Bernie Sanders says he, pope agree on income inequality

Nicole Gaudiano | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Sen. Bernie Sanders discusses Pope Francis Sen. Bernie Sanders says he agrees with Pope Francis' statements against income inequality and climate change.

WASHINGTON — For a Jewish guy who isn’t into organized religion, Sen. Bernie Sanders spends a lot of time talking about the pope.

The Vermont independent drops Pope Francis’ teachings into conversation and speeches, posts his comments on social media and highlights news stories about him on his website. Sanders, whose presidential campaign has focused on income inequality, said he’s “a big fan of the pope,” whose views are similar to his regarding how economic issues affect day-to-day life.

“This pope has been extremely articulate in addressing some of the major economic and spiritual crises and environmental crises that our planet is currently facing,” Sanders said during an interview. “I get blown away and deeply impressed by a lot of what he says.”

Sanders disagrees with various tenets of the Catholic Church (he supports abortion rights and gay rights). But he applauds the pope’s forceful statements against “the idolatry of money” and the role humans play in climate change, as well as his focus on the needs of hungry children, the unemployed and the elderly.

Pope Francis will become the first pontiff to address Congress when he speaks on Sept. 24 during his first trip to the U.S. Sanders said he hopes that Francis will continue to speak out against policies that allow the rich to get richer while billions of people become poorer, and that he’ll tell Congress government officials must play “a vitally important role” in protecting low-income and working people, and the elderly, children and the sick.

Sanders wants Francis to expand on his view that modern society should spend money to improve human life instead of, as Sanders puts it, “worshiping money for the sake of money.” He also hopes the pope will reiterate his position — particularly for the benefit of GOP lawmakers — that human-caused climate change is a fact and urgently needs attention.

“The pope is extremely popular in our country and around the world,” Sanders said. “People respect his humility and his reaching out to the least among us, and I believe that when the pope speaks, especially in a joint session of Congress, members of Congress and the American people will listen very, very carefully. And what he says will impact our discourse.”

A recent national poll by YouGov shows the pontiff has high approval ratings among likely voters who are Catholic. Eighty-three percent of 1,000 surveyed viewed the pope favorably and 82 percent supported his leadership, according to the poll commissioned by Faith in Public Life and the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington.

The poll found partisan differences, with 70 percent of GOP Catholics saying the pope is leading the church in the right direction, compared to 92 percent of Democratic Catholics and 77 percent of independent Catholics.

Latino Catholics widely supported the pope in the survey and 64 percent agreed government should do more to narrow the gap between rich and poor. Seventy-seven percent agreed politicians should prioritize reducing poverty and homelessness.

John Gehring, Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life, said Sanders and the pope share an anti-establishment, authentic style and a belief that a global economic system that benefits the wealthy at the expense of the poor is the root cause of structural injustice.

“Both (the pope and Sanders) recognize that we need a transformation of global capitalism that puts people at the center,” he said.

Sanders, who was raised Jewish, spent time living on two Israeli kibbutzim after graduating from the University of Chicago. He said he was drawn to the egalitarian way of life in which people share the benefits of what they produce.

His wife Jane, who was raised Catholic, also doesn’t participate in organized religion but likes the pope. Each senator received one ticket to give to a guest for a seat in the House gallery to watch the pope’s address to Congress, and Sanders’ gave that ticket to his wife.

Sanders doesn’t generally speak about his own religious views. He said he’s proud to be Jewish, and though he’s “not much into” organized religion, he wouldn’t be doing what he is today if he were not “spiritual.”

“I believe that there is a connection between all living things, and that my belief in God requires me to do all that I can to follow the ‘Golden Rule,’ to do unto others and as I would have them do unto me,” he said. “As a public servant, it requires me to do all that I can to ensure that every person lives with dignity and security.”