CNA Newsmaker Interview: Kevin Roberts and living out the optimism of Charlie Kirk

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts. / Credit: Jack Haskins/EWTN NewsWashington, 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 t...

'Joyfully Catholic' Chesterton Academy Network opens international schools

A group of students at Chesterton Academy of the Holy Family in Lisle, Illinois, in 2024. The Chesterton School Network is a network of "joyfully Catholic classical high schools where students grow in faith, virtue, and friendship." / Credit: Photo courtesy of Chesterton Academy of the Holy Family, Lisle, IllinoisCNA Staff, Sep 16, 2025 / 09:20 am (CNA).In a suburb of Minneapolis in 2008, a small school named after the Catholic author G.K. Chesterton opened its doors.Seventeen years later, the school has grown into the wide-reaching Chesterton Schools Network, with schools sprinkled across the United States. And this school year, the network is going international.The president of the Chesterton Schools Network said there is no other word for it but "miraculous.""The growth has been simply astounding," said Dale Ahlquist, who is also president of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, which operates the network.But why are the schools a hit? Ahlquist credits the Holy Spirit.S...

JD Vance: Trump administration will 'dismantle' leftist groups promoting violence

Vice President JD Vance hosts a podcast episode of "The Charlie Kirk Show" on Sept. 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C., following the assassination of the show's namesake on Sept. 10. / Credit: Doug Mills-Pool/Getty ImagesNational Catholic Register, Sep 16, 2025 / 10:21 am (CNA).While serving as the guest host of Charlie Kirk's podcast Monday, Vice President JD Vance vowed that the Trump administration will seek to "dismantle" left-wing organizations that he said promoted the violence that led to the conservative activist's assassination last week."Charlie was gunned down in broad daylight, and well-funded institutions of the Left lied about what he said so as to justify his murder. This is soulless and evil," Vance said.The two-hour broadcast of "The Charlie Kirk Show," produced by the organization Kirk founded, Turning Point USA, was livestreamed from Vance's ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. It featured appearances from White House aides and administr...

Seton Shrine highlights American 'Saints on Their Way'

A display promotes the cause for canonization for the founder of the Knights of Columbus, Blessed Michael McGivney, on Sept. 14, 2025. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 16, 2025 / 11:54 am (CNA).The canonization of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in 1975 not only marked the establishment of the first American-born saint but also opened the door for other American Catholics to be honored for embodying the universal call to holiness."What made her canonization remarkable was that after 200 years of history in the country, it was the first time that a native-born American was declared a saint of the universal Church," Rob Judge, executive director of the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland, told CNA. "It was this validation, that you can come from these lands and obtain holiness."Today there are 87 American Catholics on their way to sainthood. To recognize these men and women, the shrine put together the "Saints on Their Way Villa...

Patriarch Bartholomew meets with Trump during U.S. visit, talks Middle East, Ukraine

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. / Credit: President.gov.ua/Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)CNA Staff, Sep 16, 2025 / 12:24 pm (CNA).Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople met with President Donald Trump this week during a visit to the United States, with the leaders discussing world affairs including ongoing strife in the Middle East and Ukraine.A press release on the patriarch's website said Bartholomew, considered the first among equals in the Orthodox Church, met with Trump in a "very cordial atmosphere" and congratulated the U.S. leader "on his initiatives and overall efforts to promote peace in the world, and particularly in Ukraine."The leaders "also discussed the situation of Christians in the Middle East."Also present at the meeting were numerous other Orthodox leaders as well as U.S. Vice President JD Vance. Bartholomew's office said the patriarch also "offered his condolences to [Trump] for the murder of his friend and colleague Charlie Kirk."Kirk, a promine...

Armenian patriarch invites Pope Leo XIV to visit Armenia

Pope Leo XIV meets with Catholicos Karekin II, the patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, at Villa Barberini, the papal residence overlooking Lake Albano in Castel Gandolfo, Italy on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Sep 16, 2025 / 13:06 pm (CNA).The head of the Armenian Apostolic Church during a meeting Tuesday at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo invited Pope Leo XIV to visit Armenia.Catholicos Karekin II, the patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, met Pope Leo for the first time at Villa Barberini, the papal summer residence overlooking Lake Albano. Leo has recently begun spending Tuesdays, the pope's traditional day off, in Castel Gandolfo while the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City undergoes renovations.The two discussed the need for a peace based on justice, according to Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, the Armenian Church's representative to the Holy See, in comments to the Armenian-language edition of Vatican Media.The invitation wo...

Mass attendance up at various colleges in wake of Charlie Kirk assassination

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 CommonsCNA 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 as...

Gov. Cox: Transgender partner of alleged Charlie Kirk killer cooperating with authorities

Tyler Robinson, 22, (pictured on Sept. 12, 2025) the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk, conservative Christian political activist. / Credit: Handout/Getty ImagesWashington, 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 Sunda...

Pope Leo XIV meets with his Augustinian brothers in Rome

Pope Leo XIV is pictured here with his Augustinian brothers in Rome on Sept. 15, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Augustinian Foundation WorldwideACI Prensa Staff, Sep 15, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Monday received the participants of the general chapter of the Order of St. Augustine, with whom he said he felt "at home." In his address, he reflected in particular on the theme of love, which the order's founder, St. Augustine, "placed at the center of his spiritual quest."At the beginning of his Sept. 15 address, the Holy Father expressed his gratitude to Father Alejandro Moral, OSA, for his years of service and extended a warm welcome to the newly-elected prior general, Father Joseph Farrell, OSA.Referring to the general chapter as an opportunity to reflect on the gift received, the challenges, and the current situation of the order, he reminded the Augustinians of the importance of "interiority in the journey of faith."He emphasized that this interiority is not "an escap...

'No one can silence their voice': Pope Leo XIV honors modern martyrs at ecumenical service

Pope Leo XIV presides over an ecumenical commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of faith of the 21st century at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on September 14, 2025. / Elias TurlVatican City, Sep 14, 2025 / 12:38 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV led an ecumenical commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of faith of the 21st century at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on Sunday, stressing that "even though they have been killed in body, no one can silence their voice or erase the love they have shown."The Sept. 14 liturgy brought together Orthodox, Eastern, and Protestant leaders, along with ecumenical organizations and Vatican officials."Through his cross, Jesus revealed to us the true face of God, his infinite compassion for humanity," the pope said. "He took upon himself the hatred and violence of the world, to share the lot of all those who are humiliated and oppressed."Pope Leo, speaking on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, said that many...