A popular American news website has claimed that Rupert Murdoch is Catholic following the announcement that he is engaged for a fifth time.
The Daily Beast reported that “Murdoch’s associates say his preference for marriage over dating stems from his Catholic faith” following speculation as to why he “rushed into” proposing to 66-year-old Ann Lesley Smith.
The media mogul proposed to Smith, a widow and former police chaplain, on St Patrick’s Day, less than a year after his divorce from his fourth wife, Jerry Hall, which took place in August 2022.
When interviewed following the engagement, the future Mrs Murdoch said: “For us both it’s a gift from God”, which has added to speculation about the pair’s religious beliefs.
But Catholic Murdoch is not. As emerged during questioning during the Leveson Inquiry, Australian-born Rupert Murdoch has strong Presbyterian roots, and apparently is still connected to the Presbyterian Church. He hails from a long line of Calvinist preachers.
However, through his second union – with the Scottish journalist Anna Torv, who was a Catholic – he became interested by Catholicism and would frequently attend Mass with her.
In a 1992 interview with Nicholas Coleridge for his book Paper Tiger (1993), Murdoch said: “No. They say I’m a born-again Christian and a Catholic convert and so on. I’m certainly a practising Christian, I go to church quite a bit but not every Sunday and I tend to go to Catholic Church – because my wife is Catholic. But I have not formally converted. And I get increasingly disenchanted with the C of E or Episcopalians as they call themselves here. But no, I’m not intensely religious as I’m sometimes described.”
Clearly sympathetic to Catholicism, Murdoch was in 1998 made a Knight of St Gregory, having been recommended for the honour by Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles after giving money to a Church education fund. A year later he also donated $10 million to help build Los Angeles’ new Catholic cathedral.
In spite of his interest in Catholicism and his papal knighthood, however, Murdoch did not eventually convert and so remains a Presbyterian.
Although calls were made at the time of the phone-hacking scandal for Murdoch’s papal knighthood to be taken away, he was allowed to keep it. Lord Alton, the well-known Catholic crossbench peer, came to Murdoch’s defence at the time, saying:
“Papal knighthoods are not awarded as a sign of holiness or a reward for sanctity – but a recognition of active generosity to the Church and her works. Mr Murdoch was given his, in 1998, after making a generous charitable donation. That has nothing to do with the current controversy surrounding some of his newspapers.
“Let’s see what the official inquiry makes of those unacceptable journalistic practices, and where the law has been broken no doubt the individuals concerned will be prosecuted.
“No-one has suggested that Mr Murdoch was personally involved in criminal activity. Some of the self-righteous indignation and lynch-mob mentality that is now baying for Mr Murdoch’s blood only adds to the whole unedifying mess.”
For Smith, 66, the union will be her third civil marriage. Murdoch, 92, has been married four times. Before Jerry Hall, he was married to Wendy Deng from 1999 to 2013; Anna dePeyster (née Torv) from 1967 to 1999; and Patricia Booker from 1956 to 1967.
Smith, a widow who can be frequently pictured with a cross around her neck, is a former Christian minister who has served as chaplain to a police department in Northern California.
She has also worked as a dental hygienist, model, singer-songwriter, journalist and charity executive.
“We share the same beliefs. I’m a widow 14 years. Like Rupert, my husband was a businessman. Worked for local papers, developed radio and TV stations and helped promote Univision. So I speak Rupert’s language,” said Smith.
With six previous marriages between them, Murdoch and Smith have consistently confessed a Christian faith, but there seems to be some confusion about the finer details.
According to CBN, it was during a period of sustained depression and suicidal thoughts after her divorce from her first husband who was abusive that Smith was introduced to religion by a concerned event coordinator whilst she was working as a model.
She has previously revealed how since discovering prayer and God, “the things of the world just seemed pointless”.
Murdoch has said that he was “nervous” about the proposal but that he is confident this marriage will be his “last”. The couple have also revealed they are wasting no time and have planned the ceremony for the late summer. Details as to where the event will take place have not yet emerged.
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