Ann Coulter-Pope Francis Controversy: Conservative Pundit Blasts Pontiff's Anti-Capitalism Message As Cause Of Latin American Poverty

No later than an hour after Pope Francis finished delivering historic remarks in an arrival ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, firebrand conservative columnist Ann Coulter trashed the pontiff for pitting the poor against the rich. Coulter tweeted to her 660,000 Twitter followers that the pope’s critique of U.S. income inequality and capitalism was a reflection of his roots in Latin America, a region of the world with staggering rates of poverty and lackluster economic growth.

A Twitter user responded to Coulter's tweet, sarcastically criticizing the pundit's remarks, and Coulter responded:

In his remarks, the pope called on Americans to make good on the promise of the country, where all residents have equal opportunities to prosper. Francis has previous called capitalism “a new tyranny” of the world that “deadens us” in its perpetuation.

The pope has written extensively on the subject, noting: "How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape."

He continued: "Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a 'disposable' culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it."

Francis, who is Argentinian, hails from a region where economic growth was expected to drop below 1 percent in 2015, according to the International Monetary Fund. The South America nation’s growth was weighed down by lower commodity prices, while Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean had a slightly better outlook.