by my priest back home but i don't get economic policy from my bishops or cardinals or from my pope. >> reporter: the first pope from latin america has put the world's poor front and center. he's urged global cooperation, backing the iran deal, issuing a sweeping new directive on climate change and helping the u.s. negotiate with cuba. >> i would ask his holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy which is critical for a free people. >> reporter: the pope met sunday with fidel castro, 33 years after ronald reagan and pope john paul ii forged a secret alliance to take on soviet communism. now conservatives like rush limbaugh have accused the pope of being a marxist. the attitude has often put the vat condition ican on the same e democrats. >> -- every catholic should vote for the democrat party. >> reporter: that's a huge shift for a church long viewed as a republican ally on the world stage and in the domestic culture war. >> i hope what the pope does is