REUTERS/ Stefano Rellandini
"Marxist ideology is wrong. But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don't feel offended," Francis told La Stampa. "There is nothing in the Exhortation that cannot be found in the social Doctrine of the Church."
Francis' answer was in response to accusations from U.S. critics on the right, including Glenn Beck and
In his first written text of his papacy, called the Apostolic Exhortation, the pope addressed many issues, but his denouncement of our current financial system got most of the attention.
CNN Religion has more:
Francis - the first pope ever to hail from Latin America, where he worked on behalf of the poor in his native Argentina - warned in "Evangelii" that the "idolatry of money" would lead to a "new tyranny."
The Pope also blasted "trickle-down economics," saying the theory "expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power."
"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," he wrote.