Bernie Sanders made an unusual campaign stop on Friday, taking his message of economic justice to a Vatican City conference. But one person was notably missing — the pope.
Minutes after squaring off on the Brooklyn debate stage with Hillary Clinton, Sanders jumped on a plane to travel to the Vatican and participate in a conference focusing on social justice and honoring the 25th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s encyclical “Centesimus Annus.” With the New York primary just three days away, Sanders’ choice to leave the campaign trail struck many as unusual, but the Jewish senator said the invitation was too good to pass up.
“When I received this invitation, yeah I know it’s taking me way from the campaign trail for a day, but when I received this invitation it was so moving to me that I could not refuse to attend,” Sanders told a gaggle of reporters once in Rome.
As soon as the Sanders campaign arrived at the conference, a handwritten note from Pope Francis was circulated to the world leaders, apologizing that he could not attend the meeting. In the days leading up to the event, the Sanders campaign repeatedly stated that they hoped to arrange the meeting with the pope.
During the candidate’s short address to the conference, Sanders spoke of wealth and income inequalities as “the great moral issue of our time” and the perils of the “globalization of indifference.”
The Vermont senator seemed to be very popular with the locals as large groups of people gathered outside the Vatican to greet him and chant “Ber-nie! Ber-nie! Ber-nie!” as he walked by. The visit may endear him to the many Catholic voters in the upcoming Northeastern primaries, including New York.
Sanders’ visit to Italy lasts about 24 hours, and he will return to New York on Saturday for the final days of campaigning before the April 19 primary. He currently trails Clinton in the Empire State.
