“I want to end by thanking Almighty God and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is truly the singular purpose of our lives and my most important priority. It’s the only thing that will matter when we take our last breath on this earth. But this is an extraordinary opportunity that would not have been possible without God’s blessings.”

This is how Marco Rubio concluded his remarks after being sworn-in on January 21, 2025 as our 72nd Secretary of State – humbly and giving glory to God.

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As our country’s chief diplomat, negotiator, and representative of President Trump’s foreign policy around the world and here at home, Secretary Rubio believes his mission is to enact President Trump’s clear America First mission for the State Department and to “ensure that our foreign policy is centered on one thing – the advancement of our national interests in ways that make us stronger or safer or more prosperous.”

Mr. Rubio said, “I believe deeply we are headed into a new era that I think will make the world a safer place. We have a president whose primary goal for American foreign policies is the promotion of ‘peace through strength’ without abandoning our values… We endeavor to promote peace around the world because that’s in our national interest. Without peace, it is hard to be a strong nation or a prosperous nation.”

A Son of Cuban Immigrants

Secretary Rubio was born in Miami, Florida in May 1971 and grew up in the Cuban-American communities of South Florida. He is the son of Cuban immigrants who left Cuba in 1956 while living under the Battista dictatorship. They came to find the American Dream. In 1959, Fidel Castro took over the country in the Cuban Communist Revolution.

Mr. Rubio was greatly influenced by his maternal grandfather, Pedro Victor Garcia, who came to America in the 1960s escaping Cuba. His grandfather spoke very little English and lived with the Rubio family while Marco was growing up. He shared with a young Marco how communism destroyed Cuba.

“My grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan,” Rubio has said. “My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything and be anything if I was willing to work hard. And he taught me this in Spanish.” It was his grandfather who ignited Rubio’s passion for politics.

Football and Family

Mr. Rubio attended South Miami High School where he was a star football player. He graduated in 1989. He went to Tarkio College in Missouri for one year before returning to Florida and graduating from the University of Forida in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He received his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law in 1996.

Mr. Rubio is known for his passion for football and is a huge Miami Dolphins fan.

He met his wife, Jeanette Dousdebes, the daughter of Columbian immigrants, at a neighborhood party shortly after high school. Jeanette was once a Miami Dolphins cheerleader. They married in the Catholic Church in 1998 and have four children, Amanda, Daniella, Anthony and Dominic. The three oldest are in college and the youngest is a junior in high school.

Mr. Rubio credits his wife’s support “every step of the way” for his success in his political career. He says, “It is impossible to do this job without the support of my family, and particularly my wife.”

He says of his children, “They’re the most important legacy any of us will leave behind – our children. The most important job I’ll ever have is that of father and husband.”

Political Background

Mr. Rubio began his political career in 1998 as a city commissioner for West Miami just shy of his 27^th birthday. He later won a seat in the Florida House of Representatives as a conservative Republican in 2000 representing Miami. He rose to become Speaker of the Florida House in 2005, until his term-limited retirement from the State House in 2008.

Mr. Rubio gained a political reputation as being a “true conservative, but not a reflexive partisan,” meaning he would listen and work with the other side.

In 2010, Mr. Rubio ran for Florida’s senate seat, first in the primary against Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist. Mr. Rubio won the primary and Crist decided to run as an independent. In a three-way race and riding the Tea Party wave, Mr. Rubio won the general election with 49% of the vote.

Rubio said in his victory speech, “Let me begin tonight by acknowledging a simple but profound truth: We are all children of a powerful and great God.”

The new Senator Rubio also promised to make decisions consistent with “a Christian worldview informed by the Bible and guided by prayer.”

Senate Career

Senator Rubio has served in the Senate for 14 years as a staunch conservative earning a 98.67 lifetime voting rating from the American Conservative Union, supporting such issues as lowering taxes, balancing the budget, closing the Department of Education, securing the border, and protecting religious freedom.

