My, Rusty's got an outsize opinion of himself. While pretending to laugh it off, he utilizes the humblebrag to imply there might be something to listener suggestions that TIME named the pope their "person of the year" to spite old Rush. Because the librul media exists only to taunt His Magnificence, and it couldn't possibly be that the pope earned the honor for being an inspiring spiritual leader!

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RUSH: Do you think Obama's upset that he didn't win the Man of the Year award from TIME? I mean, nobody outdoes him in anti-capitalism. And to lose to a guy who's pro-life? It's gotta be a huge insult to Obama. In case you haven't heard, Pope Francis was named the Man of the Year by TIME Magazine. I'm just wondering, folks, if I gave a speech on anti-capitalism, do you think I could be named Person of the Year by TIME Magazine? If I didn't change my view, if I remained anti-abortion, if I remained anti-gay marriage -- well, the pope certainly is. Do you realize what happened here?

This is phenomenal. I can't tell you the number of people -- I don't, frankly, believe this. I can't tell you the number of people who have gotten hold of me today who think the pope was named Man of the Year because of me. That the media decided they hated me more than the pope. That TIME Magazine hated me more than the pope, and therefore it was a thumb in my eye.

Now, I'm not a narcissist and I don't think everything's about me, but I can't tell you the number of people who've sent me notes: "Do you realize you made this happen? If you had not said a word about this, they would have picked somebody else like Snowden or take your pick." Who knows, ladies and gentlemen.

I actually thought it was gonna be Miley Cyrus until the pope came along with his anti-capitalist rant. But there are people, I'm telling you, that think I should be the co-recipient, that nobody would have even noticed what the pope had written about capitalism if it hadn't been for me. But I don't think that, ladies and gentlemen.

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RUSH: Mauricio in Auburn, Kansas, it's great to have you on the EIB Network, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hey, thank you, Rush, for taking my call.

RUSH: You bet. Great to have you here.

CALLER: Merry Christmas and Viva Cristo Rey. Well, I listen to the Catholic Channel, you know, (unintelligible), and I (unintelligible) I listen to (unintelligible) and every day, and today's only, today's only our father mentioned we know perfectly he was talking about you, even the e-mail that I have received and everything, they said yes, he was talking about --

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Ho-ho-ho hold on --

CALLER: Sure.

RUSH: You were watching the Catholic TV channel, EWTN, and the priest that was doing the homily mentioned me?

CALLER: Not by name. He didn't mention you by name.

RUSH: Well, then how do you know he was talking about me?

CALLER: Oh, because all the comments that he make were perfectly about your comments about the Holy Father, about you mentioning that the Holy Father got Marxism or Marxist approach to poverty and he mentioned --

RUSH: You know, that wasn't even my interpretation. I wish I had the original thing I was reading from. It was somebody else's interpretation. I would not have thought to call it Marxist. I would have called it socialist. Somebody else called it Marxist but that's neither here or there.

CALLER: He was saying that the word "capitalism," "capitalism" wasn't even found in the documents of the Holy Father, and he was quoting directly from the document, basically, and he mentioned that four times.

RUSH: Wait a minute.

CALLER: Yeah?

RUSH: Your priest said that in the papal document, the word "capitalism" wasn't even mentioned?

CALLER: That's right. That's right. Yes.

RUSH: And they're telling me I'm wrong?

CALLER: Yes. Yes. He said that instead what he mentioned four times was --

RUSH: Did the priest also say that the Holy Father did not criticize "trickle-down"?

CALLER: Well, what he said is that he mentioned --

RUSH: Why was this guy even referencing who you think is me in his homily? Why was he even doing it? What was his point?

CALLER: He's point was he was urging us not to go -- not to rely on comments about the Holy Father's document but to go directly to them.

RUSH: Oh, okay.

CALLER: He was saying don't pay any attention to those people who make comments that the Holy Father has about America's approach, and then he says go --

RUSH: (laughing)

CALLER: -- to the original document and read by yourself what he actually said. He says, "I can show you how he's far away from being a Marxist or from being a socialist. Those people who even conceived that idea, they don't know what they're talking about."

RUSH: Well, let me tell you something. Let me just tell you something, Mauricio. I did not make this up. I read a translation of what the Holy Father, and in fact, the term "unfettered capitalism" was mentioned, and then somebody wrote later, "He never said that!"

