Posted on 09/16/2025 12:20 PM (EWTN News - US Catholic News)
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts. / Credit: Jack Haskins/EWTN News
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 16, 2025 / 08:20 am (CNA).
Exactly one week before the assassination of Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk, CNA interviewed Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts for its new “CNA Newsmaker Interview” series, which will feature periodic in-depth interviews with Catholic leaders in diverse fields.
In the wake of the attack, Roberts wrote in a social media post that “we must never, never, never, never, never, never stop fighting to build the America that [Charlie Kirk] helped make possible.”
Kirk, he said, “restored optimism about the American future for millions of Americans.”
This same optimism for the future of America, alongside an equally shared passion with Kirk for the restoration of family life across the country, is central to Roberts’ work at Heritage.
America, according to Roberts, has “arrived at that moment” where it has reached “an understanding in the broader culture that there is something greater than ourselves that defines us as Americans.”
Roberts credited many Catholic leaders in Washington, including Ethics and Public Policy Center President Ryan Anderson, for contributing to the country’s arrival to this moment.
These leaders, Roberts told CNA, “are firm about what they believe. They’re cheerful. They remember the big picture. And when there are times for disagreement, sometimes with major elected officials in our country, they’re temporary, they’re private, they’re virtuous, and they map to not just the right end in this life but the right end of the next moment.”
In a Sept. 12 address to the nation, Erika Kirk emphasized her late husband’s devotion to revitalizing the family, telling those watching: “Charlie always said that if he ever ran for office ... his top priority would be to revive the American family.”
In his own book, “Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America,” Roberts expressed the same conviction: “The No. 1 challenge Americans face in the 21st century is the crisis of family formation.”
Ultimately, family policy is upstream of most Heritage Foundation policy efforts and is what Roberts considers the focal point of the new conservative movement — which he told CNA “refers to a shift in tactics and composition of American conservatism” rather than a shift in principles.
While the old conservative movement tended to primarily revolve around economic issues, he observed, the new conservative movement recognizes “that goods like the free market flow out of more important things: family [and] a healthy civil society.”
“It’s a real emphasis on those institutions in life that are upstream of what the conservative movement for a generation was fixated on,” he said.
One of the more controversial family life issues Heritage Foundation scholars have worked with the administration on is in vitro fertilization (IVF). The Catholic Church teaches that IVF is unacceptable due to ethical concerns surrounding the practice, including the millions of human embryos killed through the procedure.
“We have a lot of private conversations with a lot of elected officials in this country and others about these issues,” Roberts said regarding IVF. “We’ve seen some real improvement in the rhetoric from the administration, and we look forward to seeing even more.”
“We’re grateful for what we’ve seen and also have reason to believe that in terms of substance, in terms of policy from the administration, that they are doing a good job of balancing all the competing interests” in the country, he continued, noting that the administration is “trying to keep together a governing coalition” on the sensitive topic.
Before Roberts entered the public policy sphere, which included his previous leadership of the nation’s largest state-based think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Roberts enjoyed a successful career in education. First, as a tenure-track college history professor and founding headmaster of a K–12 Catholic school in Louisiana, followed by the presidency of Wyoming Catholic College, where under his leadership, the small institution bucked public funding and was celebrated for its “cowboy-style Catholicism.”
Of all these endeavors, Roberts attributes a key source of his optimistic outlook to the time he spent as headmaster of John Paul the Great Academy in Lafayette, Louisiana. “It wasn’t until going through the arduous journey of keeping a new Catholic K–12 school afloat that I became so optimistic,” he told CNA.
“When I realized six, seven, eight years in that the school was not only going to make it, but it was going to become a model,” he recalled, “I realized that as a conservative, politics and policy are important, but institutions are most important.” Roberts said he believes it will be through these institutions that America will be “revitalized.”
The lifelong educator further observed that “the institutional renewal happening in education is disproportionately classical,” noting that even his doctoral alma mater, the University of Texas, has begun accepting the Classical Learning Test (CLT). “I never thought I would say that,” he mused.
“America’s golden age will be sustained in part because of our politics and in part because of our policy,” Roberts continued, “but most of all because of good decisions that Americans are making,” including by “sending their kids to classical schools.”
