So Who Exactly Invited Bernie Sanders to the Vatican?

[Cali_Democrat]

By Joseph P. Williams April 8, 2016, at 5:15 p.m.

After Sen. Bernie Sanders announced he'd been invited to a major Vatican-sponsored forum on poverty – a high-profile "get," taking place just ahead of the New York Democratic primary – a top Vatican official in charge of the event has called him out for a breach of diplomatic protocol.

Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, blasted the Vermont senator for "monumental discourtesy," suggesting he wrangled a back-door invitation that kept her in the dark, according to Bloomberg Politics.

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Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, the academy's chancellor, said he arranged for Sanders' invitation, although Bloomberg reports that the bishop "repeatedly declined to say who initiated the contact."

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The Vatican, however, said it had nothing to do with the invitation.

Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope's spokesman told the Italian news agency Ansa that the Academy of Social Sciences invited Sanders, not Pope Francis, and that His Holiness doesn't plan to give the senator an audience.

"For the moment there is no expectation that there will also be a meeting with the pope," Lombardi said

Read more: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-04-08/so-who-exactly-invited-bernie-sanders-to-the-vatican

[shraby]

1. Ask me if I care. In the scheme of things who invited him doesn't amount to a hill of beans.

Not worth fretting over.

[TheBlackAdder]

8. Some people like their underwear in a bunch. Others like writing multiple OPs on the same topic. nt

[OZi]

2. According to Reuters... Sorondo did.

"This is not true and she knows it. I invited him with her consensus," said Sorondo, who is senior to Archer.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-vatican-idUSKCN0X5257?mod=related&channelName=politicsNews

BTW, I'd like to invite myself to the Vatican. Anyone have their number? Maybe they'll give me the key to the city. OMG! What if I get a photo op with the Pope while I'm there? I might get on the TV.

[beam me up scottie]

3. Let's have a look at that invite:

Papal official denies report Sanders invited himself to Vatican

VATICAN CITY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was invited to speak at an April 15 Vatican event by the Vatican, a senior papal official said on Friday, denying a report that Sanders had invited himself.

"I deny that. It was not that way," Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo told Reuters in a telephone interview while he was traveling in New York. Sorondo, a close aide to Pope Francis, is chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is hosting the event.

He said it was his idea to invite Sanders.

A Bloomberg report quoted Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that Sanders had broken with protocol by failing to contact her office first.

"This is not true and she knows it. I invited him with her consensus," said Sorondo, who is senior to Archer.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senior-papal-official-untrue-sanders-invited-himself-vatican-173414032.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw

Looks like your op was wrong, Archer lied and got scolded publicly. Do continue to try to save face though.

[cherokeeprogressive]

4. Nobody cares but you and the other sycophants.

[geek tragedy]

5. so no papal audience or photo op, what's the point of this?

to listen to academics debate Catholic theology?

[DisgustipatedinCA]

6. At what point does "really fucking annoying" turn into "possible dangerous psycho"?

Someone let me know.

[polly7]

7. How many times are you going to imply he invited himself?

The senator from Vermont will speak about creating a “moral economy.”

EMMA GREEN 5:14 PM ET

The Atlantic

A socialist, Jewish, “not particularly religious” senator from Vermont will soon make his debut at the Vatican. On Friday, Bernie Sanders announced that in a week or so, he will be speaking at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, a scholarly body that’s part of Catholic Church in Rome.

There is a somewhat uncanny overlap between the way Bernie and Francis talk about economic issues. One of the first pieces of writing the pope released during his tenure, Evangelii Gaudium, is all about the greed and fundamental corruption at the heart of the global economy. Both men speak with passion about poverty and talk about labor and wages in moral terms. And Sanders has often praised the pope, including after the pontiff addressed the U.S. Congress in September.

It might also seem like the Vatican is getting involved in a controversial presidential race—not just to throw shade at Donald Trump, which the pope has done before, but to tacitly show favor to one of the Democratic candidates. But the internal politics of the Church, as it turns out, can be rather complicated. After the speaking gig became public, Bloomberg ran an interview with Margaret Archer, the president of the academy, who said that Sanders had approached the Vatican to solicit an invite, showing “monumental discourtesy” in making a Church event into something political. The chancellor of the body, Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, denied that in an interview with Reuters, though, saying that it was his idea to invite Sanders.

Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University professor who is presenting at the event, said in a phone interview that he helped the Vatican reach out to Bernie Sanders in March, and he doesn’t know why Archer alleged that the Sanders campaign initiated the gig. “The academy sent the invitation, it’s pure and simple,” he said. “A lot of people in the Vatican respect him a lot. He is speaking in the same kind of moral themes that Pope Francis, and the social teachings of the Church, promote, which is a moral economy.” A representative who works with Sachs also passed along an official invitation from Sanchez Sorondo to Sanders dated on March 30. But even though the invite appeared to come from an official Church body, that doesn’t mean it came from Pope Francis, and a spokesperson for the Vatican said it hasn’t been confirmed whether the senator and the pontiff will have a sit-down in Rome.

But although the venue isn’t much like the small-town high-school gymnasiums where Sanders has spent much of his time in recent weeks, this is another moment of Bernie being Bernie: taking any chance he can to decry the ills of the capitalism and the global economy, and to advance his vision of social justice.

Full article: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/bernie-heads-to-the-vatican/477471/


angrychair (2,593 posts)

117. Yes, he is speaking

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was invited to speak at an April 15 Vatican event by the Vatican, a senior papal official said on Friday, denying a report that Sanders had invited himself.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senior-papal-official-untrue-sanders-invited-himself-vatican-173414032.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1684672

[sadoldgirl]

9. If you are so keen to find out

why don't you e-mail the Vatican for your answer?

[NorthCarolina]

10. That little bird at the Portland rally maybe? Perhaps it was a tweet from God

(that's apparently his idea of sending Tweets I guess. Probably what happens when you take a couple thousand years off). Anyway, it likely told him "Party in Your Honor at the Vatican, be there or be square."

[NorthCarolina]

11. What?? Zero Recs on this hugely important thread? Hillary supporters asleep or something?

Get this thread-a-poppin' else you may run the risk of posts turning to discussion of the Big Dogs "schooling" of BLM.

[DrDan]

12. and who convinced Bernie he would be meeting with the Pope?