Funny…I seem to remember being taught as a young Catholic girl that charity begins at home….

Pope Francis invited Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Vatican April 15 just ahead of the April 19 make or break New York primary.

Sanders has been invited by the pontiff to a conference hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The conference will be dealing with “social, economic, and environmental issues.”

Sanders announced the Vatican visit on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Sanders made clear he has some differences with the pope but liked that he is “injecting a moral consequence into the economy.”

Sanders, who is Jewish, is married to Catholic Jane O’Meara Sanders. When announcing the news, Sanders said he, “was very moved by the invitation, which just was made public today.” The senator went on to jokingly say that, “you know, people say Bernie Sanders is radical — read what the pope is writing.” Via: Daily Caller 

Meanwhile back in Pope Frances’ home country of Argentina, economic crises besiege them with the regularity of earthquakes over a tectonic plate. These crises can be devastating, wiping out family savings, employment and life plans. It seems we’re always recovering from or preparing for some sort of economic shock. Sometimes, our survival strategies can even contribute to the subsequent crisis.

Last month Argentine voters very narrowly opted for a political sea change, voting out the Peronist faction led by Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (she and her deceased husband governed the country for the last 12 years) and electing the conservative mayor of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri, to replace her.

The business-friendly president-elect ran in opposition to a government that has been highly divisive, defined by extensive social spending and statist economic policies that antagonized large business interests and foreign investors. Kirchner leaves office with a high approval rating of about 50 percent, thanks to popular policies such as a per-child conditional cash transfer policy for poor families and a focus on human rights, such as gay marriage. But the economy is stagnant, annual inflation is around 25 percent, and the fiscal deficit could amount to an alarming 6 percent of the country’s GDP this year.

President-elect Macri has promised to shock the highly regulated economy into market-based reality. One element of his approach will be the elimination of strict currency controls put in place to prevent capital flight. The cost could be a devaluation of up to 60 percent. Economists, like gym gurus, always seem to argue that a bright future can only be attained with short-term pain.

The government’s official exchange rate allows you to buy a dollar for about 9.6 pesos. But since 2011, access to dollars has been highly limited in an attempt to keep people and companies from taking money out of the country.