Rick Santorum Religion

Rick Santorum - Religion

(Our questions about Senator Rick Santorum's religion were sent to the Rick Santorum 2012 campaign on October 10, 2011 and followed up with reminders. Senator Rick Santorum has yet to answer our religion questions for presidential candidates.

Over the years, however, Rick Santorum has spoken about his religion, including at Ave Maria University in 2008 (transcript). This section probes Rick Santorum's religion from his statements and will be updated when he answers our questions.)

Rick Santorum was born into Roman Catholicism, the religion of his Italian-American parents, who baptized him as a Roman Catholic when he was an infant and raise him in it:

"It begins with a seed. There was a hybrid seed planted in me, grafting of the Catholic faith of growing up in, for lack of a better term, a Catholic ghetto, where all of my friends, everybody I knew, were Catholic. I went to Catholic grade school." (Rick Santorum, August 2008, Ave Maria University)

But Rick Santorum soon drifted away from his religion:

"I was raised in the 60s and in the early 70s. And I bought it. I drank the Kool-Aid. And back then there was really Kool-Aid that people drank. And I went to a school and I certainly didn't follow the norms of what I've heard here today." (Rick Santorum, August 2008, Ave Maria University)

Things did not change until after he became a US Senator:

"When I got elected to the United States Senate, this man on the move who was running every two years, overcoming odds, leaping tall buildings in a single bound, had six years to well, just think. And one of the things I thought was, you know, maybe I have time to think of what God has planned for me, because I wasn't thinking very much about that." (Rick Santorum, August 2008, Ave Maria University)

So what changed him?

"I joined a Bible study. I went to - one of the great blessings - I went to a great church in northern Virginia, Saint Catherines of Sienna of Great Falls [with a] great priest by the name of Jerome Fasano. Great priests can do so much good. Well, this great priest started to challenge me in ways priests never challenged me before. He knew who I was, and I felt like, just about every sermon he gave was directed at me. And so, I went through this period both in the Senate with a Bible study and a prayer group that I started where my faith just started to take off, blossom. And it was incredible. And it felt like I was a whole new person." (Rick Santorum, August 2008, Ave Maria University)

>> Continued
1. When and how did you become Christian?
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2. How did becoming Christian change you?
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3. How would you describe your relationship with Jesus today?
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4. In the past 12 months, how much time have you spent in prayer with Jesus daily?
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5. In the past 12 months, how much Bible-reading have you averaged daily?
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6. In the past 12 months, what percentage of your income have you returned to God?
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7. In the past 12 months, how many non-Christians have you told why Jesus died?
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8. In the past 12 months, how many church services have you attended?
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9. Which church do you attend most frequently?
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10. Which gift(s) has the Holy Spirit given you and what fruit(s) have they borne?
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