He is a strong pro-life and pro-family advocate. He celebrated the overturning of Roe v Wade saying, “Abortion violates the most fundamental human right – the right to life – and requiring its legalization was never constitutional.”

Rubio has long opposed same-sex marriage, believing it is the duty of Christians to oppose the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

“There is no way that you can read that Constitution and deduce from it that there is a constitutional right to an abortion, or a constitutional right to marry someone of the same sex,” Rubio said. “Marriage is between a man and a woman,” he firmly states. “I’m not going to change with the polls or the times.” He stands firmly against the LGBTQ+ agenda.

A Foreign Policy Star

In his time in the Senate, Rubio gained a reputation as a “rock-ribbed,” “peace through strength” conservative on foreign policy. In his first term, he supported the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

As vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, Rubio was most concerned with the foreign military and economic threats from China. He considers China “the most potent and dangerous adversary this nation has ever faced” and said of the Chinese Communist Party that it has “lied, cheated, hacked, and stolen their way to global superpower status at our expense.”

In a speech last year, he warned that China, Iran, North Korea and Russia are increasingly partnering against the United States. “They all share one goal, and that is, they want to weaken America, weaken our alliances, weaken our standing and our capability and our will,” he said.

In 2022, Rubio condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. His position now is that the war has reached a stalemate and needs to be brought to an end to spare further casualties.

Rubio is a strong supporter of Israel, condemning the Hamas attack on October 7^th and championing Israel’s right to defend itself. He has called for the complete eradication of Hamas in Gaza, and blamed Hamas for all the Palestinian casualties in Gaza. He has called out Iran for funding the Hamas attack as Iran wants to be the dominant power in the region. “Iran must be deterred,” Rubio states.

On March 1^st, Secretary of State Rubio issued an emergency declaration to expedite the delivery of $4 billion in military aid and arms to Israel reversing Biden’s partial arms embargo of Israel. “Israel has no greater ally in the White House than President Trump,” declared Rubio.

His Senate colleagues, recognizing Rubio’s experience and confident in his abilities, voted to approve his nomination as Secretary of State by an extremely rare 99-0 unanimous vote.

A Bruising 2016 Presidential Campaign

Before the rise of MAGA, Rubio announced his candidacy for president in 2015. It was a crowded Republican primary field with another Cuban-American, Senator Ted Cruz, as well as Forida’s former governor, Jeb Bush, and a dark horse billionaire, Donald Trump.

During the primaries, Rubio was no fan of Trump. He called him a “con artist” who was “hijacking the conservative movement,” and “unprepared to be president of the United States.” Trump tagged him with the nickname, “Little Marco.” Rubio dropped out of the race after losing his home state to Trump. Rubio endorsed Trump in the 2016 presidential race and said he wasn’t proud he engaged in personal insults during the race.

During President Trump’s first term, Rubio’s support of Trump’s agenda grew. He acknowledged that Trump gave voice to working-class and middle-class Americans who believed the American Dream was out of reach for them. “That sentiment needed to be heard and that needed to transform our party,” he said.

Rubio emerged as one of Mr. Trump’s strong defenders in the Senate on both domestic and foreign issues. He supported Trump’s re-election campaigns in 2020 and 2024. Rubio was even on the V.P. short list before Trump chose Senator JD Vance.

Trump and Rubio are very much of the same mind when it comes to the President’s foreign policy moving forward. As such, Trump wanted Rubio as his Secretary of State.

In selecting Rubio, President Trump called him a “highly respected leader,” a powerful voice for freedom, and “a strong advocate for our nation, a true friend to our allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries.”

The Greatest Influence of His Life

Secretary Rubio is a Roman Catholic. He was raised Catholic and went to Mass with his mother. He “played priest” as a young boy. When the family briefly moved to Nevada, they attended the Mormon church.

But as a young teenager, Rubio wished to return to Catholicism and convinced his parents to do so. The family returned to Miami and Rubio began attending Mass every morning.

In his memoir American Son, which he wrote in 2013, he admits that with his family and in life, he had grown “lazy” spiritually, and “busy” in achieving worldly success. He confessed he lapsed “considerably in his spiritual responsibilities to his family.”

