Pope Francis has made it clear in no uncertain terms that his brief meeting this morning with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders strictly a matter of “common courtesy” and that those painting it as more than that need a psychiatrist.

It is indeed being painted as more than that on Twitter by some Sanders supporters, who continue to suggest the Pope invited Sanders. Here’s what The Pontiff actually said today:

Bristling at impressions that his brief greeting of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday ahead of a trip to Greece was a political statement, Pope Francis called it merely “common courtesy”, and said anyone who sees it differently needs “a psychiatrist.”

And how did this meeting come about? Did the Pope seek Sanders out? Here’s what he said:

“This morning as I was leaving, Senator Sanders was there,” Francis said. “He knew I was coming out at that time, and he had the kindness to greet me.”

“When I came down, he introduced himself, I greeted him with a handshake, and nothing more,” the pope added. “It’s common courtesy, this is called common courtesy.

“If someone thinks that greeting someone is getting involved in politics,” he said, “I recommend that they find a psychiatrist.”

This episode points out some realities about American politics in the 21st century.

I’ve often noted that on America’s political right the trend is to take an assertion and repeat it over and over and over as if the repetition of it turns into a fact.And, indeed, partisans who repeat it insist it’s a fact and it’s repeated as a fact. Now (if you follow some of the political discussion on Twitter) we are seeing it on the left. But unless some want to suggest the Pope may be lying (and apparently some have done so on Twitter) or call him a bald-faced liar this is how it unfolded.

Also, it underlines the fact that that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are both...politicians. They will (ahem) finesse or cherrypick facts to place themselves in a good light, put the other in a bad light, or puff themselves up to look better than the other. However, feverish supporters of each will deny Their Person does that.

THIS JUST IN! Neither are saints.

Will Sanders having met the Pope by being there when he came out of his hotel a big difference in Tuesday’s New York primary vote? Will many voters think the Pope requested the meeting? Will any of this matter? It’ll be fascinating to see if it does. The trending ni American politics now in America is towards the dominance of symbolism, short sound bytes, talk radio-ish blunt statements, ideology and away from nuance and deliberation (which to many now means you’re mushy, don’t have principles, or are a political wuss.)

Some reaction on Twitter:

JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

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