Conservative Blogger
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Exclusive: The UN starts toward new control over the world's oceans
The United Nations has launched a far-reaching initiative that could
give U.N.-sponsored authorities sway over the biological resources of
the high seas—all the waters that lie outside national territories and
economic zones.
The potential shift in power involves multi-trillion-dollar issues, such as whether large areas—conceivably, as much as 30 percent-- of the world’s international waters should be designated as no-go areas to protect biological diversity; whether and how to require elaborate “environmental impact assessments” for future ocean development projects; and how to divide up the economic benefits from the future development of “marine genetic resources.”
Eden Charles, a diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago who is serving as the chairman for a U.N. preparatory committee that began the discussions this week underlined to Fox News that the talks are at a “very, very preliminary stage.”
Overall, the hoped-for treaty will cover “two-thirds of the oceans, almost half the planet,” says Lisa Speer, a senior official of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which is in turn a lead member of a squadron of 33 environmentalist groups banded together as the High Seas Alliance to lobby for protectionist measures during the talks.
The rationale behind the discussions: easing the rising pressure on the world’s undersea biodiversity wrought by over-fishing, pollution, the drainage of nutrients and other substances from surrounding lands, disturbance of underwater seabeds, and fears of even greater threats from underwater industrial technology, including underwater exploration for hydrocarbons.
CLICK HERE FOR THE U.N. RESOLUTION MANDATING THE TREATY
In U.N. terms, the discussions are proceeding at something like flank speed—that is, a lot slower than a melting iceberg bobbing in the north Atlantic. They began with the initial meeting on March 28 of the preparatory committee-- “prep-com” in U.N.-speak--of nations to discuss preliminary ideas until Friday, April 8. Another two-week prep-com session will take place in August, and two more next year.
These are expected to result by the end of 2017 in draft language for a planned oceans treaty that could then be chewed over for another year or two in broader international sessions.
The agreement that ensues from those discussions, however, is seen by some involved in its hoped-for creation as the salt-water equivalent of the Paris Agreement on climate change, which will be formally signed at an April 22 ceremony in New York—a global, permanent and legally-binding deal for the management of Earth’s last frontier, which will spawn further layers of regulation in years to come.
“The climate negotiations showed the possibilities for us to come together,” Speer told Fox News.
Like the climate treaty, the intended oceans treaty envisages transfers of marine technology and investment to developing nations as part of the deal , along with some still far-from-specified portion of the wealth derived from marine biological discoveries, including genetic breakthroughs.
“One of the things we are looking at is how marine genetic resources will be conserved, sustainably used, and how the dividends will be shared,” says Speer.
One of the biggest backers of the preliminary talks is the Obama Administration. Even though the U.S. has never ratified the 1982 U.N. Law of the Sea Convention—the new talks are aimed at creating an “implementing agreement” under the Law of the Sea umbrella—the Administration is deeply involved in the negotiations, as are some of the world’s most powerful environmental organizations.
The U.S. also has a legal precedent for its involvement: its ratification in 1996 of another “implementing agreement” under the Law of the Sea Convention that orchestrated the activities of a variety of regional fisheries management organizations across international waters, allowed for international enforcement, and a variety of other measures.
Ocean bio-preservation is also one of the 17 nebulous Sustainable Development Goals endorsed by all the world’s governments, including the U.S. last September.
“The United States strongly supports conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources, both within and beyond national jurisdiction,” a State Department official told Fox News.
That included “increased cooperation and coordination among states, international bodies, and relevant stakeholders to achieve better conservation and management of high seas resources,” not to mention “better management and planning for multiple uses and activities where they occur in areas beyond national jurisdiction.”
The Administration has already anted up domestically on some of the big-ticket possibilities under discussion, with, among other things, its huge expansion by executive order in September 2014 of the Remote Pacific Islands National Marine Monument in the central Pacific Ocean into a half-million-square-mile oceans preserve.
U.S. environmental groups are lobbying now for additional marine monument areas off the coast of New England, site of some of the U.S.’s most important Atlantic fisheries.