During this time, his wife, Jeannette, began taking their children to a Baptist, charismatic, evangelical church, Christ Fellowship, in Miami. Rubio eventually followed. He liked the “contemporary gospel message” of Christ Fellowship, but yearned for the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the body and blood of Jesus. He returned to his Catholic roots once again, only this time with no doubts about his faith.

Secretary Rubio is outspoken about his faith, calling it ‘the single greatest influence in my life.’ “For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45).

Secretary Rubio often speaks like an evangelist. “Our goal is eternity,” he has said, “the ability to live alongside our creator for all time, to accept the free gift of salvation offered to us by Jesus Christ.” For Rubio the center of his faith is Jesus. “God became a man, came down to Earth, and died for our sins,” he said.

In his last speech in the Florida House of Representatives, he declared “God is real.”

At his speech at the Republican National Convention in 2012, he said, “Faith in our Creator is the most important American value of all.”

In 2013 TIME magazine put Marco Rubio on the cover calling him the Republican Savior. Rubio did not like that and posted, “There is only one Savior, and it’s not me. #Jesus.”

At his confirmation hearing for Secretary of State, Rubio promised, “My faith is critical and something I will lean and rely on heavily in a tumultuous world where in my faith we are called to promote the cause of peace and the common good, and that task has gotten harder than it’s ever been.”

Challenges Ahead

Rubio faces many challenges ahead as Secretary of State. As chief diplomat for the United States, he is now or soon will be…

• Negotiating a ceasefire and a peaceful end to the Russia-Ukraine War
• Supporting Israel in its war with Hamas
• Juggling Middle East tensions and Iran’s aggression
• Managing strained relations with China
• Urging Mexico to do more to stop the drug cartels
• Soothing concerns of G-7 countries on Trump’s tariffs
• Dealing with erupting crisis whenever they occur in our fractured and dangerous world

Rubio promises to seek God’s wise guidance in prayer and rely on the strength of Christ in his job as Secretary of State. He said, “If your faith is real, burning inside of you, it’s going to influence the way you view everything.”

Let’s pray for Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Father, we lift up Marco Rubio as he steps into Your calling for him as Secretary of State at this time. His role has many burdens and responsibilities. His words are carefully listened to, analyzed and reacted to. Father, I pray that he will turn to you for guidance as he works with leaders from around the world, negotiates for peace, and fosters strong foreign relationships with others. Daily give him wisdom, discernment and the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16) May the words he speaks be empowered by the Holy Spirit and may his words always be the right words, holy words at the right moments. (Luke 12:12) May Secretary Rubio be a wise and faithful counselor to the president, always giving godly advice, especially in times of disagreement. Father, we pray for Your peace and unity to surround Mr. Rubio, the President, and the cabinet in all their discussions.

We pray that Mr. Rubio will be a wise and considerate leader to the State Department’s employees all over the world. May he be a strong witness to Your character and an example of what it is to be a true, godly leader in all situations. Lord, we pray that You will open doors of opportunity for Mr. Rubio to share the good news of the gospel in all his travels and doings. We pray for Your strength for Mr. Rubio in fighting against the plans of the enemy and to always stand for what is right and biblical. Defend him in the spiritual battle and struggle against the principalities and Powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, and against the spirits of evil in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

We pray for Marco Rubio, his family, and his staff. Surround them with Your angels and give them protection on all fronts. We pray Psalm 91 over them. We pray for protection for him in all his travels and for Your angels to guard him in foreign countries and in hostile situations. We ask for a hedge of protection to surround him, his wife and his children. Keep them all from spiritual or physical harm. Keep them strong in their faith and their love for one another. In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

Add your own prayers for Secretary Rubio in the comments below.

Belinda Brewster analyzes cultural, political, and world events from a biblical worldview. Belinda’s passion is to equip, support, and encourage parents and grandparents who are courageously battling against the spiritual and cultural forces impacting children and grandchildren. Photo Credit: U.S. Department of State.