Utah seeks death penalty for Tyler Robinson in Charlie Kirk murder

Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and a vocal evangelical Christian who was assassinated on Sept. 10, 2025, speaking at an event in Texas in 2018. / Credit: Carrington Tatum/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 18, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray announced he is seeking the death penalty for Tyler Robinson, the man charged with murdering Christian conservative activist Charlie Kirk."I am filing a notice of intent to seek the death penalty," Gray said in a Sept. 16 news conference. "I do not take this decision lightly, and it is a decision I have made independently as county attorney based solely on the available evidence and circumstances and nature of the crime."Robinson is charged with seven crimes, the most serious of which is aggravated murder. Utah's criminal code has two forms of intentional homicide: "murder" and the more serious "aggravated murder."The maximum sentence for murder is life in prison, but an aggravated murder charge ...

Pope Leo XIV on Vatican's finances: 'I'm not losing sleep over it'

Pope Leo XIV waves to pilgrims gathered for his weekly general audience on Sept. 17, 2025, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaCNA Staff, Sep 18, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV downplayed concerns of the ongoing financial crisis at the Vatican in a recent interview, arguing that "things are going to be OK" regarding the Holy See's finances even as more work is needed. The Holy Father made the remarks as part of a wide-ranging interview with Crux senior correspondent Elise Ann Allen. The interview appears in Allen's biography on the pontiff, "Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the 21st Century," published in Spanish on Sept. 18. An English version of the book will be published in early 2026. Allen asked Leo about the financial situation of the Vatican, noting that the pope has previously indicated that the crisis is "not as bad as it's sometimes been made out to be." The Holy See's pension fund has been facing a major shortfall af...

Kenyan bishop lauds courage of seminarians choosing dangerous missionary work

In his homily at the Sept. 13, 2025, diaconate ordination of nine Mill Hill Missionaries members, Bishop John Oballa Owaa of the Diocese of Ngong in Kenya lauded young members of the congregation for not allowing anything to stand in their way to evangelize. / Credit: Mill Hill MissionariesACI Africa, Sep 18, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).Members of the Mill Hill Missionaries (MHM) go to lands where they risk their own lives for the kingdom of God, Bishop John Oballa Owaa of the Diocese of Ngong in Kenya said in his homily Sept. 13 at the diaconate ordination of nine MHM members.Oballa lauded the young members of the congregation for not allowing anything to stand in their way of spreading the Gospel.He narrated a conversation he had with a MHM member who he said was eager to embark on mission in Pakistan, where Christian persecution has been shown to be rising."I remember a young parishioner who became a Mill Hill missionary telling me without any voice that seeks sympathy, without an...

Pope Leo XIV: My priority is the Gospel, not solving the world's problems

Pope Leo XIV presides over his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Sept. 17, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Sep 18, 2025 / 08:30 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV said his primary role as leader of the Church is confirming Catholics in their faith and sharing the Gospel with the world, not resolving global crises.Speaking to Crux senior correspondent Elise Ann Allen in the first sit-down interview of his pontificate, Leo also said he was "trying not to continue to polarize or promote polarization in the Church."Leo's first formal interview as pope took place as part of the biography "Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the 21st Century," by Allen, out now in Spanish and next year in English."I don't see my primary role as trying to be the solver of the world's problems. I don't see my role as that at all, really, although I think that the Church has a voice, a message that needs to continue to be preached, to be spoken and spoken loudly," he...

Pope Leo XIV signals potential shift on China, talks Trump and Gaza

Pope Leo XIV waves to pilgrims gathered for his Sunday Angelus in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Sept. 14, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Sep 18, 2025 / 10:08 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV, in his first interview since his election, signaled he may be open to future changes to the Vatican's controversial deal with China, saying that he is in dialogue with persecuted Chinese Catholics as he weighs the future of Vatican policy toward Beijing.The interview, conducted in English in July and published Thursday in a new Spanish-language biography, provides the clearest view yet of the 70-year-old American pope's priorities in global politics and Vatican diplomacy, including how he sees the Church engaging with the Trump administration, the war in Gaza, and the defense of human dignity.On China, Pope Leo said he is listening to "a significant group of Chinese Catholics who for many years have lived some kind of oppression or difficulty in living their faith freely" as h...