Such preserves—known as marine protected areas or MPAs, in Law of the Sea jargon—are a major focus of attention for the U.S.-based Pew Charitable Trusts, which has been lobbying governments around the world for years to create them.
So are environmental impact assessments, or EIAs, which are a focus for the High Seas Alliance as well—a bid to create not only environmental protection standards but also public review processes that will give non-governmental environmentalists a greater voice in what would pass muster as acceptable future ocean resources development.
Pew is the organization lobbying most loudly for a 30 percent set-aside of the high seas for preservation purposes—“although not completely no-take, no-use areas,” according to Elizabeth Wilson, director of the non-profit organization’s international ocean policy program, who attended several days of the New York meeting.
Pew has also been funding pilot projects for satellite observation of protected zones as an efficient means of supporting law enforcement in the vast reaches of ocean that would be involved, as well as financing research that offers backing for the preserve concept.
As the first prepcom session neared its end, Wilson said the diplomatic talks “had gotten a lot further into the details than we expected it to do at this stage,” and that “people were feeling pretty comfortable” with the concepts involved in the mammoth ocean discussions.
Comfort with concepts, and agreement on terms, however, are still two greatly different things.
Participants in the meeting were divided over such questions as whether a new accord would create a new international oceans authority to administer the exploitation of the world’s undersea biological resources, or whether ways could be found to expand existing authorities such as the regional fisheries management organizations and the International Seabed Authority, a U.N.-sponsored creation that is currently supposed to regulate undersea mining.
One of the “most animated” areas of discussion, prep-com chairman Charles told Fox News, was how the rewards of the world’s undersea bio-heritage could be shared. “We do not yet have a legal code for their exploitation,” he declared.
Some countries were arguing that all such resources be considered the “common heritage of mankind,” a code term for a socialist-leaning vision of shared international ownership.
Other countries were emphasizing traditional “freedom of the seas,” which apparently would leave more room for private initiative.
In the case of MPAs, he said, “some member states say we first need to take stock to determine if the need for an MPA is there,” while others “say not in all circumstances.” There is also conceptual disagreement on whether such protections always need to be permanent, he said.
According to some scientific experts, there is also reason to question whether the undersea set-aside approach was really going to be all that effective in dealing with some of the world’s most pressing ocean problems, such as over-fishing.
Ray Hilborn, an internationally known fisheries expert at the University of Washington in Seattle, is one of the skeptics. Co-author of a recent study that is the groundbreaking effort to estimate the historical extent of global fish stocks, he told Fox News that while over-fishing is a serious issue, “in the a big picture, we are not close to calamity at all.”
The study he co-authored shows that “about 20 percent of the globe’s fish stocks are over-fished,” he said, and stocks of many of the major species that are commercially exploited “are in better shape than smaller fish stocks, essentially because they are better managed.”
Many of the worst problems are in Pacific fisheries exploited by Asia, where the bigger issue is getting countries such as China and Korea to honor existing fisheries management organizations.
While reforms of fisheries management are needed, the study says, “recovery can happen quickly, with the median fishery taking under 10 years to reach recovery targets.”
Closed-off ocean areas, Hilborn says, “are the crudest possible tool for fishing management. All it does is move boats somewhere else.”
The potential shift in power involves multi-trillion-dollar issues, such as whether large areas—conceivably, as much as 30 percent-- of the world’s international waters should be designated as no-go areas to protect biological diversity; whether and how to require elaborate “environmental impact assessments” for future ocean development projects; and how to divide up the economic benefits from the future development of “marine genetic resources.”
Eden Charles, a diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago who is serving as the chairman for a U.N. preparatory committee that began the discussions this week underlined to Fox News that the talks are at a “very, very preliminary stage.”
Overall, the hoped-for treaty will cover “two-thirds of the oceans, almost half the planet,” says Lisa Speer, a senior official of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which is in turn a lead member of a squadron of 33 environmentalist groups banded together as the High Seas Alliance to lobby for protectionist measures during the talks.
The rationale behind the discussions: easing the rising pressure on the world’s undersea biodiversity wrought by over-fishing, pollution, the drainage of nutrients and other substances from surrounding lands, disturbance of underwater seabeds, and fears of even greater threats from underwater industrial technology, including underwater exploration for hydrocarbons.
CLICK HERE FOR THE U.N. RESOLUTION MANDATING THE TREATY
In U.N. terms, the discussions are proceeding at something like flank speed—that is, a lot slower than a melting iceberg bobbing in the north Atlantic. They began with the initial meeting on March 28 of the preparatory committee-- “prep-com” in U.N.-speak--of nations to discuss preliminary ideas until Friday, April 8. Another two-week prep-com session will take place in August, and two more next year.
These are expected to result by the end of 2017 in draft language for a planned oceans treaty that could then be chewed over for another year or two in broader international sessions.
The agreement that ensues from those discussions, however, is seen by some involved in its hoped-for creation as the salt-water equivalent of the Paris Agreement on climate change, which will be formally signed at an April 22 ceremony in New York—a global, permanent and legally-binding deal for the management of Earth’s last frontier, which will spawn further layers of regulation in years to come.
“The climate negotiations showed the possibilities for us to come together,” Speer told Fox News.
Like the climate treaty, the intended oceans treaty envisages transfers of marine technology and investment to developing nations as part of the deal , along with some still far-from-specified portion of the wealth derived from marine biological discoveries, including genetic breakthroughs.
“One of the things we are looking at is how marine genetic resources will be conserved, sustainably used, and how the dividends will be shared,” says Speer.
One of the biggest backers of the preliminary talks is the Obama Administration. Even though the U.S. has never ratified the 1982 U.N. Law of the Sea Convention—the new talks are aimed at creating an “implementing agreement” under the Law of the Sea umbrella—the Administration is deeply involved in the negotiations, as are some of the world’s most powerful environmental organizations.
The U.S. also has a legal precedent for its involvement: its ratification in 1996 of another “implementing agreement” under the Law of the Sea Convention that orchestrated the activities of a variety of regional fisheries management organizations across international waters, allowed for international enforcement, and a variety of other measures.
Ocean bio-preservation is also one of the 17 nebulous Sustainable Development Goals endorsed by all the world’s governments, including the U.S. last September.
“The United States strongly supports conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources, both within and beyond national jurisdiction,” a State Department official told Fox News.
That included “increased cooperation and coordination among states, international bodies, and relevant stakeholders to achieve better conservation and management of high seas resources,” not to mention “better management and planning for multiple uses and activities where they occur in areas beyond national jurisdiction.”
The Administration has already anted up domestically on some of the big-ticket possibilities under discussion, with, among other things, its huge expansion by executive order in September 2014 of the Remote Pacific Islands National Marine Monument in the central Pacific Ocean into a half-million-square-mile oceans preserve.
U.S. environmental groups are lobbying now for additional marine monument areas off the coast of New England, site of some of the U.S.’s most important Atlantic fisheries.
Such preserves—known as marine protected areas or MPAs, in Law of the Sea jargon—are a major focus of attention for the U.S.-based Pew Charitable Trusts, which has been lobbying governments around the world for years to create them.
So are environmental impact assessments, or EIAs, which are a focus for the High Seas Alliance as well—a bid to create not only environmental protection standards but also public review processes that will give non-governmental environmentalists a greater voice in what would pass muster as acceptable future ocean resources development.
Pew is the organization lobbying most loudly for a 30 percent set-aside of the high seas for preservation purposes—“although not completely no-take, no-use areas,” according to Elizabeth Wilson, director of the non-profit organization’s international ocean policy program, who attended several days of the New York meeting.
Pew has also been funding pilot projects for satellite observation of protected zones as an efficient means of supporting law enforcement in the vast reaches of ocean that would be involved, as well as financing research that offers backing for the preserve concept.
As the first prepcom session neared its end, Wilson said the diplomatic talks “had gotten a lot further into the details than we expected it to do at this stage,” and that “people were feeling pretty comfortable” with the concepts involved in the mammoth ocean discussions.
Comfort with concepts, and agreement on terms, however, are still two greatly different things.
Participants in the meeting were divided over such questions as whether a new accord would create a new international oceans authority to administer the exploitation of the world’s undersea biological resources, or whether ways could be found to expand existing authorities such as the regional fisheries management organizations and the International Seabed Authority, a U.N.-sponsored creation that is currently supposed to regulate undersea mining.
One of the “most animated” areas of discussion, prep-com chairman Charles told Fox News, was how the rewards of the world’s undersea bio-heritage could be shared. “We do not yet have a legal code for their exploitation,” he declared.
Some countries were arguing that all such resources be considered the “common heritage of mankind,” a code term for a socialist-leaning vision of shared international ownership.
Other countries were emphasizing traditional “freedom of the seas,” which apparently would leave more room for private initiative.
In the case of MPAs, he said, “some member states say we first need to take stock to determine if the need for an MPA is there,” while others “say not in all circumstances.” There is also conceptual disagreement on whether such protections always need to be permanent, he said.
According to some scientific experts, there is also reason to question whether the undersea set-aside approach was really going to be all that effective in dealing with some of the world’s most pressing ocean problems, such as over-fishing.
Ray Hilborn, an internationally known fisheries expert at the University of Washington in Seattle, is one of the skeptics. Co-author of a recent study that is the groundbreaking effort to estimate the historical extent of global fish stocks, he told Fox News that while over-fishing is a serious issue, “in the a big picture, we are not close to calamity at all.”
The study he co-authored shows that “about 20 percent of the globe’s fish stocks are over-fished,” he said, and stocks of many of the major species that are commercially exploited “are in better shape than smaller fish stocks, essentially because they are better managed.”
Many of the worst problems are in Pacific fisheries exploited by Asia, where the bigger issue is getting countries such as China and Korea to honor existing fisheries management organizations.
While reforms of fisheries management are needed, the study says, “recovery can happen quickly, with the median fishery taking under 10 years to reach recovery targets.”
Closed-off ocean areas, Hilborn says, “are the crudest possible tool for fishing management. All it does is move boats somewhere else.”
Shadow battle for delegates turns to Colorado, Cruz holds edge
The shadow battle for Republican convention delegates turns next to
Colorado, where a days-long selection process will culminate this
weekend -- and once again, it seems Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has the edge.
While Donald Trump still holds a wide delegate lead in the GOP presidential primary race, his Achilles heel has been a perceived weakness in his ground game. Seeking to capitalize on this, Cruz has outmaneuvered Trump lately in the behind-the-scenes battle for delegates in places that don't assign them through traditional primaries or caucuses.
Enter states like North Dakota, and now Colorado.
Both eschewed traditional primary elections and instead held conventions -- where delegates not necessarily bound to any candidate are selected. Cruz saw this as an opportunity anyway to get allies elected to the slate, banking on their support in the event of an open convention.
The candidate, after picking up more likely delegate allies than Trump in last weekend's North Dakota convention, has been on a roll in Colorado.
Thirty-four delegates are at stake in the convention process, and the Cruz campaign told Fox News on Friday afternoon it has picked up 15 delegates so far in a series of local GOP meetings. The process culminates Saturday at the state convention where a final 13 delegates will be selected.
In Colorado, delegates can pledge themselves to a
candidate or run unbound. Those who do pledge only do so for the first
round of voting at the convention in Cleveland. The Cruz campaign says
the pro-Cruz delegates selected so far are a mix of pledged and unbound
but say they will back Cruz in Cleveland.
“His team has been masterful in being able to use their influence and power … to pull the delegates in,” Jeanne Zaino, professor of political science and international studies at Iona College, told FoxNews.com LIVE.
Trump has been trying to beef up his team's delegate expertise, recently hiring convention veteran Paul Manafort to organize and implement his convention push.
While Trump is not scheduled to appear in Colorado, the campaign recently replaced their state director, and their new operative on the ground, Patrick Davis, told Breitbart News they are distributing Trump slates and "talking with convention delegates face to face [and] changing minds."
But Cruz will appear in person, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich has dispatched former New Hampshire Sen. John E. Sununu.
“We’ve seen very little sign of Donald Trump, and a lot more Kasich stickers than Donald Trump stickers,” Andrew Boucher, a chief convention strategist for John Kasich, told FoxNews.com.
Cruz’s in-person appearance is part of a wider strategy to dominate the state’s nominating process. Colorado Republican operatives say that, just by winning the local gatherings, Cruz could lock down a majority of the 34 delegates up for grabs, even before Saturday's convention.
"Cruz has the big upper hand here," Ryan Lynch, a Colorado-based Republican told The Associated Press. "They're the only ones really organized."
Although the 34 delegates up for grabs may seem paltry compared with the 95 in New York and 172 in California -- both upcoming primary contests -- strategists point out that every delegate Cruz gets is one more step toward holding Trump under the necessary 1,237 delegates in the event of a contested convention.
“While Trump is leading in several upcoming states like New York and Pennsylvania, Cruz is pulling out all the stops with strategies to capture delegates in order to get to a contested convention,” Ron Bonjean, an unaffiliated Republican strategist, told FoxNews.com. “Every delegate that is picked off in places like Colorado is a win for Cruz and makes it harder for Trump to be the nominee.”
Kasich’s team is also taking a long-view approach, planting the seeds with unbound delegates that the Ohio governor could be the best choice at the convention in Cleveland in July.
“We are actively reaching out them. We are planting the seeds,” Boucher said. “It’s a long process.”
Trump to date has 743 delegates, while Cruz has 520 and Kasich has 143. Cruz was boosted by his Tuesday win in the Wisconsin primary, though Trump is favored to win the next bout in New York.
While Donald Trump still holds a wide delegate lead in the GOP presidential primary race, his Achilles heel has been a perceived weakness in his ground game. Seeking to capitalize on this, Cruz has outmaneuvered Trump lately in the behind-the-scenes battle for delegates in places that don't assign them through traditional primaries or caucuses.
Enter states like North Dakota, and now Colorado.
Both eschewed traditional primary elections and instead held conventions -- where delegates not necessarily bound to any candidate are selected. Cruz saw this as an opportunity anyway to get allies elected to the slate, banking on their support in the event of an open convention.
The candidate, after picking up more likely delegate allies than Trump in last weekend's North Dakota convention, has been on a roll in Colorado.
Thirty-four delegates are at stake in the convention process, and the Cruz campaign told Fox News on Friday afternoon it has picked up 15 delegates so far in a series of local GOP meetings. The process culminates Saturday at the state convention where a final 13 delegates will be selected.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
“His team has been masterful in being able to use their influence and power … to pull the delegates in,” Jeanne Zaino, professor of political science and international studies at Iona College, told FoxNews.com LIVE.
Trump has been trying to beef up his team's delegate expertise, recently hiring convention veteran Paul Manafort to organize and implement his convention push.
While Trump is not scheduled to appear in Colorado, the campaign recently replaced their state director, and their new operative on the ground, Patrick Davis, told Breitbart News they are distributing Trump slates and "talking with convention delegates face to face [and] changing minds."
But Cruz will appear in person, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich has dispatched former New Hampshire Sen. John E. Sununu.
“We’ve seen very little sign of Donald Trump, and a lot more Kasich stickers than Donald Trump stickers,” Andrew Boucher, a chief convention strategist for John Kasich, told FoxNews.com.
Cruz’s in-person appearance is part of a wider strategy to dominate the state’s nominating process. Colorado Republican operatives say that, just by winning the local gatherings, Cruz could lock down a majority of the 34 delegates up for grabs, even before Saturday's convention.
"Cruz has the big upper hand here," Ryan Lynch, a Colorado-based Republican told The Associated Press. "They're the only ones really organized."
Although the 34 delegates up for grabs may seem paltry compared with the 95 in New York and 172 in California -- both upcoming primary contests -- strategists point out that every delegate Cruz gets is one more step toward holding Trump under the necessary 1,237 delegates in the event of a contested convention.
“While Trump is leading in several upcoming states like New York and Pennsylvania, Cruz is pulling out all the stops with strategies to capture delegates in order to get to a contested convention,” Ron Bonjean, an unaffiliated Republican strategist, told FoxNews.com. “Every delegate that is picked off in places like Colorado is a win for Cruz and makes it harder for Trump to be the nominee.”
