I have been thoroughly enjoying Pope Francis' recent comments on many things including his attacks against capitalism because it highlights how horrendous conservative policies have been for the majority of people in America and in the world. You know he's being effective because his words have been freaking out the conservative paparazzi on talk radio and Fox News. The latest politician to try to explain Pope Francis' views is none other than Rep. Paul Ryan, a Catholic whose own theories about the economy now put him solidly against the Pontiff's beliefs. Here's some of what one of the conservative presidential hopefuls for 2016 had to say to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Ryan, who is Catholic, was asked about Pope Francis' recent sharp critique of capitalism. Ryan stood up for the free enterprise system as a way of alleviating poverty as well as being consistent with Catholic teaching. "People need to get involved in their communities to make a difference, to fix problems soul to soul," Ryan said. Ryan added, "What I love about the pope is, he is triggering the exact kind of dialogue we ought to be having."Ryan said he did not consider Francis a Marxist, as talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh alleged. Ryan said Francis grew up under the Peronist movement in Argentina, where the state took a leading role in the economy."The guy is from Argentina, they haven't had real capitalism in Argentina," Ryan said. "They have crony capitalism in Argentina. They don't have a true free enterprise system."

If you need a translation, basically, Paul Ryan is saying that the Pope is an economic fool and doesn't know a f*&king thing about capitalism. Why do these conservatives all believe that a man like Pope Francis would be so ignorant about the policies he's discussing in public? He's carefully trying to steer the church to a better place than it has been for decades now, blocked in by the conservative factions.

Philip Bump writes: