EXPERT ADVISORY

After a four-day visit to Cuba, Pope Francis is now in the U.S. through Sept. 27. University of Michigan experts can discuss the pope’s visit to both countries.

Daniel Ramirez, assistant professor of history and American culture, has written extensively about religious history in the U.S. He says the pope couldn’t come at a better time as anti-immigrant sentiment gets pushed to the forefront of American politics.

“It’s no secret that the Catholic Church’s numbers have been kept constant or growing solely because of immigration and high fertility of Latino populations,” he said. “A Latin American pope will add to that feeling that this is the future of the church—that the future of the church is multicultural.”

Read Q&A with Ramirez: myumi.ch/L4yPx. Watch two video interviews: myumi.ch/6Qn3G and myumi.ch/LrXx2.

Contact: 209-406-8684, dramire@umich.edu

Brian Porter-Szücs, professor of history and an expert in Roman Catholicism, says Francis’ stances on immigration and capitalism, in addition to the church’s traditional values on abortion, divorce and homosexuality, will make Republicans and Democrats nervous during his visit.

“It’s hard to see how that kind of message is going to help any Republican Party agenda, but he can’t be appropriated by the Democrats either because of his positions on sexuality and lifestyle,” he said. “I think that when he speaks in the United States, politicians on all sides of the American political spectrum are going to squirm. He’s a challenging pope.”

Read Q&A with Porter-Szücs: myumi.ch/LqKqW. Watch two video interviews: myumi.ch/JYRg2 (on pope and politics) and myumi.ch/LoGdN (on pope and immigration).

Contact: 734-330-2626, baporter@umich.edu

Silvia Pedraza, professor of sociology and American culture, can discuss the history of the Catholic Church in Cuba, the influence of Pope John Paul II on the role of Pope Francis as a mediator between the U.S. and Cuba.

“He sees his own contribution to the process of development in Cuba as building on those blocks that were left behind in the visit of John Paul II,” she said. “He knows that right-wing dictatorships and left-wing dictatorships resemble each other an awful lot. And they do the same things to people: They make them afraid.”

Read Q&A: myumi.ch/L3DRG. Watch video interview: myumi.ch/aGelz.

Contact: spedraza@umich.edu