Kasich’s team is also taking a long-view approach, planting the seeds with unbound delegates that the Ohio governor could be the best choice at the convention in Cleveland in July.
“We are actively reaching out them. We are planting the seeds,” Boucher said. “It’s a long process.”
Trump to date has 743 delegates, while Cruz has 520 and Kasich has 143. Cruz was boosted by his Tuesday win in the Wisconsin primary, though Trump is favored to win the next bout in New York.
Clinton says he regrets scolding protesters at wife's rally
A day after a heated exchange with protesters, Former President Bill
Clinton is offering a near-apology for his behavior at a campaign event
for his wife, Hillary Clinton.
Bill Clinton told supporters in Erie, Pennsylvania on Friday that he likes protests but it "bothers" him when the activists drown him out.
"So I did something yesterday in Philadelphia. I almost wanted to apologize for it, but I want to use it as an example of the danger threatening our country," he said.
Bill Clinton said Americans need to be able to have conversations, even when they are angry -- a standard he failed to meet on Thursday afternoon with the protesters.
"I realized, finally, I was talking past her in the way she was talking past me. We got to stop that in this country. We got to listen to each other," he said.
The handful of protesters at the Hillary Clinton presidential rally were objecting to welfare reform and gun violence laws passed when he was in office 20 years ago.
They stood in the crowd holding signs reading
"Clinton crime bill destroyed our communities" and "Welfare reform
increased poverty."
As first lady, Hillary Clinton used the term "super-predators" to describe young people in gangs in a 1996 speech about the crime bill -- one of her husband's signature policy achievements. Some blacks have found the term offensive and Hillary Clinton has said she regrets using the term.
Bill Clinton has also said he regrets signing the 1994 legislation because it contributed to high incarceration rates of black people for nonviolent crimes, like minor drug offenses.
Bill Clinton told supporters in Erie, Pennsylvania on Friday that he likes protests but it "bothers" him when the activists drown him out.
"So I did something yesterday in Philadelphia. I almost wanted to apologize for it, but I want to use it as an example of the danger threatening our country," he said.
Bill Clinton said Americans need to be able to have conversations, even when they are angry -- a standard he failed to meet on Thursday afternoon with the protesters.
"I realized, finally, I was talking past her in the way she was talking past me. We got to stop that in this country. We got to listen to each other," he said.
The handful of protesters at the Hillary Clinton presidential rally were objecting to welfare reform and gun violence laws passed when he was in office 20 years ago.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
As first lady, Hillary Clinton used the term "super-predators" to describe young people in gangs in a 1996 speech about the crime bill -- one of her husband's signature policy achievements. Some blacks have found the term offensive and Hillary Clinton has said she regrets using the term.
Bill Clinton has also said he regrets signing the 1994 legislation because it contributed to high incarceration rates of black people for nonviolent crimes, like minor drug offenses.
Sanders trip to Vatican conference causes dust-up
Bernie Sanders announced Friday he will attend a Vatican City
conference next week, touching off a long-distance dispute over whether
the Democratic presidential candidate had elbowed his way into the
summit.
Bloomberg News quoted a senior Vatican official alleging the Vermont senator sought the invitation, accusing him of “monumental discourtesy” in doing so.
But another senior Vatican source told Fox News that is not quite true.
Sanders did receive a written invitation dated March 30 from Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences where Sanders will speak.
There are varying reports, though, over who approached whom.
Margaret Archer, president of PASS, told Bloomberg that “Sanders made the first move, for the obvious reasons,” while accusing him of going after the Catholic vote.
But the Sanders campaign called the claim “categorically untrue.”
Sorondo, speaking to Bloomberg, apparently did not say who initiated the contact – the Vatican or Sanders. Yet later speaking with Reuters, Sorondo denied that Sanders had invited himself.
Further, he told the Associated Press he extended the invitation to Sanders because he seems to have a "real interest" in studying the papal documents issued by the pope. He did not issue invitations to the other presidential candidates.
"I don't see the other candidates quoting the pope in their campaign. I don't know if the other candidates are interested in the documents of the pope," he said.
Regardless of who made the first move, the senior source who spoke with Fox News stressed that the invite did not come from Pope Francis himself.
