Pope expected to eschew politics during US tour

Advisers to the Vatican say they expect Pope Francis to avoid getting involved in political disputes during his trip to the United States this week.

{mosads}“I think what he’s trying to do is make this a better place, and that essentially is a religious action,” Archdiocese of Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Bringing people to an understanding of their relationship to God and to one another.”

Wuerl said the pope’s visit will have several political ramifications, but he does not expect to address directly any ongoing debates.

“The political ramifications are a part of everything anyone says, and he’s speaking to Congress, there will be the expectation that there will be policy involved in this, but I don’t expect him to be announcing policy,” Wuerl said.

Father Thomas Rosica, an adviser to the Vatican, described the Francis’s visit as one of a “peace-maker” on Sunday.

“The backdrop of this whole visit is not what’s happening in American politics or a presidential campaign,” Rosica said. “The backdrop is a world steeped in violence and bloodshed and rancor and hatred, and here we have coming to your cities, to your diocese, a real prince of peace.”

Francis has been an outspoken critic of capitalism and an advocate for climate change awareness.

His political stances have drawn the ire Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), a Catholic, who says he will boycott the pope’s visit.

Pope Francis will deliver an open-air mass in Havana, Cuba, on Sunday as a part of his three-day trip to the communist nation. The pontiff will arrive in the United States on Tuesday.

Francis, the first Latin-American pope, was instrumental in restoring relations between the U.S. and Cuba.