According to Roberts, who leads one of the most influential think tanks in the nation’s capital, there is no conflict between being fully Catholic and fully American — two aspects, which he recalls in his book, that were also never in conflict for his Cajun forebears in his native Louisiana.
Known for spearheading the Heritage Foundation’s presidential transition initiative Project 2025, Roberts has been accused by some of aiming to impose Christian nationalism on the U.S. — an assertion Roberts said is “100% ignorant understanding of Church teaching.”
“We are free people,” he said of his approach to public policy as an American Catholic. “We of course are bound by morality, an understanding of morality not just from Scripture but from the magisterium, from the tradition of the Church.” At the same time, this does not prevent Catholics from disagreeing with Church pronouncements on prudential matters, citing his own past disagreements with the energy and environmental policy prescriptions of the late Pope Francis.
“Catholics have total freedom to disagree with the pope when he is not speaking ex cathedra,” he explained.
“As a lay Catholic, I’m totally free to say that Pope Francis spent way too much time engaging in conversations he was ignorant about and should have stayed out of,” Roberts added.
As for Pope Leo XIV, Roberts said he is “optimistic,” citing the Chicago-born pontiff’s choice of name and restoration of several papal traditions as positive signs for the Church at large.
Reflecting on the controversy around Project 2025, Roberts told CNA it was Heritage’s “moral obligation” as a leading policy center to provide a “menu of options that ultimately the president would choose to select or not.”
“The lesson we’ve learned — and the buck stops on my desk — is we’ll never, ever let the American left define our work for six weeks without responding,” he added.
“They picked a fight, but we finished it. And when they pick it the next time, we’ll finish it twice,” said Roberts, who revealed that work is already underway on updating the project in advance of the 2028 presidential election.
Though a cradle Catholic, Roberts’ faith “became unshakable,” according to his book, amid extreme adversity in his family life at a very early age. Roberts had experienced the divorce of his parents at age 4 and the death of his older brother by suicide when he was just 9.
“The only way to overcome all of the disadvantages of divorce, including spiritual, economic, educational, etc., is to know and love Jesus Christ,” he told CNA. For Catholics, he said, that means staying “very close to the sacraments,” including regular Mass attendance, praying the rosary, and frequent confession.
In addition, Roberts advised children of divorced parents “to not allow the decisions and behaviors of our respective parents to get in the way of recognizing that we are called to a vocation.”
“Always, every day, operate in forgiveness, not just toward our family members, our parents, but to everyone we interact with,” he continued. “Don’t hold grudges. Don’t have a chip on your shoulder. Be cheerful, because not only are we Christians, but we’re Americans. We have no reason to be pessimistic.”
Apart from its re-centering on family life issues, Roberts also defined the new conservative movement as a “real corrective” to neoconservative interventionism in national security and foreign policy.
“The American people understand that we’re too much in debt,” he pointed out. “We have too many domestic problems to be engaged in all these far-flung, never-ending wars.”
While America must maintain its status as having the most lethal military in the world, Roberts indicated, “the new conservative movement understands that we, in fact, do worry about Americans first.”
For Roberts, this same principle applies to immigration policy.
While the country’s bishops advocate legalization for millions of people who are currently in the country without legal status, Roberts and the Heritage Foundation maintain a principled no amnesty position.
“They broke the law,” Roberts stated. “Until we correct the breaking of the law, it is a slippery slope… We can’t have the conversation until we correct a much greater injustice. And that is that we have over a hundred municipalities, cities and counties, states that describe themselves as sanctuary cities and counties and states.”
“We not only need to end that,” he continued, “but we need Catholic bishops in those places to say that must be ended, because the continuation of those sanctuary cities prevents ICE and all the interior enforcement from actually focusing on the 268,322 felons we know among the 22 million illegal aliens.”
Roberts noted the Heritage Foundation’s newest project will focus specifically on revitalizing American cities and local governments that have been “forgotten” by conservatives. “The issue of conservatives initiating urban renewal has not been taken up by anyone,” he pointed out, “so we are.”
Heritage will be hiring a policy scholar and campaign manager, he said, revealing that a separate political arm, Heritage Action, aims to gain a conservative policy foothold in more American cities.
