While Bernie Sanders' campaign was quick to tout his brief encounter with Pope Francis Saturday, the Pontiff made it clear to a Catholic reporter that it was just "common courtesy."
Crux Now, a website devoted to covering the pope and his church, published this about what Francis told reporters on his flight back to the Greek island of Lesbo from Rome Saturday.
Bristling at impressions that his brief greeting of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday ahead of a trip to Greece was a political statement, Pope Francis called it merely "common courtesy", and said anyone who sees it differently needs "a psychiatrist."
The pontiff also said that his recent document on marriage and the family, Amoris Laetitia, did indeed change the situation in the Church for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, but avoided offering any details.
He also explained his decision to bring three refugee families on the plane with him from his trip Saturday to the Greek island of Lesbos back to Rome, describing it not as a political gesture but a "completely humanitarian" one.
Sanders, who took two days out of his campaigning for the New York primary to fly to the Vatican, tweeted this:
Pope Francis and Sen. Bernie Sanders met at the Vatican on Saturday. https://t.co/gnD4MnBm9H
-- Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 16, 2016
