Editing Newt Gingrich (section)

=== Religion ===
[[Image:Benedict XVI in Washington 1.JPG|thumb|right|Gingrich says that Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States influenced him to convert to Catholicism.]]
Raised as a [[Lutheran]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/religion-politics120811/religion-politics120811/ |title=Religion still affects voters' views of candidates |publisher=The Republic |date=December 8, 2011 |access-date=December 28, 2011 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Gingrich was a [[Southern Baptist]] in graduate school. He converted to [[Catholicism]], the faith of his third wife Callista Bisek, on March 29, 2009.<ref name="GetReligion.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.getreligion.org/2009/04/newt-swims-the-tiber/ |title=Newt swims the Tiber |publisher=Get Religion |date=April 1, 2009 |access-date=December 28, 2011 |archive-date=February 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201010807/http://www.getreligion.org/2009/04/newt-swims-the-tiber/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Goodstein, Laurie |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/17/us/politics/newt-gingrich-represents-new-political-era-for-catholics.html |title=Gingrich represents new political era for Catholics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717052659/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/17/us/politics/newt-gingrich-represents-new-political-era-for-catholics.html |archive-date=July 17, 2016 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 17, 2011}}</ref> He said: "over the course of several years, I gradually became Catholic and then decided one day to accept the faith I had already come to embrace". He decided to officially become a Catholic when he saw [[Pope Benedict XVI]], during the Pope's [[Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States|visit to the United States in 2008]]: "Catching a glimpse of Pope Benedict that day, I was struck by the happiness and peacefulness he exuded. The joyful and radiating presence of the Holy Father was a moment of confirmation about the many things I had been thinking and experiencing for several years."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53719.html |title=Newt Gingrich on why he became a Catholic |newspaper=[[Politico]]|date=April 26, 2011 |access-date=May 12, 2011 |archive-date=February 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209141842/http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53719.html |url-status=live }}</ref> At a 2011 appearance in [[Columbus, Ohio]], he said, "In America, religious belief is being challenged by a cultural elite trying to create a secularized America, in which God is driven out of public life."<ref name="Zeleny226" />

The [[Catholic Church]] recognizes his third marriage as a valid marriage, based on a [[declaration of nullity]] granted for his second marriage and the passing of his wife from his first.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-52908697.html |title=Newt Gingrich Asks for Annulment |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609225911/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-52908697.html |archive-date=June 9, 2016 |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=May 10, 2002 |access-date=December 12, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Mark |last=Oppenheimer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/us/politics/on-religion-broad-mindedness-and-bigotry-among-voters.html |title=Faith and Family Values at Issue for Republicans |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717052713/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/us/politics/on-religion-broad-mindedness-and-bigotry-among-voters.html |archive-date=July 17, 2016 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date= December 9, 2011 |access-date=January 5, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Longenecker, Fr. Dwight |url=http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2012/01/newts-three-marriages.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928100159/http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2012/01/newts-three-marriages.html |archive-date=September 28, 2013 |title=Newt's Three Marriages |newspaper=The Anglican Patrimony |date=January 14, 2012 |access-date=December 12, 2015}}</ref>