“I look at this as someone who believes that I want any American of any political stripe, religious affiliation, to feel like they can live in an American city,” he concluded. “Because if we fail at that, we have failed at the American project.”
Posted on 09/16/2025 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just a few hours after Israel launched a major new ground offensive in Gaza City, Pope Leo XIV called the pastor of the city's only Latin-rite parish to express his concern, his prayers and his closeness, the Vatican press office said.
Pope Leo, who was spending the day at Castel Gandolfo, spoke Sept. 16 with Argentine Father Gabriel Romanelli, a member of the Institute of the Incarnate Word and pastor of Holy Family Parish in Gaza City.
Father Romanelli told the pope that Israeli troops and tanks had not reached the area where the church compound is located, the press office said. But the sound of artillery fire could be heard from the parish.
While the Israeli military has been warning civilians to evacuate Gaza City, Father Romanelli told the pope that about 450 people are being sheltered in the parish compound and, and the parish continues to assist them and other people in the neighborhood with food, water and medicine.
The parish oratory continues operating, leading people in prayer and organizing activities for children, the press office said. Special assistance to the sick and elderly also continues.
Posting on X at 6 a.m. Sept. 16, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote, "Gaza is burning. The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) is striking terrorist infrastructure with an iron fist, and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent and we will not go back -- until the mission is complete."
Father Romanelli posted on X a quote from St. John Bosco: "Trusting in Mary brings unshakable comfort and hope."
Posted on 09/15/2025 22:01 PM (EWTN News - US Catholic News)
Tyler Robinson, 22, (pictured on Sept. 12, 2025) the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk, conservative Christian political activist. / Credit: Handout/Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 15, 2025 / 18:01 pm (CNA).
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox confirmed that the man accused of killing Christian conservative activist Charlie Kirk lived with a transgender partner who is cooperating with authorities in the ongoing investigation.
The suspected assassin is 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a resident of St. George, Utah, which is about a three-and-a-half-hour drive south of Utah Valley University, where the shooting occurred. Formal charges are expected Tuesday, Sept. 16.
Although Robinson has exercised his right to remain silent while in custody and has not spoken to authorities, his live-in transgender partner and members of his family are cooperating with the investigation. He was arrested Thursday night, Sept. 11, the day after the shooting.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Sept. 14, Cox said the roommate of the alleged shooter “is a boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female.” He said the roommate “has been very cooperative with authorities.”
“This person did not have any knowledge [and] was shocked … when he found out about it,” the governor said. “The suspect has not been cooperating so far, and so we’re getting all of this information from family members, again, people around the suspect, and then the forensic information that we have, which is confirming everything and more than what we were able to share in that initial press conference.”
In a previous news conference, Cox said the roommate showed investigators messages that Robinson allegedly sent, which discussed engraving bullets, needing to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving a rifle in a bush, and wrapping a rifle in a towel.
Kirk was shot while answering a question about transgenderism and gun violence. Kirk said he supported an effort to ban transgender people from owning firearms in light of the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minnesota last month, which was carried out by a man who identified as a transgender person.
Throughout his career as a conservative activist, Kirk had been a critic of gender ideology, opposing allowing biological males in women’s sports, transgender surgeries and drugs for children, and the promotion of transgenderism and homosexuality in K–12 schools.
Cox said Robinson came “from a conservative family, but his ideology was very different” from his family’s, and “there clearly was a leftist ideology with this [alleged] assassin.”
“The ‘why’ behind this, again, we’re all drawing lots of conclusions on how someone like this could be radicalized,” he said.
FBI Director Kash Patel told “Fox & Friends” on Monday, Sept. 15, the agency will not “politicize this investigation.” Rather, he said, “we are looking at the facts and that is why we are releasing the facts in record fashion.”
“My job as FBI director is not to speak to motive; it’s to speak to the facts, and that’s what I’m going to do,” he said.
“His family has collectively told investigators that he subscribed to left-wing ideology, and even more so in these last couple of years,” Patel continued. “And [the suspect] had a text message exchange … with another individual in which he claimed that he had an opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and he was going to do it because of his hatred for what Charlie stood for.”
