is  Pope Francis a socialist, or even a Marxist? No, says, Archbishop  Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who tackled the pope's views on economic justice during an address at the 2014 Napa Institute this weekend. 

I think  it would be a mistake to describe him as a “liberal” -- much less a “Marxist.”  As I told the Italian newspaper La Stampa in an interview some weeks ago, words like "liberal" and "conservative" don't describe Catholic belief.  They divide what shouldn’t be divided.  We should love the poor and love the unborn child.  Service to the oppressed and service to the family; defense of the weak and defense of the unborn child; belief in the value of business and belief in restraints on predatory business practices -- all these things spring from the same Catholic commitment to human dignity. There’s nothing "progressive" about killing an unborn human child or allowing it to happen.  And there’s nothing "conservative" about ignoring the cries of the poor.

Archbishop Chaput suggested that Pope Francis was not letting anyone off the hook from their own personal responsibility to care for the poor, and he argued that the New Evangelization woujld fail witout a compelling witness of such service. He concluded, "At the heart of this pope’s thoughts about economic justice is not a theory or an ideology, but the person of Jesus Christ.  And all of us who call ourselves Christians should see in that a reason to hope." The text of Archbishop Chaput's address here.