FBI director: There have been 'terminations' related to 2023 anti-Catholic memo

The J. Edgar Hoover FBI headquarters building in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 17, 2025 / 19:34 pm (CNA).FBI Director Kash Patel said in a U.S. Senate hearing that there have been "terminations" and "resignations" of employees related to a 2023 anti-Catholic memo produced by Richmond, Virginia's field office and the agency has made policy adjustments.Patel made the comments during a Sept. 16 line of questioning from Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who requested an update on the administration's investigation into the memo and asked about the FBI's efforts to combat anti-Catholic and anti-Christian violence and hate crimes.He did not specify how many people were terminated or what their roles were in drafting the memo."We are doing our investigation simultaneously with Congress," Patel said. "Just to put it in perspective, we provided 700 documents on the Richmond Catholic memo, specifically to this committee...

Deacon in San Diego says he will self-deport after residency status revoked

View of the San Diego skyline. / Credit: russellstreet, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Sep 17, 2025 / 13:19 pm (CNA).A deacon in San Diego told parishioners last week that he will voluntarily deport himself after his residency status was revoked by the U.S. government.The deacon reportedly made the announcement at St. Jude Shrine of the West during Masses on Sept. 14. Local media reported that the clergyman came to the U.S. when he was 13 and "served the St. Jude community for roughly four decades." He will reportedly be returning to Tijuana, Mexico.Local reports did not identify the deacon. A diocesan representative indicated to CNA that the news reports were accurate, but the diocese said it could not identify the deacon himself and that he was handling the matter privately.Representatives at St. Jude Parish did not respond to queries regarding the announcement.The deacon's self-deportation comes amid a wave of heightened immigration enforcement around the coun...

Nigeria bishops' conference president: Country now full of 'fear, flight, and funerals'

Nigeria is "sinking in many fronts," the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, has said. / Credit: Catholic Secretariat of NigeriaACI Africa, Sep 17, 2025 / 14:10 pm (CNA).Nigeria is "sinking in many fronts," the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) said at a recent meeting, lamenting that in addition to economic hardships Nigerians are grappling with, many communities have been thrown into perpetual mourning due to unending insecurity.In his address at the ongoing interactive session between CBCN and the "prominent lay faithful" of Calabar ecclesiastical province, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji said many Nigerians have been killed, and those who fled are languishing in camps where they are exposed to extreme weather conditions, often without food and water.Acknowledging "notable progress here and there" in the country where persecution against Christians is said to be the highest globally, the a...

Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem forgives school debt of all diocesan families

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa visits a kindergarten in Haifa. / Credit: Latin Patriarchate of JerusalemACI Prensa Staff, Sep 17, 2025 / 15:44 pm (CNA).The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has decided to forgive the school debts of all families in the diocese for the school years prior to the Jubilee of Hope as a gesture "to promote and demand justice, equity, and, above all, solidarity."The patriarchate is the Latin-rite Catholic diocese based in Jerusalem, reestablished in 1847 by Pope Pius IX. Its ecclesiastical jurisdiction encompasses Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Cyprus, serving the Latin Catholic communities present in the Holy Land and these regions of the Middle East.In a statement, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, said the jubilee year "has taken place in a context of violence and war," which "seems to be increasing evermore."The cardinal explained that under the motto "Hope Does Not Disappoint," Catholics are called "to a special conv...

Pope Leo XIV expels deacon from the clerical state for abuse of minors

Pope Leo XIV on Sept. 16, 2025, expelled from the clerical state an Italian deacon who was convicted of sexual offenses against minors. / Credit: Freedom Studio/ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Sep 17, 2025 / 16:19 pm (CNA).Italian permanent deacon Alessandro Frateschi, who was convicted of sexual offenses against minors, has been expelled from the clerical state directly by Pope Leo XIV.The Diocese of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno announced the news Sept. 16, stating that Frateschi was notified of the decree in prison, where he is currently serving a 12-year sentence. This is the first known case of canonical sanction for abuse during the new pope's pontificate.Frateschi, 46, was sentenced in the Italian civil court in 2024 after being found guilty of sexually abusing five minors between 2018 and January 2023. Three of the victims were his students at a secondary school in Latina where he taught Catholic religion; another was a minor in foster care; and the fifth was the son of...