Sanders hopes to meet Pope on Vatican campaign break

NEW YORK: Democratic White House hopeful Bernie Sanders said Friday (Saturday in Manila) he hopes to meet Pope Francis while attending a conference on social and environmental issues at the Vatican next week. The Vermont senator said he was “very moved” by an invitation to join the April 15 Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences meeting, which will see him take a break from a bruising US presidential campaign.

But while Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Sanders had been invited to the conference, he told Agence France-Presse that “has nothing to do with the pope” and that no meeting with Francis is planned.