THEY HAMMER AND SICKLE THEY COMFORT ME?:

The Pope said in an conversation published today in the Roman newspaper Il Messaggero that communists had stolen the flag of Christianity.

The paper asked him about a blog post in the Economist magazine that said he sounded like a Leninist when he criticized capitalism and called for radical economic reform.

"I can only say that the communists have stolen our flag," said the Pope, who returned to the public eye today with Mass for the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul after lying low with an apparent cold. "The flag of the poor is Christian. Poverty is at the center of the Gospel." 

He said this citing Biblical passages about the need to help the poor, the sick and the needy.

"Communists say that all this is communism. Sure, 20 centuries later. So when they speak, one can say to them: 'but then you are Christian,'" he said, laughing.

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