Markings on bullet casings found by investigators included the phrase “Hey, fascist. Catch!” and lyrics to the Italian anti-fascist song “Bella Ciao.”
Patel said the FBI has evidence of a since-destroyed note written before the assassination in which the suspect wrote that he had the opportunity to “take out” Kirk and planned to do so. He said “even though it has been destroyed, we have found forensic evidence of the note, and we have confirmed what … it says because of our aggressive interview posture.” He said the FBI also has DNA evidence to link the suspect to the shooting.
According to Patel, the FBI is also investigating the suspect’s conversations in chatrooms on the online messaging application Discord, and investigators will interview people with whom he conversed there.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Monday that the agency has evidence that the suspect may have communicated that “his target was obviously going to be Charlie [Kirk] and that people knew in advance.”
Bongino said he does not “want anyone to jump to conclusions on this,” noting this is a question of whether people knew in advance and kept it quiet or whether they thought “it was some type of joke.”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out now,” he said. “But I promise you, if there’s a larger network here, we’re going to get that out to the public as soon as we can.”
The New York Times reported that in one Discord chat, friends of Robinson noted that he looked similar to the shooter. Robinson allegedly said the shooter was a “doppelganger” who was trying to “get me in trouble.”
According to the Times, much of the communications appeared to be joking. After Robinson’s arrest, the report noted that members were in disbelief with one saying: “I truly cannot distinguish if this is for real.”
The Washington Post reported on a separate Discord chat in which Robinson was allegedly involved, which showed members expressing concern about the shooting with one saying Kirk “didn’t deserve to go out like that.”
Robinson allegedly told this chat: “I have bad news for you all,” adding: “It was me at UVU yesterday. [I’m] sorry for all of this.”
One friend reportedly urged the group to “pray for Tyler [Robinson] and his repentance” after the arrest.
Bongino said the FBI is looking into the man who asked the question about transgenderism and gun violence just before Kirk was shot at the event, but noted Kirk “was known to speak out about these issues” and that it is “not terribly uncommon for him to get questions like that.”
The man who asked the question gave an interview to “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan” late last week and denounced the assassination and political violence.
Bongino said the assassination was “an ideologically motivated attack” on a conservative.
“Family members said he’d become more political, leading us to believe that this ideology had infected him and had taken over,” Bongino said.
Posted on 09/15/2025 21:31 PM (EWTN News - US Catholic News)
St. John’s Catholic Newman Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. / Credit: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
CNA Staff, Sep 15, 2025 / 17:31 pm (CNA).
In what some are calling “the Charlie Kirk effect,” people across the nation, including many college students who are not ordinarily churchgoers, have decided to go to church since the assassination last week of the conservative Christian political activist Charlie Kirk.
Matt Zerrusen, co-founder of Newman Ministry, a Catholic nonprofit that operates on about 250 campuses nationwide, told CNA he has spoken with Catholic college ministry leaders throughout the country over the last few days, and “every one of them told me they’ve seen bigger crowds” at Masses and lots of people “they’ve never seen before.”
“I have not talked to anyone who has not seen an increase in Mass attendance,” Zerrusen said. “Some schools are reporting increases of 15%.”
He told CNA that many more college students are also asking for spiritual direction. “So many people are asking ‘What do I do?’ What is evil? How does God allow this?” Zerrusen said. “They are asking so many basic questions.”
One priest at a large state school in the Northeast told Zerrusen he spoke over the weekend with 15 young men he had never seen before who sought him out for faith advice.
Zerrusen said the spiritual “revival” Kirk’s death has amplified comes amid one he has been observing for months.
He pointed out that more than 400 students at Texas A&M University in College Station are attending the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) class at St. Mary’s Catholic Center near campus.
Since Kirk’s death on Sept. 10, social media platforms X, TikTok, and Instagram have been flooded with posts from users saying they plan to go to church for the first time or to return to church, thanks to Kirk’s influence.
With more than half a million followers, X user @TONYxTWO posted a TikTok video on Sunday showing a young man saying he had to park “five blocks away from church because everyone wants to come now! Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Charlie.”
