In a blog titled "Francis, capitalism and war: The pope's divisions", the British weekly accused the Pope of following Lenin in adopting an "ultra radical line" on capitalism.

This followed the wide-ranging interview the Pope gave to Spanish daily La Vanguardia.

"By positing a link between capitalism and war, he seems to be taking an ultra-radical line: one that consciously or unconsciously follows Vladimir Lenin in his diagnosis of capitalism and imperialism as the main reason why world war broke out a century ago," The Economist said.

"He observes what he calls the 'idolatry of money' in some places and hungry children in others. . . he concludes that economists must be missing some important point," the magazine continued.

But the blog conceded that even though Francis may not be getting the economic diagnosis or answers to problems exactly right, he is asking the right questions.

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