Presidential candidate Ted Cruz today announced endorsements from more than 50 Catholic leaders, including activists, public servants, pro-life advocates, clergy, and business leaders. Dr. Robert P. George and Ken Cuccinelli are co-chairs of the initiative, leading Cruz’s outreach in the Catholic community.

“The Catholic Church is an unwavering voice for life, marriage, and religious liberty,” said Cruz. “These three issues have been central to my campaign since the very beginning, and I have been proud to stand with Catholics in the fight to protect the dignity of every life, the sacrament of marriage, and the First Amendment right to religious liberty. In an age when the Obama administration has the audacity to sue the Little Sisters of the Poor, it has never been more critical to stand with those who have dedicated their lives to the service of the Church and its mission of loving the whole world. Especially in this Year of Mercy, we have an opportunity to protect the most vulnerable and safeguard the truth revealed through Scripture and the tradition of millennia.”

Dr. Robert George praised Cruz for his loyalty to the rule of law and the principles of a free society. “No one has been stronger than Ted in standing up for religious liberty and other fundamental constitutional freedoms. …He will foster a culture, from the top down, that honors the Constitution – the one thing that, despite our differences, binds us all together as Americans,” said Professor George.

“In addition to his exceptional Constitutional credentials, Ted Cruz is a candidate with specific foreign policy proposals to defend persecuted Christians abroad,” said Ken Cuccinelli. “At a time when people of faith are under severe attack internationally, we need a president whose foreign policy priorities will leverage America’s leadership to defend the defenseless.”

“I am very pleased to give my personal endorsement to Ted Cruz for President of the United States,” Monsignor Ed Lofton, Parish Priest at St. Theresa Catholic Church in South Carolina, said. “I have followed Ted’s time in office and know that he governs grounded in the essential value of protecting life and liberty for all peoples. I am confident that Ted has the intelligence and the will to lead our nation in a positive direction. The Church must not be silent as the nation chooses the leaders who will shape its future. I am personally working for the election of Ted Cruz, and I urge fellow Catholics to join me in giving Ted Cruz our support and our votes.”