Another X user who calls herself a “Devout Aggie” and “Catholic” who has nearly 15,000 followers said her son, who “is not a churchgoer,” asked her to go to Mass with him over the weekend, attributing it to “the Charlie Kirk effect.”
The vicar general for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, Father John Evans, said on Monday that he had noticed a “slight increase” in Mass attendance over the weekend, but what was more unusual was what happened in the days immediately after Kirk’s assassination.
“People were coming together before Sunday, praying privately, some in groups, praying the rosary, and different prayers of different sorts,” Evans told KSL-TV in Utah.
Posted on 09/15/2025 19:36 PM (EWTN News - US Catholic News)
The Catholic University of America has announced that Taylor Black, director of artificial intelligence at Microsoft, will lead a new institute on emerging technologies and AI at the Washington, D.C.-based university. / Credit: The Catholic University of America
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 15, 2025 / 15:36 pm (CNA).
The Catholic University of America (CUA) announced that Taylor Black, director of artificial intelligence (AI) at Microsoft, will lead a new institute on emerging technologies and AI at the Washington, D.C.-based university.
At the technology conglomerate, Black serves as the director of AI and venture ecosystems in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer. In the role, he designs and leads cross-company initiatives that integrate innovation, product development, and community engagement to foster the next generation of technologies. He will remain in the position but plans to travel regularly to CUA’s campus.
“Taylor’s background in innovation, AI, and entrepreneurship; studies in philosophy and law; and his formation as a deacon candidate make him the ideal person for this new venture,” H. Joseph Yost, senior vice provost of research for CUA, said in a statement. “From our first conversation, we knew he was the person we wanted to lead Catholic University’s expansion of AI programs and innovation.”
Black received an undergraduate degree in philosophy and classics from Gonzaga University and a master’s degree in philosophy and a law degree from Boston College. His career took off after he created a successful web development business while still in school. He went on to hold consulting, business development, and venture positions before joining Microsoft in 2021.
While working in the technology field, Black said he has noticed an increase in questions related to human dignity from his secular colleagues. The new institute will work to tackle some of the concerns by pursuing innovation in AI and engaging in dialogue about human issues central to the Catholic Church.
“The Church has been trying to get people to ask the question ‘What does it mean to be human?’ for a very long time. Now a bunch of people are asking it unprompted,” Black said in an interview with CUA. “This lends itself to addressing the gaping hole in understanding what people should know about what it means to be human in a deeper way.”
“Universities are for the formation of human persons. If you’re well-formed, you generally do a better job in the workplace,” Black said. He is interested in “how we reinvigorate the heart of what the university is — its human formation roots — while still providing the tools and training necessary from an entrepreneurial perspective to take this new economic paradigm in stride.”
The new AI initiative will bring faculty together from multiple departments including engineering, business, science, art, philosophy, and theology to engage collaboration within as well as outside the university.
The new institute follows a number of other advances at CUA. Earlier this year, the university achieved R1 status, which placed it among the top 5% of universities nationwide in terms of research funding and doctorates.
Posted on 09/15/2025 10:00 AM (EWTN News - World Catholic News)
Front view of Westminster Cathedral, London. / Credit: Adrian Pingstone on Wikimedia Commons
ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 15, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
The first Catholic funeral of a member of the British royal family since the Anglican Reformation will take place at Westminster Cathedral on Sept. 16.
Posted on 09/15/2025 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pain must never give rise to violence, and every Catholic needs to learn to safeguard with tenderness those who are vulnerable, Pope Leo XIV said during a prayer vigil dedicated to people experiencing pain and affliction due to illness, bereavement, violence or abuse.
Recognizing that some members of the church "have unfortunately hurt you," the pope said, the church "kneels with you today before our Mother (Mary). May we all learn from her to protect the most vulnerable with tenderness!"
"May we learn to listen to your wounds and walk together," he said in his homily Sept. 15, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. "May we receive from Our Lady of Sorrows the strength to recognize that life is not defined only by the evil we suffer, but by the love of God, who never abandons us and guides the whole church."
The pope led the prayer vigil in St. Peter's Basilica Sept. 15 as part of the Jubilee of Consolation, which is "dedicated to all those who are experiencing or have experienced moments of particular difficulty, grief, suffering or hardship in their lives," according to the section of the Dicastery for Evangelization in charge of organizing the Holy Year.