The source told Fox News the Vatican is eager to stay out of the presidential campaign -- especially with pro-life Catholics expressing unease on social media that the pro-choice Sanders is visiting.
"Is that going to thrill us? No," the Vatican source told Fox News of Sanders' stance on abortion
It was not clear yet whether Sanders, the first Jewish candidate to win a presidential primary, would meet with the pope during his trip. Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said "if the opportunity arises he would be delighted to meet with the pope" but Sanders has not received an official invitation from the Catholic leader.
"The moral imperative that (the pope) is bringing to this discussion is absolutely extraordinary and absolutely what the world needs. These are issues that I have been dealing with for years," Sanders said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
Attendees of the Vatican conference will include Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, along with Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, a member of the academy, and Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs, an adviser to the United Nations on environmental and sustainability issues.
The meeting will mark the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's encyclical Centesimus Annus, a high-level teaching document which advocated for economic and social justice and environmental sustainability.
Sanders will be speaking at the conference of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, an advisory group comparable to a think tank that the pope has appointed to guide him on a wide range of public policy issues.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, an analyst with the National Catholic Reporter and author of "Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church," said it was unusual for a U.S. presidential candidate to be invited to participate in such an event in the middle of a campaign. European politicians and experts attend frequently, in part because they can more easily travel to Rome, he said.
But Reese cautioned that the invitation should not be interpreted in any way as an endorsement from the pope.
"Certainly the last thing Pope Francis wants to do is get involved in American presidential politics. He's made clear that he doesn't even want to interfere in Italian politics," Reese said.
Bloomberg News quoted a senior Vatican official alleging the Vermont senator sought the invitation, accusing him of “monumental discourtesy” in doing so.
But another senior Vatican source told Fox News that is not quite true.
Sanders did receive a written invitation dated March 30 from Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences where Sanders will speak.
There are varying reports, though, over who approached whom.
Margaret Archer, president of PASS, told Bloomberg that “Sanders made the first move, for the obvious reasons,” while accusing him of going after the Catholic vote.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
Sorondo, speaking to Bloomberg, apparently did not say who initiated the contact – the Vatican or Sanders. Yet later speaking with Reuters, Sorondo denied that Sanders had invited himself.
Further, he told the Associated Press he extended the invitation to Sanders because he seems to have a "real interest" in studying the papal documents issued by the pope. He did not issue invitations to the other presidential candidates.
"I don't see the other candidates quoting the pope in their campaign. I don't know if the other candidates are interested in the documents of the pope," he said.
Regardless of who made the first move, the senior source who spoke with Fox News stressed that the invite did not come from Pope Francis himself.
The source told Fox News the Vatican is eager to stay out of the presidential campaign -- especially with pro-life Catholics expressing unease on social media that the pro-choice Sanders is visiting.
"Is that going to thrill us? No," the Vatican source told Fox News of Sanders' stance on abortion
It was not clear yet whether Sanders, the first Jewish candidate to win a presidential primary, would meet with the pope during his trip. Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said "if the opportunity arises he would be delighted to meet with the pope" but Sanders has not received an official invitation from the Catholic leader.
"The moral imperative that (the pope) is bringing to this discussion is absolutely extraordinary and absolutely what the world needs. These are issues that I have been dealing with for years," Sanders said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
Attendees of the Vatican conference will include Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, along with Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, a member of the academy, and Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs, an adviser to the United Nations on environmental and sustainability issues.
The meeting will mark the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's encyclical Centesimus Annus, a high-level teaching document which advocated for economic and social justice and environmental sustainability.
Sanders will be speaking at the conference of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, an advisory group comparable to a think tank that the pope has appointed to guide him on a wide range of public policy issues.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, an analyst with the National Catholic Reporter and author of "Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church," said it was unusual for a U.S. presidential candidate to be invited to participate in such an event in the middle of a campaign. European politicians and experts attend frequently, in part because they can more easily travel to Rome, he said.
But Reese cautioned that the invitation should not be interpreted in any way as an endorsement from the pope.
"Certainly the last thing Pope Francis wants to do is get involved in American presidential politics. He's made clear that he doesn't even want to interfere in Italian politics," Reese said.
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