Standing before a crowd of mostly evangelical Christian students at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, last week, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders admitted, “I am not a theologian, I am not an expert on the Bible, nor am I a Catholic.”
Still, the presidential candidate wanted to quote Pope Francis: “I agree with Pope Francis when he says, and I quote, ‘The current financial crisis originated in a profound human crisis, the denial of the primacy of the human person,’” Sanders said. “Now those are pretty profound words, which I hope we will all think about.”
The moment was an exception. Sanders, an independent, arguably talks about faith on the campaign trail less than any other 2016 candidate; which is to say, he almost never talks about it. And when he does, he says a candidate’s religion should not be a factor for voters.
But the teachings of Pope Francis, 78, and campaign messages from the Brooklyn-born Sanders, 74, have a lot in common. Both men share a deep frustration about the status quo and, speaking on a range issues from climate change to wealth inequality, their words echo each other:
Bernie Sanders Gets Respectful Welcome at Conservative Christian College
5 Bernie Sanders Superfans On Why They Love Him
Pope Francis Turns Attention to US as Cuba Trip Winds Down
ON POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT
1. Pope Francis: “I ask you to be builders of the world, to work for a better world. Dear young people, please, don’t be observers of life, but get involved." (July 27, 2013)
Bernie Sanders: “We have to be engaged. We have to get involved... And millions of our friends and neighbors who don’t vote, who have given up on the political process, they have got to get involved.” (Seabrook, N.H., Sept. 20, 2015)
2. Pope Francis: “We must say, ‘We want a just system! A system that enables everyone to get on.’ We must say: ‘We don’t want this globalized economic system which does us so much harm!’” (Sept. 22, 2013)
Bernie Sanders: “The American people are saying, "Enough is enough. We need to create an economy that works for all of us and not just a handful of billionaires.” (Cochran, New Hampshire on ABC News’ ‘This Week,’ June 28, 2015)
ON WAGES
3. Pope Francis: “A just wage enables them to have adequate access to all the other goods, which are destined for our common use.” (Nov. 24, 2013)
Bernie Sanders: “The federal minimum wage, it's a starvation wage. You do the arithmetic. People can’t live on it. We have got to raise the minimum wage over a period of years to a living wage.” (Johnston, Iowa, Sept. 3, 2015)
ON FAMILY
4. Pope Francis: “Over and over again we see that family bonds are essential for the stability of relationships in society, for the work of education and for integral human development.” (June 20, 2013)
Bernie Sanders: “What is most important is the need for mothers and fathers to bond with the baby they have brought to life. What kind of family value is it when you tell a woman who has just had a baby that she can’t spend time with that child, but that she has to go back to work?” (Washington, D.C., June 11, 2015)
ON UNEMPLOYMENT
5. Pope Francis: “The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old.” (Oct. 1, 2013)
Bernie Sanders: “In my view there is no justice in our country when youth unemployment exists at tragically high levels.” (Liberty University, Sept. 14, 2015)
ON WAR
6. Pope Francis: “We want in our society, torn apart by divisions and conflict, that peace break out! War never again! Never again war! Peace is a precious gift, which must be promoted and protected.” (Sept. 1, 2013)
Bernie Sanders: “It is my firm belief that the test of a great nation with the most powerful military on earth is not how many wars it can engage in, but how it can use our strength and our capabilities to resolve international conflicts in a peaceful way.” (Washington, D.C., Sept. 9, 2015)
ON CLIMATE CHANGE
7. Pope Francis: “The vocation of being a ‘protector,’ however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world… It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live." (March 19, 2013)
Bernie Sanders: "When we talk about our responsibilities as human beings and as parents, there is nothing more important than leaving our planet healthy and habitable for our kids and our grandkids." (Los Angeles, Aug. 10, 2015)
ON HEALTH CARE
8. Pope Francis: “It is vital that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden their horizons, working to ensure that all citizens have dignified work, education and health care.” (Nov. 24, 2013)
Bernie Sanders: "Health care is a right of all people, not a privilege. Most Americans do believe that all of us should have health care coverage, and that nobody should be left out of the system." (Op-ed, Huffington Post, July 9, 2009)
ON INEQUALITY
9. Pope Francis: “It is a well-known fact that current levels of production are sufficient, yet millions of people are still suffering and dying of starvation.” (June 20, 2013)
Bernie Sanders: “Despite exploding technology and increased worker productivity, median family income is almost $5,000 less than it was in 1999.” (Twitter, June 15, 2015)
10. Pope Francis: “While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few.” (Nov. 24, 2013)
Bernie Sanders: "There is something profoundly wrong when we are seeing a proliferation of billionaires at the same time as millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages and we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country." (Portland, Maine, July 6, 2015)
Quotations from Pope Francis according to U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development