(LifeSiteNews) — Catholic AfD politician Nicole Höchst has said that her party is “grounded in the Christian faith and Christian values of Catholic social teaching.”

In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews, Höchst discussed whether the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is a Christian party, her view of the Synodal Way of the German Catholic bishops, and her personal faith journey.

Höchst is a member of the German Parliament, or Bundestag, and the AfD’s spokesperson for religious affairs. She is also a practicing Catholic.

Regarding the AfD’s policy positions, Höchst said, “We are, after all, grounded in the Christian faith – specifically, in the Christian values of Catholic social teaching, as one might say – and this is clearly articulated, above all, in our party platform; consequently, we base many of our political positions on this Christian theological foundation. ”

However, many AfD politicians are not practicing Christians, and one of the party’s leaders, Alice Weidel, is in an openly lesbian relationship. Asked about this apparent discrepancy, Höchst said, “For one thing, we’re not a cult, so we’re not some kind of ‘superior’ group compared to the German Church[es]; rather, we’re a cross-section of society as a whole, so to speak, and we practice the tolerance and neighborly love necessary for successful coexistence.”

“Look, I’m not exactly the ideal image of a spokesperson on religious policy either,” she said, noting that she is officially divorced, by law. However, “I haven’t ‘remarried,’ because according to the Catholic faith, marriage lasts until death. I respect that and live accordingly, but in a civil sense, I am divorced, which isn’t ideal either.”

The AfD positions itself as pro-life and pro-family, stating that they want to reduce the number of abortions, support and strengthen the traditional family, and raise birth rates.

While the AfD is being demonized and branded as “right-wing extremist” by the mainstream media and the political establishment, Höchst said that she gets attacked most when she posts Christian content on social media.

”I post a lot – I’m very active on social media – but I get the most death threats when I post in Christian contexts. And that’s something that really unsettled me at first,” she stated.

“Of course, some people don’t like it when someone who’s a member of the AfD posts something Christian, because we’re portrayed as the Antichrist himself,” Höchst added.

Addressing the growing hostility against faithful Christians in her country, she said: “Desecrations of churches have increased, and Christian children are being bullied in schoolyards – so I think there’s already a general decline in Christianity in Germany.”

“For us [the AfD], religious freedom in Germany also means that we’re allowed to openly profess our faith in Christianity,” Höchst said.

Personal faith journey

The AfD politician recalled her own journey back to the Catholic faith: “I was baptized Roman Catholic, of course, and grew up that way, and starting around age 16, the longer I went to school, and the longer I studied [at university], the further I initially drifted away from the Christian faith.”

“Like all the other students, I eventually became secularized and felt superior, and to make a long story short, I had some life-changing experiences where I was very grateful that I could pray to Jesus Christ and to God.”

She said that two of her four children were in intensive care and almost died when they were very little.

She said her firstborn son had “a severe quadruple heart defect” and had to have open-heart surgery “for several hours” when he was only nine months old.

“He survived it. There were several very tense moments afterward as well, and he is still alive today, thank God, in the truest sense of the word.”

“And then my second-born had severe encephalitis. I almost lost my daughter,” she recalled.

“That still affects me deeply. And thankfully, I really, really had that support then.”

“You’re truly left completely exposed, utterly helpless and powerless, and nothing that helps in everyday life can be done there,” she stated. “And when you’re thrown back like that to your very essence, I think you feel much the same as if you were standing before your Creator and could do nothing but humbly ask for help.”

Criticism of the German Synodal Way

Asked about the heretical German Synodal Way, Höchst said, “I believe this [Synodal] Way is [an] effort to found a separate sect with elements that are decidedly not Roman Catholic, such as the ceremonial blessing of same-sex unions” or “ordination of women.”

“And that leads to a schism, in my opinion, if it isn’t already in open schism.”

The heterodox German bishops have distanced themselves from the AfD and frequently criticize the party for being “right-wing extremist” and even “anti-Christian.”

Responding to the criticism that AfD’s use of the term “remigration” would be “extreme,” Höchst said that the party “wants to deport criminals.”

“We want people without valid residence permits to leave this country. And it’s also completely incomprehensible why people known to be Islamists who don’t have German citizenship are still in Germany.”

Referencing the ordo amoris, a theological framework of the “order of love” laid out by saints and Doctors of the Church such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, Höchst said that there is “a hierarchy of charity” where one has to take care of their own family and nation first before caring for foreigners.

“And of course, as a Christian, my first duty is to keep my own home and my family in order and safe,” she stated.

“I am not obligated to sacrifice myself, my family, and everything I have,” for the supposed benefits of mass immigration, Höchst explained.

Surrogacy debate

Höchst also addressed the debate around surrogacy, which is currently illegal in Germany. The topic gained media attention when a prominent politician from the Christian Democrats (CDU) had a child via a surrogate, together with his homosexual partner.

“Of course, I take a very critical view of surrogacy,” she said. “I also take a very critical view of the so-called ‘right to a child.’ For me, that doesn’t exist.”

“To me, a child is a gift from God – a being with its own dignity from the very beginning – and this dignity is taken away from this little being, this developing child, when it is turned into a commodity.”

She said that homosexual couples would have to accept that they cannot have children.

“And this tendency to bear one’s own life, one’s own fate, as one’s own cross – that is something the many egomaniacs in Germany have truly lost,” she stated.

“I find the decision to place one’s own lifestyle choices above this divine order of the family to be difficult, if not questionable, and it is also not in accordance with German law.”

Current polls show the AfD could receive around 27 percent of the votes nationally, leading all other parties, including the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU), who lead the government coalition and are polling at 23 percent.