Marco Rubio was baptized as a Mormon
As a child, the conservative phenom was baptized as a Mormon. He later returned to the Catholic Church. (Flickr: Gage Skidmore)
By JORDAN FABIAN
Channel: Politics
A new revelation about Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s personal biography paints an even more complex picture of his identity.
BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins reports Thursday that Rubio, a rising star in the Republican Party and a potential vice presidential nominee, was baptized as a Mormon during his youth in Nevada and his family was active in the church for several years:
In the compelling personal narrative that has helped propel Florida Senator Marco Rubio to national political stardom, one chapter has gone completely untold: Rubio spent his childhood as a faithful Mormon.
Rubio was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with his family at around the age of eight, and remained active in the faith for a number of years during his early youth, family members told BuzzFeed.
Rubio spokesman Alex Conant confirmed the story to BuzzFeed, and said Rubio returned to the Catholic church a few years later with his family, receiving his first communion on Christmas day in 1984 at the age of 13.
According to the report, Rubio and his mother converted to Mormonism but his father declined. The information was revealed by two of Rubio’s cousins, one of whom is a state senator in Nevada:
By the cousins’ account, the Rubios were introduced to Mormonism in the late 70’s, after moving into a house in the Denises’ neighborhood. The two families’ mothers had always been close as sisters growing up in Cuba; now they were building congruent lives in the same middle-class suburb of Las Vegas.
Mo said the Denises—who had converted to Mormonism years earlier—wasted little time in sharing their religion with the Rubios.
“Right when they moved here, they started going to the church activities with me,” said Michelle, who grew close to Rubio and his sister, Veronica. “Our parents didn’t let us hang out with non-family members too much. They were pretty strict.”
As a potential vice presidential candidate, Rubio’s background has been heavily scrutinized. Media outlets dug into the story of his family’s move from Cuba to the United States, which turned out to be for economic reasons, not as exiles.
And his religious background is also complex. Rubio long ago adopted Roman Catholicism and publicly identifies himself as a member of the church, but he and his family belong to a Baptist non-denominational mega church near Miami.
Of course, Rubio’s Catholic identity is important for him politically, it’s the dominant faith of Cuba and of the Cuban-American community in South Florida, his base of support.
Even though it’s an inherently personal element of one’s life, religious identity still plays an outsized role in U.S. politics (see: the scrutiny of Barack Obama’s relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Mitt Romney’s Mormonism). This year will be the first time the Republican Party will nominate a non-Protestant for president.
Today’s revelation is by no means disqualifying, but it goes to show that Rubio’s personal background still has not been completely vetted, which is one potential hold back for him when considering the vice presidential nod.
