Sanders Says He and Pope Francis Are Socialists; Both Seek to Provide a Happy Human Life for All

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders praises Pope Francis in a new video interview with the Canadian Catholic television network Salt + Light, calling the pontiff a socialist like himself and lauding his critique of the global market system, the National Catholic Reporter website reports today (February 22, 2016).

"I think what the pope has done, in a very bold way, is raise the issue of the worship of money, the idolatry of money, and to say maybe that's not what human life should be about," says the Democrat. "That is a very, very radical critique of the hyper-capitalist system, world system, that we're living in today."

Sanders speaks in an interview with Basilian Fr. Thomas Rosica, who heads the Canadian network and also assists the Vatican press office with English-language press inquiries. The interview will air for the first time tomorrow evening (February 23) and will then be made available.

The Democratic candidate adds, "Everybody knows that right now we have the wealth, we have the technology to provide at least a decent standard of living for all of our people. So few should not have so much, and I think that's what the pope is talking about." (Recent studies show that in the U.S. -- where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer -- just one percent of the population controls 95 percent of the money.)