"Hillary Clinton's feeling about faith and about Catholicism in particular is most demonstrated by the fact that she asked me to be a running mate," Kaine said. | Getty Kaine: Picking me as VP shows Clinton's views on Catholics

Tim Kaine responded to the controversy about hacked emails allegedly showing Clinton aides disparaging Catholics by pointing to his own place on the Democratic ticket.

Hillary Clinton told Kaine one of the reasons she felt a connection with him was because his faith, his missionary service in Honduras and his Jesuit education matched with her Methodist upbringing, the Virginia senator told Chuck Todd on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.


"Hillary Clinton's feeling about faith and about Catholicism in particular is most demonstrated by the fact that she asked me to be a running mate," Kaine said. "That is the most direct evidence about what Hillary thinks about Catholics."

Todd had asked about an email released by WikiLeaks in which campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said, "I imagine they think it is the most socially-acceptable, politically-conservative religion, their rich friends wouldn't understand if they became evangelicals."

Kaine said he couldn't vouch for the email's authenticity but would address Catholics who were offended.

Earlier in the interview, Kaine left the door open to pursuing a new trade deal with Asia now that he and Clinton oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership as written.

"Hillary and I haven't talked about that question directly," he said. "You never close the door if you can get a deal that's going to be good for American workers and our economy."

