House Intelligence Committee Chairman James Risch said Tuesday that he believes "Congress will be very respectful" to Pope Francis when he speaks to legislators on Thursday.
"I'm Catholic myself," the Idaho Republican told Wolf Blitzer on CNN. "I'm very familiar with the doctrines of the Catholic Church.
"He's a man who is certainly a holy man," Risch said of the Holy See. "He views life differently than we do. Certainly, he comes at this more from a perspective of a global perspective as opposed to an American perspective.
"Whenever you have politics and religion collide, it's at very best an awkward moment. They're not always congruent in what the objectives are of each of them.
"We'll listen carefully to what he has to say," he added. "I hope people listen politely to what he has to say, whether they agree or disagree."
Pope Francis will address Congress on Thursday morning. Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, who also is Catholic, said last week that
he would not attend the speech because he said the pontiff acts and talks "like a leftist politician" on climate change and other issues.
Gosar has said he expects other legislators to join him in boycotting the speech.
"I hope it doesn't turn into a political rally like the State of the Unions have over the recent years, indeed over recent decades, where people are popping up and clapping all the time," Risch told Blitzer. He said he hoped that legislators would be "respectfully listening to the message."
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