DeSantis talks about being Catholic as he courts evangelicals

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis has used a lot of religious rhetoric in his campaign for president, portraying himself as a warrior in the battle between cultural conservatives and leftists for the soul of America.

He’s also amped up the use of Bible verses to appeal to evangelicals, hoping to lure some who are losing their faith in former President Donald Trump to help him win the Republican primary. DeSantis has a long way to go, with Trump leading DeSantis by 38 points, according to an Emerson College National poll released Thursday.

Lately, DeSantis has begun to drop details about his Roman Catholic faith along the campaign trail, especially in his one-on-one interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network with its worldwide audience of 350 million.

“Our household is a Christ-centered household,” DeSantis told CBN political analyst David Brody, while confirming he is Catholic. His favorite Bible verse is John 14:6 where Jesus tells his disciples, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” he said.

That’s the cornerstone of his faith, DeSantis said, and what his relationship with God centers around. “God has a plan for you, I still believe that,” DeSantis said.

He and his wife, Casey, make it their job to provide religious training for their kids and are grateful they go to a school where they learn stories from the Bible. “It’s great for us when our kids are coming back from pre-school or kindergarten and talking about David and Goliath,” he said.

For Christmas last year, his son Mason, who was 4 at the time, asked for a slingshot so he could be like King David, the governor said.

He also recounted how he and his wife leaned on their faith to get through her fight with breast cancer diagnosed in 2021. “It definitely increased her spirits when we went public and people started praying for us.”

Until recently, DeSantis has downplayed his Catholic upbringing, referring to his faith in general terms. By contrast, President Joe Biden has frequently talked about being Catholic, even when it clashes with his political beliefs. DeSantis also has clashed with Catholic leaders over his immigration and death penalty policies.

After months of dodging the question, DeSantis’ staff and a priest have confirmed that DeSantis and his family regularly attend various Catholic churches in the Tallahassee area.

“I think it’s convenient timing, to be honest,” said David Jolly, the son of a Southern Baptist minister and former Republican from Tampa who served with DeSantis in Congress. “When politicians need to speak of their faith to court votes, they do it.”

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Delivering votes

Evangelicals played a big role in helping get Trump elected to the White House in 2016 and put their support behind him in 2020, too, with 85% of evangelicals voting for Trump in 2020 compared with 15% for Biden.

Former Vice President Mike Pence helped pull evangelicals into Trump’s camp and is now slowly gaining ground in the Republican presidential primary sweepstakes, Jolly said, although his polling is still in the single digits.

The evangelical community will likely play a huge role once again in primary states like Iowa and South Carolina, Brody said, before asking DeSantis why they should pick him over Trump.

“In Florida, we took a purple state and turned it into a red state,” DeSantis said, adding that he had a record percentage of evangelicals voting for him in 2022 when he beat Democrat Charlie Crist by 19 points.

He also touted his record going up against liberals, his push for strict abortion limits and preventing teachers from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation in schools.

”If Biden gets in again, the left is absolutely going to destroy this country, even more than it is now,” DeSantis said.

He sees himself as the only Republican who can do that, saying he has successfully stood up to the so-called woke conspiracy and indoctrination of leftist ideology in schools and corporations.

“I just signed legislation that teachers are not allowed to demand pronouns. Republicans are criticizing me about Disney. We stood our ground, beat Disney, ended Disney’s self-governing status,” DeSantis said. “We have universal school choice in Florida… particularly for parents who want a religious education for their kids.”

He also criticized Trump on abortion for opposing the six-week limit DeSantis signed into law. But it was Trump’s appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court who delivered the Dobbs ruling last year that cleared the way for DeSantis and the Florida Legislature to greatly limit abortion.

After the interview, Brody tweeted that he found DeSantis to be “VERY presidential; loads of depth on virtually any topic including theology and a very no-nonsense approach to fighting The Left. His answer about having that PERSONAL relationship with God was fascinating considering you typically don’t get that type of answer and language among traditional Roman Catholics.”

About 35% of US citizens identify as evangelical, of which 56% call themselves Republican, according to the Pew Research Center.

