On September 10th, 2025, Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University. A single shot, fired from a campus building nearly 200 yards away, struck him as he addressed students, cutting short the life of a young husband and father.

Kirk rose to prominence as a teenager for his outspoken defence of conservative values and went on to establish one of the most influential youth movements in American politics. Tireless, combative, and charismatic, he dedicated himself to awakening a generation to the importance of faith, liberty, and truth. His death has shocked America, not only for its brutality, but for what it reveals about the dangerous escalation of ideological hatred.

His Grace has issued the following statement:

[Begins] The assassination of Charlie Kirk is not only a national tragedy for the United States but a sorrow that reverberates throughout the Christian world. At only thirty-one years of age, a husband and father, he embodied that rare quality of courage so desperately needed today: the willingness to speak truth without fear.

Charlie was a young man who recognised that ideas matter, and that the future is formed in the minds and hearts of the young. In founding Turning Point USA, he dedicated himself to countering the drift of a generation seduced by materialism, secularism, and ideological lies. His boldness was not without cost. He endured ridicule, defamation, and hostility for proclaiming what he believed to be true. Yet he did so with energy, optimism, and a conviction that transcended mere politics.

I saw in him a spirit akin to the prophets of old: a voice raised against the spirit of the age, unwilling to remain silent while truth was traduced and freedom imperilled. He was not perfect, but he was faithful to his calling. In an era of cowardice and compromise, he stood firm.

His murder is a stark reminder of the poisoned fruits of ideological hatred. Those who silence their opponents with bullets betray their own claims of tolerance and reveal the hollowness of their creed. Yet from this tragedy, we must draw not despair but resolve—to continue the work of truth-telling, of defending the innocent, of shaping the rising generation in virtue and faith.

For the young especially, his life offers both an example and a summons. To honour Charlie Kirk’s memory is to emulate his courage: to speak boldly, to defend truth without fear, and to give oneself to the service of causes greater than comfort. His voice is silenced, but his mission must not be.

May the Lord, who is the Resurrection and the Life, receive Charlie into His mercy, comfort his wife and child, and strengthen all who labour for a society rooted in truth. His voice is stilled, but his witness will endure.

Requiescat in pace. [ENDS]