Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at the Republican National Convention on July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. / Credit: Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock
ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 14, 2024 / 16:10 pm (CNA).
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Catholic, is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for the key post of U.S. secretary of state.
“Marco is a highly respected leader and a powerful voice for freedom. He will be a strong advocate for our nation, a true friend to our allies, and a fearless warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump announced on Wednesday.
“I am honored by the trust President Trump has placed in me,” Rubio said in a Nov. 13 post on X. “As secretary of state, I will work every day to carry out his foreign policy agenda,” he continued. “Under the leadership of President Trump we will deliver peace through strength and always put the interests of Americans and America above all else.”
In an interview with EWTN News last week prior to his nomination, the Republican senator said he wants to turn the electoral mandate Trump received “into action so that it becomes a governing coalition in this country that allows us to actually get good things done for America.”
In the senator’s biography, which was included in Trump’s announcement, it states that “Rubio was born in 1971 in Miami as the son of two Cuban immigrants pursuing the American dream. His father worked as a banquet bartender while his mother split time as a stay-at-home mom and a hotel maid. From an early age, Rubio learned the importance of faith, family, community, and dignified work to the good life.”
Rubio made his first Communion in 1984. He received the sacrament of confirmation and was married in the Catholic Church to Colombian Jeanette Dousdebes, with whom he has four children.
Speaking at length about his faith during his 2016 run for president, Rubio said he is “fully, theologically, doctrinally aligned with the Roman Catholic Church.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.