'In Milestone, Pope Francis Will Address Congress This Fall'

Mathew N. Schmalz, associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross,and a papal expert recently spoke with the Associated Press about the Pope addressing Congress during his visit to the U.S. in September.

The story ran in more than 400 media outlets across the U.S., and Schmalz comments were included in AP’s “Quotations in the News” on Feb. 6, 2015. He tells the Associated Press: "He [Pope Francis] has a track record of challenging people," says Schmalz. "I don't think he'll be overawed by Congress."

CNN also spoke with Schmalz discussing religious diversity within the country, after President Obama discussed the fight against ISIS at a National Prayer Breakfast last week. "We're at a special point where America is finally coming to terms with its religious diversity. We're not just Christians, we're Muslims, Hindus," Schmalz tells CNN. "It shows President Obama is a lightning rod of the differing perceptions of what it means to be an American president."

"We are experiencing a very strong reaction against religion, against an assertion of traditional religious identities. There is a lot of social tension," it is a good time for sober voices, Schmalz continues.

Schmalz is a contributor to Crux (the Boston Globe's site on Catholicism) and the Huffington Post. He has published opinion pieces in the Washington Post, Commonweal Magazine, The National Catholic Reporter, and has provided expert commentary to USA Today, The New York Times, the Washington Post, ABC's Good Morning America, The Boston Globe, NPR, CNBC, MSNBC, and U.S. News & World Report, among others. He was quoted in more than 500 media outlets across the country in 2013-2014.

Read the full CNN article here.

Read the full Associated Press article here.

This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Jacqueline Smith ’15.