Pope Shakes Hands With Sanders Out of 'Good Manners'

He denies it was a political endorsement of any kind
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 16, 2016 12:05 PM CDT
Pope Shakes Hands With Sanders Out of 'Good Manners'
Bernie Sanders, backdropped by the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, leaves after an interview at the Vatican on Saturday.   (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis says he briefly greeted US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and the two shook hands. He describes the encounter as a sign of good manners, "nothing more," the AP reports. The pope says it wasn't evidence that he was getting mixed up in American politics. Francis says Sanders—along with Sanders' wife and another couple—were in the lobby of the Vatican hotel where the pope lives when he left for a trip to Greece on Saturday morning. The pope tells reporters that he decided to greet Sanders and the others because it was the polite thing to do. "When I came down, I greeted them, shook their hands and nothing more. It's good manners." The pope then added with a laugh: "If someone thinks that greeting someone means getting mixed up in politics, they should see a psychiatrist." (More Pope Francis stories.)

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