How Faith Informs the Life and Leadership of Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Like many people, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s faith journey can’t be laid out in a straight line, but his comments released Easter weekend leave little doubt of the former Florida senator’s Christian convictions.

Currently embroiled in intense negotiations involving Iran, Christians might find Marco Rubio’s story illustrative.

Born and baptized as a baby into a Catholic family that had emigrated from Cuba to Miami, the Rubios converted to Mormonism when Marco was just eight years old. The family had moved to Utah. “I immersed myself in LDS theology,” he wrote in his memoir. Yet, it appears any immersion was short-lived. The family soon returned to attending Catholic Mass.

By his own admission, Marco Rubio’s interest in faith diminished during his time as an undergraduate at the University of Florida and while pursuing his Juris Doctor at the University of Miami Law School. But then he reconnected with Jeanette Dousdebes, a woman he had first met and dated when they were in their teens. They married and began attending Christ Fellowship Church in Miami, a non-denominational congregation that was founded in 1917. 

Over the years, the Rubios have worshipped at both Christ Fellowship as well as attending Catholic Mass. The Secretary of State said he’s been intentional about focusing on the centrality of Jesus Christ – a commitment illustrated in the video he released this past weekend.

The just over one-minute video features audio from a previously recorded message delivered from the Secretary of State to what seems to be a Christian audience. We see the earth from outer space followed by stunning images of the cosmos, then a crown of thorns and a cross. 

Secretary Rubio begins, “We were all created, every single one of us, before the beginning of time, by the hands of the God of the Universe, an all-powerful God, who loved us and created us for the purpose of living with Him in eternity.” He then adds,“But then sin entered the world and separated us from our Creator. And so God took on the form of a man, and came down and lived among us.”

Secretary Rubio then proceeded to present the Passion of Christ.

“He suffered like man, and He died like a man. But on the third day, He rose unlike any mortal man. And to prove any doubters wrong, He ate with His disciples so they could see. They touched His wounds. He didn’t rise as a ghost or as a spirit, but as flesh.

“And because He took on that death, because He carried that cross, we were freed from the sin that separated us from Him. And when He returns, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and we will all be together, and we are going to have a great reunion there again.”

You then see three words on the screen: HE IS RISEN