Republican Ohio U.S. Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno once described Catholicism as having an "a la carte" menu, in which church members can pick and choose which moral teachings they believe, or don't.

He made the statement while participating in a 2016 "forum on race" hosted by the Cleveland YWCA titled, "Eliminating Racism, Empowering Women."

"My Mom is a hard, hard, hardcore Catholic," Moreno said. "When you’re Catholic, you kind of have an a la carte menu. My mom buys the whole buffet."

Moreno suggested that his mother, a Colombian who moved her family-- including Bernie and his six brothers and sisters-- to the U.S, is "hardcore" because she adheres to what the "Pope says," or official doctrinal teachings of the church.

He said she changed her position on homosexuality and accepted Moreno's gay son, after Pope Francis approved blessings for same-sex couples.

"My oldest son is gay. When I was growing up, my mom would make comments like ‘There’s only gay people in America.’ That’s not a Colombian thing. (She said) it’s evil, and the devil and all those things," Moreno said.

"But the minute the Pope said ‘who am I to judge,’ the conversation turned," he said.

Moreno said that views on so-called "gay marriage" changed in America because of "modern" Hollywood depictions of homosexuality, which countered the argument that it was unnatural.

"Gay marriage. That changed because a lot of us watched ‘Modern Family,’ We watch these two guys and we say, ‘you know what. They’re great people," he said. "(Gay marriage) is not this distorted thing. Those are the kinds of ways that we break down stereotypes."

Moreno said that while he doesn't accept Catholic tenets, he does believe in God.

"When it comes to faith, for me it’s very personal. There’s no question in my mind that there’s a superior being out there that guides us. To what extent he does or doesn’t, I don’t know. All of us at one time or another are tested to see what’s really in our heart, what’s in our soul," he said.

The YWCA of Cleveland says its mission is "racial justice;" it is currently hosting a Racial Justice Challenge "designed to create dedicated time and space to build more effective social justice habits, particularly those dealing with issues of race, power, privilege, and leadership."

According to the U.S. State Department's 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom, 73 percent of Colombians are Catholic.

A 2018 Pew Research study estimated 18 percent of Ohio adults are Catholic.

U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) is a practicing Catholic, one of 27 in the U.S. Senate.