During the vigil, two women offered their reflections and experience of losing a loved one to senseless violence and finding consolation, reconciliation and new life through their faith.
Lucia Di Mauro, spoke about forgiving and supporting the young man who was an accomplice in the 2009 murder of her husband, Gaetano Montanino, in Naples, Italy, and Diane Foley spoke about her son, James W. Foley, a U.S. journalist who worked in conflict zones and was kidnapped, once in Libya, then in Syria, where he was ultimately beheaded by members of ISIS in 2014.
Telling the story of his Catholic faith and passion for "giving voice to the voiceless," Foley also spoke of the pain and anguish of finding out "my innocent, good-hearted son was taken at gunpoint, sold and held captive for the 'crime' of being a journalist -- just as our beloved innocent Jesus was condemned to death for our sins," she said, her voice catching with emotion.
"Anger surged within me -- anger at ISIS, at our U.S. government, at those who refused to help. Bitterness threatened to consume me," she said. She found comfort in the Stations of the Cross, and "Jesus and Mary became my constant companions, along with countless earthly angels whose compassion lifted me up."
The unexpected happened, Foley said, when Alexanda Kotey, one of the jihadists who had kidnapped and tortured her son, offered to meet with the family after he pleaded guilty to all eight counts of kidnapping, torture and murder.
"The three days of meeting with Alexanda became moments of grace," she said, as "God gave me the grace to see him as a fellow sinner in need of mercy, like me," and she turned evil into good by establishing the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, which advocates for the safe return of Americans taken hostage and educates student journalists about safety practices in places of danger.
In his homily, Pope Leo said, "the testimonies we have heard speak of a truth: that pain must not give rise to violence, and that violence never has the final say, for it is conquered by a love that knows how to forgive."
"The violence suffered cannot be erased, but forgiveness granted to those who offend us is a foretaste of the kingdom of God on earth," he said.
"Where there is evil, we must seek the comfort and consolation that can overcome it and give it no respite," he said. "In the church, this means never being alone."
"Finding someone who cries with you and gives you strength is a medicine that we cannot do without, because it is a sign of love. Where pain is deep, the hope that comes from communion must be even stronger," he added.
The pope highlighted the collective anguish of entire peoples "crushed by the weight of violence, hunger and war."
"The true consolation we must offer to those around us is showing that peace is possible," he said, appealing to the leaders of nations to listen to "the cries of so many innocent children and ensure them a future that protects and consoles them."
"Even in the midst of so much arrogance, we are certain that God will inspire hearts and hands to provide help and consolation: peacemakers who can comfort those who are in pain and sadness," he said.
Among the many prayer intentions read aloud were pleas for those who are: persecuted for their faith; victims of violence and terrorism; children who are abused and neglected; victims of human trafficking and their captors; abandoned by others; suffering from addiction; and mourning the death of a loved one or child.
At the prayer service, people were given a gift of the "Agnus Dei," a wax medallion depicting the Paschal lamb, a symbol of resurrection and a sign of hope. On the other side was a representation of Rome's Marian icon, the "Salus Populi Romani," ("Salvation of the Roman People"). The medallions were blessed by the pope.
Pope Leo XIV led a prayer vigil in St. Peter's Basilica as part of the Jubilee of Consolation, dedicated to all those who are experiencing a time of pain and affliction due to illness, bereavement, violence or abuse. (CNS video/Robert Duncan)
Posted on 09/15/2025 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
ROME (CNS) -- In situations where "hatred seemed to have permeated every aspect of life," modern Christian martyrs showed that love is stronger than death, Pope Leo XIV said at an ecumenical prayer service.
The prayer service Sept. 14, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, commemorated 1,624 Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans and Protestants who died for their faith between 2000 and 2025. During the Holy Year 2000, St. John Paul II had led a similar commemoration of Christians killed in the 20th century, mainly by communist and fascist regimes.
Pope Leo was joined by 28 representatives of other Christian churches and communities for the prayer service at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
Anglican Bishop Anthony Ball, the archbishop of Canterbury's representative to the Holy See, and Orthodox Archbishop Elia of Helsinki and All Finland, representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, stood on either side of the pope. Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chair of the Moscow Patriarchate's external relations department, also attended.