CALLER: No.

RUSH: The term "trickle-down" was criticized, and then somebody wrote, "He never said that!"

CALLER: No. He never said that.

RUSH: So why did TIME name him Man of the Year if he did not rip capitalism? 'Cause there's nothing else about the pope that TIME Magazine would admire. The pope is pro-life. They're not. The pope believes in Christ, and to TIME Magazine that's like showing Dracula the cross. The pope is anti-gay marriage. TIME Magazine's for it. If the pope didn't rip capitalism, why is he Man of the Year?

CALLER: I don't know. That's a mystery to me too. Yeah, that's a mystery to me, too. (chuckling) Yeah, that's a mystery to me, too.

RUSH: It was a Reuters report. I was reading a Reuters report which would love it. Reuters couldn't contain themselves! They were so happy reporting what the Holy Father had said!

CALLER: Yeah, they made a mistake because --

RUSH: I'm just telling you, this --

CALLER: The term is "unbridled consumerism."

RUSH: You know, I had people earlier today tell me that the pope is named Man of the Year just so the media could stick a thumb in my eye, and I said, "No, that can't possibly be!" I'm beginning to wonder now, with these sermons on the Catholic TV network about this.

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RUSH: It was the Reuters story that quoted somebody quoting the Holy Father as a Marxist. It was Reuters that was reporting all this stuff about what was in the Holy Father's economic document. So they make him Man of the Year.

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RUSH: I sort of gave this little Drive-By at the at the beginning of the program. Let me deal here with it, here, with -- oh, I guess a little more the depth, maybe at a slower pace. I kid you not. My e-mail, both from friends and from the public e-mail box, ElRushbo@eibnet.com, and subscriber e-mail from members of Rush Limbaugh, I can't tell you the number of emails. Yeah, this is the most blamed radio program.

Anyway, I can't tell you the number of people that sent me notes saying, "You know, you're the reason why TIME Magazine named pope the Man of the Year," and I immediately discarded it, 'cause I'm not of the opinion that things work that way. I mean, I realize I irritate the left, but Man of the Year, serious thing for TIME Magazine. Their criteria is gonna be more than just, "Did it irritate Rush Limbaugh?" That was my thinking.

And then somebody said, "Well, before you reject this..." This is an e-mail that I've got after I started the program today. "Before you reject this, take a look at what has actually happened, some of the timeline on this. So the pope issues his papal document ripping capitalism. You are practically the only prominent national person to reply to it in highly analytical, critical form, taking it apart word by word as you had it."

Now, what I had was a Reuters story that was reporting via the translation of the Holy Father's remarks, and in that translation were "unfettered capitalism," a huge, huge hit on what the pope was said to have called "trickle-down," and a plea for leaders of the world to do something about "income inequality" and about poverty and so forth, as though no one's been doing that. I remember when I saw it, I was really shocked. I could not believe...

Well, I don't need to revisit it all. You were here that day; you heard it. Anyway, I didn't hold back. None of it was personal. You know, I've been to the Vatican more than anyplace else outside this country. I've been back there two or three times. I've been to London a couple times, but internationally, I'm fascinated by the place. I'm not gonna repeat myself on all this. I explained earlier my close friendships, associations with ranking members of the Catholic Church and Cardinal O'Connor and so forth.

My point is I've got no bias again it, quite the contrary, and I was literally stunned by what I read in that Reuters report. Because if it weren't for capitalism, there wouldn't be a Catholic Church. They wouldn't have any money. People wouldn't have been able to support it, to contribute to it, to donate to it, without capitalism -- and a full 60% of the Catholic Church wealth comes from the United States via donations. I think I read that.

They're the largest landowner in Manhattan, for example. It didn't jibe with anything of previous popes, particularly John Paul II. Anyway, this person says, "Rush, look at what's happened here. You're the only one, but more importantly, who is the pope? Do you realize what TIME Magazine has done here? They have just named as Man of the Year a man who stands for things they despise. The man is pro-life and unalterably so, and there isn't anybody at TIME Magazine who is.

"The man believes in God and Christ, and that is also controversial for people on the left and in the media. But for TIME Magazine to name as Man of the Year somebody who is forcefully pro-life, forcefully anti-abortion? Remember, Rush," the e-mail says, "as you have pointed out, abortion is the sacrament for liberals. If liberalism is a religion, abortion is their sacrament. In addition, the pope is unwaveringly opposed to gay marriage, and there probably nobody at TIME Magazine who is opposed to gay marriage.