“Evangelicals are uniting behind Ron DeSantis because they know the governor’s policies and family values are in line with their own beliefs,” said David Vasquez, national press secretary for Never Back Down, the super PAC that’s pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the DeSantis campaign. “We’ve seen Gov. DeSantis prioritize meeting, listening, and praying with church leaders across the country and they recognize him as a leader governing as a man of faith.”

Engaging evangelicals by fighting a war on woke is a smart move, Jolly said.

He compares DeSantis to Pence, who has been gaining some ground in the Republican horse race for presidential nominee, and uses the language of the faith based-community. It’s a signal they recognize but in Pence’s case, it’s seen as authentic, Jolly said.

“Evangelicals are his lane. He knows the underpinnings of the evangelical community and he reflects their language and beliefs,” Jolly said. “Ron DeSantis doesn’t. It’s just never been part of his public profile.”

God made a fighter

At campaign rallies and other events, DeSantis often portrays himself as a champion chosen by God to purge America of leftist ideology.

In his reelection race for governor last year, he put out an ad that paraphrased a famous Paul Harvey essay about farmers, saying God made a fighter and protector of people’s freedom.

DeSantis is that protector who “will take the arrows, stand firm in the wake of unrelenting attacks, look a mother in the eyes and tell her that her child will be in school. She can keep her job, go to church, eat dinner with friends, and hold the hand of an aging parent taking their breath for the last time,” the ad states.

Critics expressed everything from horror to dubious amusement at the ad. Trump gave the governor the nickname of “Ron DeSanctimonious.” But deeply conservative supporters of DeSantis loved it, especially the part of the video that recounts his fight against COVID-19 restrictions, something many evangelical churches fought against, too.

One Bible verse he quotes frequently is from Ephesians, to “put on the full armor of God” but instead of using it to fight the devil’s schemes, as the verse says, DeSantis said they should wear the armor to fight leftists.

“By rewriting the words of the Bible, DeSantis changes the meaning of the text,” said Brian Kaylor, an ordained minister and author. “The author of Ephesians was talking to persecuted Christians to encourage them to remain committed to the ways of God. It’s not a call to go on the offensive against other people.”

DeSantis also said the country is ready for a spiritual revival to get back to what he believes are its founding principles.

“We need God in society. We’re free because God endowed us with inalienable rights. That’s why America was founded,” DeSantis said. “Our Constitution was created not to give us those rights but to protect the rights God already bestowed on us. That was the founders’ central insight.”

A religious upbringing

DeSantis was raised by devout Catholics in Dunedin, with a nun for an aunt and a priest for an uncle, both on his mother’s side. His uncle officiated the wedding of Ron and Casey DeSantis at Disney World in 2009, according to their marriage certificate.

He went to Mass every Sunday and attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School until he transferred to a public school to pursue his baseball dreams.

Few details beyond that have been known about the governor practiced his faith, other than their three children were all baptized with holy water from the Sea of Galilee, and that Mason, the middle child and only boy, was baptized in the governor’s mansion on the day of DeSantis’ first inauguration as governor.

In recent months, news media reports show he’s attended Mass at Ave Maria University and a Blue Mass for fallen law enforcement officers, both in Southwest Florida.

But until now his staff hasn’t answered questions about whether he attends Mass regularly, one of the key pillars of the Catholic faith.

The Very Rev. Tim Holeda, rector of the Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More and Catholic Student Center at Florida State University, confirmed that DeSantis and his family have attended Mass there and at the other parishes.

“I don’t know how often, but it’s been from time to time,” Holeda said in a recent interview.

He’s had other state lawmakers attend Mass during the session, he said. When Jeb Bush was governor, he came to church frequently, Holeda said.

“At Mass, everyone is on equal footing,” Holeda said, and he tries not to treat DeSantis differently than any other worshiper. “I am not one to judge or comment on whether he’s a practicing Catholic.”

James Uthmeier, the governor’s chief of staff and also a Catholic, said the governor and family have attended Mass at all the local parishes, “figuring out how to have a normal family experience there” and not be the center of attention.

The governor also has had priests celebrate Mass at the Governor’s Mansion and invited all staff to attend, Uthmeier said.

“He is a man of faith who wants his family to grow up in a faithful way,” Uthmeier said.