Biden: ‘I doubt’ Pope Francis embraces Sanders’s ideas

Vice President Biden on Friday said that the Vatican hosting Bernie Sanders does not mean that Pope Francis agrees with the Democratic presidential candidate.

“I just think that Bernie making the trip is a good thing, but to suggest that the pope embraces Bernie’s policies, I doubt that very much,” he told CNBC reporter John Hardwood. “I don’t know, [but] I doubt it very much. No, I don’t think it could be read that way at all.”

{mosads}Sanders spoke in the Vatican on Friday, arguing that the global community must combat wealth inequality.

“Over very soul as a nation has suffered as the public lost faith in political and social institutions,” the independent Vermont senator said.

“Illicit financial flows, environmental destruction and the weakening of the rights of workers is far more severe than it was a century ago. Our challenge is mostly a moral one, to redirect our efforts and our vision to the common good.”

Biden on Friday explained how his understanding of Catholic doctrine might depart from Sanders’s rhetoric.

“I was raised in a tradition called Catholic social doctrine,” he said. “It is that is legitimate to look out for yourself, but never at the direct expense of someone else. It is legitimate to do well, but never at the expense of not looking at what’s behind you.”

Reports emerged on Friday that Sanders would not meet Francis despite staying at the same hotel where the religious leader lives.

Sanders’s visit to the Vatican comes just four days before New York’s crucial Democratic presidential primary.

Hillary Clinton leads Sanders by roughly 14 points before Tuesday’s voting contest there, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.