"So look what they've done. They've taken one thing that they think the pope said. The pope, as far as everybody's concerned, totally ripped into capitalism -- and when you do that, you're ripping into the United States. Where else is there any more that is predominantly capitalist? Every place else in the world is either a socialist democracy or communist or some degree of it, Marxist. The United States is it, and TIME Magazine names the pope as their Man of the Year. Look at the choice they had to make.

"They had to set aside their literal opposition to the man on abortion and gay marriage and choose him as Man of the Year because he attacked capitalism. Now, you, Rush, are the only guy who attacked the pope, or is thought to have attacked the pope." This is why this e-mail resonated. The question was put to me, "If you had not made a big deal of this, would the pope being Man of the Year at TIME Magazine?"

That's the question, and that's where I said, "I don't go for that, 'cause I don't think that way. They're not sitting there in their meetings on Man of the Year and saying, "Okay, who can we choose that would tick off Limbaugh?" That's just not how they do it. I'm telling you, I still have overwhelming numbers of people writing me, claiming that... I mean, the pope is against birth control pills, folks.

Do you understand that the foundation building block of Obamacare is free birth control for everybody? The pope opposes that. The pope opposes everything the left stands for except he ripped into capitalism, they think. Why else would they name him Man of the Year? He hasn't been in office that long. Why else would they do it? Is there any other reason? What else would be noteworthy? He hasn't been there long enough, right?

There's no official record yet. He just hasn't been in office long enough, and this is the theory behind those trying to convince me -- and then we get this call from this guy who was watching this worldwide Catholic network, a homily on EWTN where I am ripped to shreds but not by name. So I don't know. I might have to rethink this. The Catholic Church is the largest landowner on the planet, not just Manhattan.

They wouldn't have much of what they've got were it not for capitalism. I mean, charity didn't build 'em. Look, the Nobel Peace Prize people gave Obama his peace prize on the come. Do you think they'd like to pull that back? (interruption) You think they would? (interruption) Oh, the NSA? Yeah, yeah. The spying, the drones? (interruption) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. (interruption) The selfies? One other thing.

This is Wednesday, so I must have seen this over the weekend and talked about it on Monday. Was I here Monday? I was. I have read it. Have you read this, too, Snerdley where the Catholic Church or the Vatican is declaring a clarification on the pope's remarks on capitalism? (interruption) You've seen that, too? Okay, so I'm not the only one who's seen that. I referenced that earlier in the week, and I don't think TIME Magazine knows that.

Now, if the Vatican issues a clarification on the pope's remarks on capitalism and claiming that it was not translated properly, whatever they say, and if the Vatican tries to walk it back a little bit, what's TIME gonna do then? 'Cause that's the only reason -- why else, at this stage of his papacy, name him Person of the Year? And that's not to put down the Holy Father. I thought it'd be Miley Cyrus because anything that assaults American culture they love and dig over there at TIME Magazine, Time Warner, Time-Life. So that is all I want to say on it. I'm just sharing with you basically the e-mails that I have received.

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RUSH: All right, folks, I'm gonna tell you what I think really happened on this pope business. I do not think and nobody is ever gonna be able to convince me that TIME Magazine named Pope Francis Man of the Year to thumb me in the eye or any of that. I don't think that's what happened.

Here's what happened. Whether you want to believe it or not, the left hates and despises Christianity, and particularly the Catholic Church 'cause it's the biggest. They do not like it at all. I firmly believe that the left has been infiltrating the Catholic Church over the years with the full intent of discrediting it from within. There is no respect for the Catholic Church or love or appreciation. As I say, the left and abortion, the left and gay marriage, the left and birth control, the Catholic Church leads the opposition to those things. And yet Il Papa has been named TIME Magazine's Man of the Year. And TIME Magazine is the left-wing media. They are Time Warner. They are it. They are as much ranking members as any other organization. New York Times, Washington Post, you name it.

I think what happened here is they became aware of what Il Papa said about capitalism, aided by me. I did make a big deal of it. I think when they found out about it, they were so excited that the Catholic Church, which they've been trying to destroy, sided against some aspect, a major aspect of this country, that they had to reward it. I think that's what happened.