Bernie Sanders Added To Vatican Speaking Schedule

On Friday, Bernie Sanders announced he’d been invited to attend a Vatican symposium on social and economic issues. On Monday, a revised program of the event revealed that Sanders will actually speak at the event, rather than being a mere attendee. The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences is hosting the “Centesimus Annus: 25 Years Later” event billed as an academic symposium to discuss the effects of poverty and greed in today’s world.

The announcement that Sanders would appear at the Vatican’s symposium sparked controversy, with some folks accusing him of inviting himself as a way to gain favorability with Catholics. Sanders has long expressed his admiration for Pope Francis, so it is unlikely that he will take time out from his campaign just to gain a few points. His wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, is also a Catholic.

Additionally, Pope Francis may not be in Vatican City during Sanders’ appearance. He is slated to travel to Greece during the same weekend, although NPR reports he is scheduled to leave on April 16, one day after Sanders’ appearance.

Sanders’ ten-minute speech is titled “The Urgency of a Moral Economy: Reflections on the 25th Anniversary of Centesimus Annus.” He is slated to speak on Saturday at 4 p.m. local time.

The Centesimus Annus was an encyclical published by Pope John Paul II in 1991, two years after the Berlin Wall came down, and a Catholic scholar was elected president in his home country of Poland. Saint John Paul’s encyclical examined the social and economic consequences of rapid democratization in Eastern Europe after Soviet Communism fell.

This year’s event marks a significant milestone in the Catholic Church’s history. According to the PASS website, Saint John Paul enlisted the help of a wide array of international economists to “help him develop an informed perspective on the economic prospects for Eastern Europe.” It was his efforts that also gave birth to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

This was a dramatic change in the way the Vatican had developed social encyclicals in the past. Prior to 1991, previous popes beginning with Leo XIII had relied on just one social scientist to help draft their papers. Saint John Paul began a tradition of engaging with several throughout the world to give a better global perspective on important issues.

Sanders will likely tweak his standard stump speech to fit into a more global perspective, but anyone who follows him may find his speech familiar. Bernie Sanders’ campaign cornerstone is economic inequality, which he says affects all aspects of society. Since he was a young man, Sanders has fought for equal rights for women and minorities, go so far as to get arrested at a sit-in in 1963 to protest housing segregation at University of Chicago.

Sanders’ appearance is a big deal for his campaign, his supporters, and Catholics around the country, but the Democratic candidate will have to maintain an extremely tight post-debate schedule.

Sanders’ detractors insist there is no way he can make his appearance at the Vatican on time if he completes his debate with Hillary Clinton.

Not doable. Flight alone is probably 9 hours RT @adambonin: @DanaHoule It's 11 hours after the end of the debate.

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) April 11, 2016

His debate against rival Hillary Clinton is scheduled for 9-11 p.m. ET. A nonstop flight from New York City to Rome is approximately nine hours. If Sanders charters a plane and takes off at midnight on the dot, he will have a little over one hour to get from the airport in Rome to the Vatican symposium in time to give his speech.

A private jet would decrease his flight time from approximately nine hours to under eight because he would not need to go through the hassle of airport security in New York.

Without traffic or other obstacles, it takes approximately 25 minutes to get from the airport to the Vatican. With a private jet, he could have more than an hour to spare to get to the Vatican.

The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences’ press release, dated April 8, lists Bernie Sanders first among world leaders, with speakers Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Bolivian President Evo Morales second and third. The press release also includes the mission of PASS.

“The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences was established by the Holy Father John Paul II on 1 January 1994 … with the aim of promoting the study and progress of the social sciences, primarily economics, sociology, law and political science.”

The New York primary takes place on April 19, just five days after Bernie Sanders appears at the Vatican symposium.

[Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images]