The Vatican did not release the names of the 1,624 new martyrs whose stories were submitted over the past two years by Catholic bishops' conferences, religious orders and nunciatures from all over the world.
But Pope Leo mentioned some of them in his homily, including Sister Dorothy Stang, a U.S. member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, who was shot and killed in the Brazilian Amazon in 2005 for defending the land rights of the Indigenous and poor farmers.
"When those who were about to kill her asked her for a weapon, she showed them her Bible and replied, 'This is my only weapon,'" Pope Leo said.
He also spoke about Chaldean Father Ragheed Ganni from Mosul, Iraq, "who refused to fight in order to bear witness to how a true Christian behaves." He and three subdeacons were shot and killed in front of their church in 2007.
The pope also mentioned "Brother Francis Tofi, an Anglican and member of the Melanesian Brotherhood, who gave his life for peace in the Solomon Islands." Tofi and six other members of the religious order were killed by militia members on Guadalcanal in 2003.
"Unfortunately, despite the end of the great dictatorships of the 20th century, to this day the persecution of Christians has not ended," the pope said. "On the contrary, in some parts of the world it has increased."
"We cannot and do not want to forget," the pope said. And "we want to keep this memory alive alongside our brothers and sisters of other churches and Christian communities. I therefore wish to reaffirm the commitment of the Catholic Church to safeguard the memory of the witnesses of the faith from all Christian traditions."
The new martyrs and witnesses of the faith were not killed because of the denomination they belonged to but because they were Christian, he said, and lived the Gospel of loving service to their brothers and sisters.
"As we recognized during the recent synod, the ecumenism of blood unites 'Christians of different backgrounds who together give their lives for faith in Jesus Christ. The witness of their martyrdom is more eloquent than any word: unity comes from the Cross of the Lord,'" he said, quoting the synod's final document.
"Their martyrdom continues to spread the Gospel in a world marked by hatred, violence and war," Pope Leo said. "It is a hope filled with immortality because, even though they have been killed in body, no one can silence their voice or erase the love they have shown."
"Their witness lives on as a prophecy of the victory of good over evil," the pope said. "Yes, theirs is an unarmed hope. They bore witness to their faith without ever using the weapons of force and violence, but rather by embracing the hidden and meek power of the Gospel."
Pope Leo prayed, "May the blood of so many witnesses hasten the arrival of the blessed day when we will drink from the same cup of salvation!"
The Gospel reading at the service was St. Matthew's version of the Eight Beatitudes, which then provided the framework for specific prayers for Christians who were persecuted or kidnapped or jailed and ultimately killed for living their faith, defending the poor, caring for creation or defending religious freedom.
During the service, the people prayed that Christian communities today would "learn from these peaceful witnesses, persecuted for the Gospel, to imitate the Lord Jesus, the Master, meek and humble of heart."
The new martyrs and witnesses of the faith named in the prayers included: Blessed Leonella Sgorbati, a Consolata Missionary sister who was killed in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 2006; six Evangelicals killed at Silgadji Mission in Burkina Faso in 2019; and the 21 Coptic Orthodox martyrs beheaded by Islamic State members in Libya in 2015.
Pope Leo XIV presided over an ecumenical prayer service at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on Sept. 14, commemorating the “new martyrs and witnesses of the faith” who have died in the past 25 years.
Posted on 09/15/2025 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
WASHINGTON – World Mental Health Day is observed on October 10, and the Catholic Church marks the Jubilee of Consolation on September 15. In recognition of the continuing mental health crisis, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has announced a new component within the ongoing National Catholic Mental Health Campaign focused on amplifying local engagement on mental health.
“Healing and Hope” is taken from the National Catholic Mental Health Campaign’s introductory statement authored by Archbishop Borys Gudziak and Bishop Robert Barron, who wrote: “As pastors, we want to emphasize this point to anyone who is suffering from mental illness or facing mental health challenges: nobody and nothing can alter or diminish your God-given dignity. You are a beloved child of God, a God of healing and hope.”
