Reid: ‘We sure do like this new pope’

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) expressed his admiration for Pope Francis in an interview published Wednesday.

“We sure do like this new pope,” he told The New York Times.

{mosads}But he also said he met in the past with one of the pope’s detractors, Cardinal Raymond Burke. Burke is one of the church’s top conservative thinkers, but his power has been diminished within the church under the leadership of the more progressive Francis.

“Now Claire McCaskill and others just hate the man,” he said. McCaskill is the Democratic senator from Missouri, and Burke used to be the archbishop of St. Louis.

Reid gave the interview the same day McCaskill voted against him in leadership elections.

Reid isn’t the only congressional fan of the pope, who has drawn attention for taking stances on causes like income inequality and appearing more open to the inclusion of gay people in the church. In March, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) invited the pontiff to address a joint session of Congress.

Pope Francis will visit the U.S. for the first time in September 2015. He is expected to stop in Philadelphia and New York.