having good manners, he would also be aware that those who admire him have a yuge desire to meet him.

Of course the Pope wants to keep a meeting with any candidate for president non-political, he has to be neutral, but he has to work with countries to do his work for the people, so he does do political things.

From The Sentinal:

The Pope also shakes hands with homeless people and he made a point of hanging out with the homeless when he came to speak in the United States. '“When I shook his hand, I felt a power like I could overcome anything,” Odom said. “(Pope Francis’ handshake) shows you just because you’re less fortunate [and] there ain’t nobody acknowledge you, you’re not going alone without nobody noticing your pain and suffering through all that you’re going through. “He noticed us.”'

Pope Francis: Why are Deaths of the Homeless not a Headline but a 2-point Dow Jones rise is?

I know why. It is planned, they want the homeless to die young and we do at half the age of the sheltered. The oligarchy controlled politicians prevented low income housing for decades and what we have now is privatized for the most part, corporate owned and designed for abuse of the poor. The Clinton administration implemented welfare changes that kept the masses of people who had been over-incarcerated from getting housing, food stamps and more including jobs due to the stigma of a criminal record. Huge numbers should have never been arrested to begin with and many of them needed some help they never got that lead to their contact with police. OK, rant over, at least it was short for me.

"Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape."
*******
"When a society – whether local, national or global – is willing to leave a part of itself on the fringes, no political programmes or resources spent on law enforcement or surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee tranquility. This is not the case simply because inequality provokes a violent reaction from those excluded from the system, but because the socioeconomic system is unjust at its root.
Inequality eventually engenders a violence which recourse to arms cannot and never will be able to resolve. This serves only to offer false hopes to those clamouring for heightened security, even though nowadays we know that weapons and violence, rather than providing solutions, create new and more serious conflicts."

The Pope shakes hands with lots of people including the homeless and inmates or the likes of Kim Davis. He seeks out the marginalized and poor of the world so why would he not want to do a quick hand shake and greeting meeting with Bernie Sanders, in the most important way they are two peas in a pod, men with empathy for people who are struggling to survive, from the homeless to refugees to the working poor.

From the Huffington Post:

"When Pope Francis was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, he was known to sneak out at night to break bread with the homeless, sitting with them on the street and eating with them to show that they were loved."

The Pope is right up against homeless people here.

The Pope touching a homeless man's head.

The Pope greets those around him and treats them equally with a special place in his heart for the poor, marginalized and homeless. He did not attend the conference due to a trip to help the Syrian refugees,  recently he brought 12 back with him to live at the Vatican. Why would he not greet Bernie Sanders a man who agrees with him about economic injustice who came to a conference at the Vatican?

Part of the Catholic Mass, just before communion is a ritual called the sign of peace. It is to be tailored to the culture of the people, some kiss, some hug, some do the peace sign, but the most popular expression of peace is hand shaking. They are to do this with just the people closest to them. They say, "The peace of the Lord be with you always." So when the Pope shakes someone’s hand it is more than a greeting, he is sending a message of peace.
 
The exchange of the sign of peace before communion during a mass given by Pope Francis.