--- title: Bernie Sanders Praises Pope Francis Ahead of Vatican Visit description: Bernie Sanders touted the alignment of his policies with the ideas of Pope Francis on Saturday, praising the leader of the Catholic church canonical: https://time.com/4287640/bernie-sanders-praises-pope-francis/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-09T18:36:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:36:13.595Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bernie Sanders Praises Pope Francis Ahead of Vatican Visit og:description: Sanders praised the Pope's morality in addressing income inequality og:url: https://time.com/4287640/bernie-sanders-praises-pope-francis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f75d817c399fac/69888e6acf40a8004fc42be2/bernie-sanders-pope.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5585 og:image:height: 3142 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Campaigns In New York City og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bernie Sanders Praises Pope Francis Ahead of Vatican Visit twitter:description: Sanders praised the Pope's morality in addressing income inequality twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f75d817c399fac/69888e6acf40a8004fc42be2/bernie-sanders-pope.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders Praises Pope Francis Ahead of Vatican Visit > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 9, 2016 6:36 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) holds a rally at WNYC Transmitter Park in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on April 8. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) holds a rally at WNYC Transmitter Park in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on April 8. Eric Thayer/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 9, 2016 6:36 PM UTC Bernie Sanders [touted the alignment of his policies with the ideas of Pope Francis](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-ties-his-advocacy-for-a-moral-economy-to-the-work-of-pope-francis/2016/04/09/1082454e-fe58-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3%5Fstory.html) on Saturday, praising the leader of the Catholic church and denouncing economic inequality, as he prepares to [visit the Vatican](http://time.com/4287154/bernie-sanders-to-talk-about-the-idolatry-of-money-at-vatican/) next week. “I must tell you that I am a very great fan of the role that Pope Francis has been playing in talking about inequality in this world,” Sanders said during a campaign stop in New York City on Saturday, [the Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-ties-his-advocacy-for-a-moral-economy-to-the-work-of-pope-francis/2016/04/09/1082454e-fe58-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3%5Fstory.html). “He has been out there talking about the need for a moral economy . . . an economy in which we have a moral responsibility to pay attention to what he calls ‘the dispossessed.’” The Vermont Senator, who is Jewish, announced Friday that he will attend a conference on income inequality at the Vatican next week, days before the [high-stakes New York primary](http://time.com/4284506/new-york-primary-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/). In an interview announcing his visit, Sanders expressed his admiration for the [popular Pope](http://time.com/4065186/pope-francis-liberal-democrat-approval/), commending Francis for addressing the need for morality within the global economy. It is not clear whether Sanders will meet with Pope Francis during the visit. Sanders has previously praised the Pope, whose [social and and economic beliefs align with many of Sanders’ political opinions](http://time.com/3661552/bernie-sanders-pope-francis/). In a September [interview with Canadian Catholic network Salt and Light](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/02/22/exclusive-watch-bernie-sanders-call-pope-francis-a-socialist/) that aired in February, Sanders called Francis a socialist and said he has “in a very bold way” raised the issue of the “idolatry of money” and advocated for people who have been pushed aside by society. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who is a Methodist, has also [said she admires the Pope](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-hopes-pope-francis-prick-conscience-address/story?id=33624028), and she praised his leadership of the Catholic church. Ahead of Francis’s visit to the U.S. last year, she said the world needs more “leaders of conscience, particularly leaders of faith, who say what they believe in their heart.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4287640/bernie-sanders-praises-pope-francis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4287640/bernie-sanders-praises-pope-francis/"},"headline":"Bernie Sanders Praises Pope Francis Ahead of Vatican Visit","datePublished":"2016-04-09T18:36:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:36:13.595Z","description":"Sanders praised the Pope's morality in addressing income inequality","url":"https://time.com/4287640/bernie-sanders-praises-pope-francis/","keywords":["Bernie Sanders"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f75d817c399fac/69888e6acf40a8004fc42be2/bernie-sanders-pope.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f75d817c399fac/69888e6acf40a8004fc42be2/bernie-sanders-pope.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Campaigns In New York City","caption":"Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Campaigns In New York City","creditText":"Eric Thayer/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4287640/bernie-sanders-praises-pope-francis/","name":"Bernie Sanders Praises Pope Francis Ahead of Vatican Visit"}}]}] ```