Vatican observer to analyze papal choice April 3

Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest, will analyze the selection of Argentina’s Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new pontiff at a National Press Club Newsmaker at 10 a.m., Wednesday, April 3.

Reese will comment on the ways this papacy may reshape the Catholic Church.

Reese, an author and popular speaker who leads the Woodstock Theological Center’s work on Religion and Public Policy, spent most of March in Rome covering the election of the new pope for The National Catholic Reporter. Holder of a doctorate in political science, he has written a series of books analyzing the politics and organization of the Catholic Church, generating controversy with his writings on such issues as priestly celibacy and the ordination of women.