Pope Should Redistribute Vatican's Income First

Conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage says if Pope Francis wants income redistribution he should start with his own Church.

On his Friday show, Savage said he would bid $1 million for Michelangelo’s famous painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.

“The reason I’m offering that money to the pope and the Vatican is so they can redistribute the wealth that begins in the Vatican itself,” Savage said.

Savage said he was making a point that there is vast wealth within the Catholic Church, including priceless works of art and major shares in global companies. Gold ingots could be sold for redistribution purposes, Savage said.

Francis on Friday told a group of U.N. delegates, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, that they should urge world governments to back “the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society.”

Savage’s response: “It’s Karl Marx in a papal outfit.”

He noted that Francis is from Argentina, home to liberation theology along with much of Latin America, in the 1960s and ’70s. And although Francis himself never practiced liberation theology, “he was certainly shaped by it,” Savage said.

Liberation theology focuses on the plight of the poor, though critics such as Savage have long claimed it is Christianized Marxism.

Savage said he already pays 39.7 percent federal tax and 13 percent state tax in California as well as various local taxes.

“But that’s not enough for the pope or Obama or the other Marxists on the planet,” he said. “How does the pope differ from the Occupy Movement?”

The Catholic Church, he said, opposed Marxism “until this pope.”

Though various Catholic priests throughout Central and South America have championed liberation theology, the Vatican itself has opposed what it has termed Marxist elements.

Savage accused Francis of violating the “separation of church and state” and warned he’s heard the same talk from Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. Their ideas led to the deaths of millions, he said.

Savage also suggested Francis is trying to unify the masses in South America and Africa and get the haves to rise up against the have-nots.

“He’s trying to cover up some Vatican scandal,” he said.

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