Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum praised the new Pope in a briefing for bloggers Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

“I am excited about this Pope, because he is a man that has the heart of the people,” said Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator and devout Catholic, in response to a question about the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. “Francis I understands the mission of the Church.”

Asked about why a majority of American Catholics voted for President Obama in last year’s election, Santorum said that many Catholics are properly catechized in Church doctrine, and that the mainstream media encourages dissent against traditional teachings.

Santorum, who was second behind Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential primary campaign, said that Republicans cannot compete with Democrats if they stay strictly on economic issues. The Democratic Party’s “economic platform is… ‘we’ll give you stuff’… They have no limit on how much they will promise.”