Now CNN Wonders: Would Jesus Occupy Wall Street?

Better late than never, right? Earlier today, CNN finally asked the same question the Blaze posed earlier this month: Would Jesus Christ occupy Wall Street?

On "CNN Newsroom," Contributor Carol Costello asked how Jesus would feel about the Occupiers, then launched into a brief analysis.

She said that the question -- whether Christ would occupy the financial district -- is an interesting one, and went on to make a number of comments about Jesus and the Catholic Church. The Daily Caller has more:

Costello cited a Sydney Morning Herald article in which a Vatican official said people should evaluate whether business “is not leading to our welfare, to our good.” Costello said the answer could be “yes.”

“Occupy Oakland protesters hurled paint at riot police, [and] riot police hurled tear gas,” she said. “Jesus here? Some argue yes, and the Vatican seems to be backing them up. The Sydney Morning Herald reports a Vatican official says the Wall Street protests are justified. Pope Benedict himself has called for overhauling global financial rules because the gap between rich and poor is so wide.”

These comments will likely frustrate some Catholics, who have attempted to provide a frame of reference for a recent note that came from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, an arm of the Vatican.

The proposals held within the note, viewed by some as calls for a global financial overhaul and a pseudo-endorsement of the Occupy movement, have created a great deal of controversy. The Washington Post has an excellent breakdown of the debate that's going on among Catholics:

Many conservative Catholics writers, who often defend the Vatican against critique, have suggested that the council either lacks the authority to compel Catholics to support it, or that the media is misrepresenting the full vision of the document. Meanwhile, liberal Catholics who tend to emphasize the church’s teachings on social justice are heralding the document as proof of the church’s solidarity with global economic protests and those who are suffering during this time of economic downturn.

It should be noted that these proposals did not come from Pope Benedict himself. No one knows whether he was even aware of the contents of the note before it was released.

In terms of answering whether Jesus would have been an Occupy Wall Street supporter, Costello left it up in the air:

“Jesus did repudiate the desire for personal wealth. He did advocate for care of the poor and for the powerless. But Jesus also believed in community — people helping out others, not government per se. So would Jesus walk alongside these protesters?”

Watch her comments, below:

(H/T: The Daily Caller)