This aspect of the mental health campaign builds upon the goal of promoting healing and hope for all who struggle with mental illness and is inclusive of the people who accompany them. Three new elements will amplify Catholic engagement on mental health:
The faithful are encouraged to pray the Novena for Mental Health in solidarity with Catholics across the United States from Friday, October 10, to Saturday, October 18. For more information on the National Catholic Mental Health Campaign, please visit: https://www.usccb.org/mental-health.
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Posted on 09/13/2025 14:05 PM (EWTN News - US Catholic News)
Vice President JD Vance (right), second lady Usha Vance (center), and Erika Kirk deplane Air Force Two while escorting the body of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 11, 2025, in Phoenix. / Credit: Kirk, Eric Thayer/Getty Images
CNA Newsroom, Sep 13, 2025 / 10:05 am (CNA).
Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, vowed to continue her husband’s work Friday night during an impassioned and deeply personal televised address that focused on the importance of faith and family life.
Appearing on Fox News just two days after her husband was shot and killed by an assassin’s bullet, fired from a rooftop on the campus of Utah Valley University where he was holding an outdoor event, she spoke for more than 16 minutes, maintaining her composure as she stood at a podium in her husband’s podcast studio, beside his empty chair.
“I will never, ever have the words to describe the loss that I feel in my heart,” said Erika Kirk, the mother of two young children, ages 1 and 3.
“I honestly have no idea what any of this means,” she said. “I know that God does, but I don’t. But Charlie, baby, I know you do, too. So does Our Lord.”
“The evildoers responsible for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they have done,” she said.
“They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith, and of God’s merciful love.”
Here are other highlights from her remarks:
She revealed that she had not yet told the couple’s 3-year-old daughter of her father’s death.
“When I got home last night, Gigi, our daughter, just ran into my arms. And I talked to her, and she said, ‘Mommy, I missed you.’ I said, ‘I missed you too, baby.’
“She goes, ‘Where’s daddy?’ She’s 3. I said, ‘Baby, daddy loves you so much. He’s on a work trip with Jesus, so he can afford your blueberry budget.’”
She talked about why her husband advocated so passionately for marriage and family life.
“Charlie always believed that God’s design for marriage in the family was absolutely amazing. And it is. It is. And it was the greatest joy of his life. And over and over, he would tell all these young people to come and find their future spouse, become wives and husbands and parents. And the reason why is because he wanted you all to experience what he had, and still has,” she said.
“He wanted everyone to bring heaven into this earth through love and joy that comes from raising a family. It’s beautiful. Charlie always said that if he ever ran for office — I know a lot of you asked if he ever was going to — but privately, he told me if he ever did run for office, that his top priority would be to revive the American family. That was his priority.
“One of Charlie’s favorite Bible verses was Ephesians 5 verse 25: ‘Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.’
“My husband laid down his life for me, for our nation, for our children. He showed the ultimate and true covenantal love,” she said.
Erika, who is a baptized Catholic, witnessed to the Christian faith she and her husband shared.
“Charlie always said that when he was gone, he, he wanted to be remembered for his courage and for his faith,” she said.
“And one of the final conversations that he had on this earth, my husband witnessed for his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now and for all eternity, he will stand at his Savior’s side, wearing the glorious crown of a martyr.”
During the broadcast, Erika Kirk urged others to make faith central to their lives, as her husband had done.
“But most important of all, if you aren’t a member of a church, I beg you to join one, a Bible-believing church,” she said.
“Our battle is not simply a political one above all. It is spiritual. It is spiritual. The spiritual warfare is palpable. Charlie loved his Savior with all of his heart, and he wanted every one of you to know him, too. He wanted everyone to know that if they confess, if they confess the Lord Jesus Christ who rose from the dead, then they will be saved.
“Hear me when I say this. Nobody is ever too young to know the Gospel. Nobody. Nobody is ever too young to get involved with saving this beautiful country, this country my husband loved and still loves. And nobody is ever too old, either.”
She vowed to continue Charlie’s work with Turning Point USA, the conservativve advocacy organization he founded, and said the campus speaking tour he had just embarked on would go on.
“If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country and this world. You have no idea,” she said.
“You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry.
“To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die,” she said. “It won’t. I refuse to let that happen. It will not die.”