Many of us know Joe Biden as the former vice president of the United States who is currently running for the presidential office in 2020. What you may not know is that he is a practicing Catholic and served as the first Catholic vice president in American history.

Over the years, Biden has been very candid about his faith and how it’s helped shape him. The former vice president is no stranger to loss.

In an emotional interview with Late Show host Stephen Colbert, Biden opened up about his faith and religion and how it helped him through the tremendous loss of his son.

This particular interview was one of the first he had done since losing his son, Beau to brain cancer before he had mentioned his bid to enter the presidential race.

What people didn’t expect was for Biden to open up as much as he did, talking directly about his Catholic faith and how it provided him was an “enormous sense of solace.”

Years before the death of his oldest son, Biden’s first wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. Biden shared with Colbert that his faith helped him cope during his darkest period:

“I go to mass, and I’m able to be just alone, even in a crowd,” he said. “It’s just a place you can go.”

He also shared how his wife, Jill plays a role in lifting his faith. She leaves inspirational notes for him, including a quote from philosopher Kierkegaard that says, “Faith sees best in the dark.”

Biden shared that his religion not only helped him through the loss, but also gives him tremendous comfort.

“Some of it relates to rituals, some of it relates to the comfort of what you’ve done your whole life,” Biden said. “What my faith has done is… it sort of takes everything about my life — with my parents and my siblings and all the comforting things. And all the good things that have happened, have happened around the culture of my religion and the theology of my religion.”

In a recent CNN townhall, then moderator Chris Cuomo shared a question from Rev. Anthony Thompson an Episcopal minister whose wife was one of the nine people shot dead in 2015 at Charleston’s Emmanuel AME church. Thompson said, “My question is: What is your faith, and how would you use your faith in making decisions for our nation?” Biden and the Obamas had visited his church after the shooting, just weeks after Biden’s son died of brain cancer.

Biden responded tearfully, “I find the one thing it gives me — and I’m not trying to proselytize, I’m not trying to convince to be, to share my religious views — but for me, it’s important because it gives me some reason to have hope and purpose … When my wife was killed and my daughter was killed, and then my son died, I’ve only been able to deal with it by realizing they’re part of my being. My son Beau is my soul. And what I found was, I had to find purpose.”