Dios te salve, Maria. Llena eres de gracia: El Señor es contigo. Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres. Y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre: Jesús. Santa María, Madre de Dios, ruega por nosotros pecadores, ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte. Amén.
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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.
FBI investigates suspect’s communications
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.
Read MoreA reading from the First Letter to Timothy
3:1-13
Beloved, this saying is trustworthy:
whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task.
Therefore, a bishop must be irreproachable,
married only once, temperate, self-controlled,
decent, hospitable, able to teach,
not a drunkard, not aggressive, but gentle,
not contentious, not a lover of money.
He must manage his own household well,
keeping his children under control with perfect dignity;
for if a man does not know how to manage his own household,
how can he take care of the Church of God?
He should not be a recent convert,
so that he may not become conceited
and thus incur the Devil’s punishment.
He must also have a good reputation among outsiders,
so that he may not fall into disgrace, the Devil’s trap.
Similarly, deacons must be dignified, not deceitful,
not addicted to drink, not greedy for sordid gain,
holding fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
Moreover, they should be tested first;
then, if there is nothing against them,
let them serve as deacons.
Women, similarly, should be dignified, not slanderers,
but temperate and faithful in everything.
Deacons may be married only once
and must manage their children and their households well.
Thus those who serve well as deacons gain good standing
and much confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus.
From the Gospel according to Luke
7:11-17
Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain,
and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him.
As he drew near to the gate of the city,
a man who had died was being carried out,
the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
A large crowd from the city was with her.
When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”
He stepped forward and touched the coffin;
at this the bearers halted,
and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak,
and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming,
“A great prophet has arisen in our midst,”
and “God has visited his people.”
This report about him spread through the whole of Judea
and in all the surrounding region.
“Compassion is a sentiment that gets involved, it is a sentiment of the heart, of the viscera, it involves the whole person. It’s not the same as “pain,” or of [saying] “How sad, poor people!”: No, it’s not the same. Compassion gets involved. It is “suffering with.” This is compassion. The Lord is involved in the lives of a widow, of an orphan. “But say there” [people might say]… You have a whole crowd here, why don’t you talk to the crowd? Leave them… Life is like that… Those are tragedies that just happen…” No. For Him, that widow and that dead orphan were more important than the crowds He was speaking to and that were following Him. The Lord, with His compassion, was involved in this case. He had compassion.” Drawing near is touching the reality. Touching. Not looking at it from a distance. He had compassion—the first word. He drew near—the second word. Then He performs the miracle. Jesus does not say, ‘So long, I’m continuing on my way.’ No. He takes the child, and what does it say? ‘He restored him to his mother.’ To restore: the third word. Jesus performs miracles to restore, to return people to their proper place. And that is what He did with the redemption. He had compassion—God had compassion—He drew near to us in His Son, and He restored all of us to the dignity of children of God. He has re-created all of us.” (Pope Francis, Santa Marta, 19 September 2017)
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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.
Social media users say Kirk inspired them to go to church
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.
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A plane drops food aid over Rafah, in southern Gaza, in August 2025. / Credit: Anas-Mohammed/Shutterstock
Gaza City, Sep 15, 2025 / 17:01 pm (CNA).
Under the slogan “Christ died in Gaza,” a network called “Priests Against Genocide” says it sees “in the exhausted people of Gaza and in the Palestinian people living under occupation the presence of Christ himself who identifies with the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, and the stranger, as written in Matthew 25 of the Gospel.”
The network was founded in Italy by Catholic priests.
At an online press conference on Sept. 15, the group stated its purpose is to “pray and bear witness to a peace that is ‘disarmed and disarming’; support Christian communities in the Holy Land; denounce every war crime and every form of genocide — such as the one currently being committed against the Palestinians — and promote a culture of reconciliation and accountability.”
More than 550 priests from 21 countries — the majority of them Italian — have signed on to the initiative. Seven bishops from around the world, including the archbishop of Rabat, Morocco, Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, have also joined.
Not ‘against anyone’
Speaking on behalf of the network, Father Pietro Rossini, an Xaverian missionary, said: “We cannot remain silent in the face of the tragedy affecting the Palestinian population in Gaza and the Occupied Territories. We do not speak as politicians but as pastors, as leaders of communities who believe in the Gospel and in the dignity of every human life. We do not represent only ourselves but also the communities entrusted to our care as shepherds in the Catholic Church.”
Rossini added: “Our message is not ‘against’ anyone but in favor of life and peace. We condemn the logic of war and violence wherever it occurs, and we call for respect of international law, United Nations resolutions, and the rulings of the International Criminal Court against those who oppress and extinguish innocent human life.”
Condemning Hamas and Israel
The priest continued: “For this reason, with the same strength with which we condemn the massacre of Oct. 7 [2023], the killings and kidnappings carried out by Hamas terrorists, we condemn even more strongly the disproportionate response, the violence, the killing of innocent people unjustifiably excused as ‘unintentional errors’ (as even the Italian president of the Republic has stated), the bombings of sovereign third countries, the war crimes, ethnic cleansing, the use of starvation as a weapon of extermination, and the genocide being carried out by the State of Israel against the Palestinian population.”
Rossini said the priests “feel the urgency to give voice to those who have none, to the innocent victims who cry out for justice.”
A call to commitment
At the conference, Father Rito Maresca from the Diocese of Sorrento-Castellammare said he felt compelled to join the initiative, describing its founders as “David against the Goliath of violence.” Father Nicola Colasuonno, rector of the Shrine of St. Guido Conforti in Parma, said he could no longer bear to see the violence and bombings.
Father Massimo Nevola, superior of the Jesuit house of St. Ignatius in Rome, said he immediately joined the network, already aware of the situation in the Holy Land. He said the president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference did not officially endorse the initiative, since he represents all bishops, but neither did he oppose it.
Prayer in Rome next week
The network adopted a logo created by artist Gianluca Costantini, bearing the English phrase: “Christ died in Gaza.” The drawing is inspired by a real image of a Palestinian mother mourning her deceased son, Mohammed Zakaria.
The first public event of the network is scheduled for Sept. 22 in Rome, on the eve of the closing session of the United Nations General Assembly. A prayer will be held in the Church of St. Andrew on the Quirinal followed by a march with several stops where testimonies of Palestinian lives will be read, ending at Montecitorio, where the Chamber of Italian Deputies is located.
During the march, prayers will be recited, including the Our Father in Arabic. About 50 priests are expected to participate in the first gathering.
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NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick (left) and Mark Vande Hei (right) prepare to fly out to a landing zone in the Rocky Mountains as part of the certification run for the NASA Artemis course at the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site in Gypsum, Colorado, Aug. 26.
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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.
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A Fox News panel discussing the assassination of Charlie Kirk attempted to “both sides” the issue by claiming political violence is the fault of both parties, and that the deceased conservative icon was “not a saint.” Kirk was assassinated on Wednesday while speaking at a college in Utah.
The post WATCH: Fox News Panel Says Political Violence ‘Not Unique to One Side or Party,’ Host Howard Kurtz Adds That ‘Charlie Kirk Was Not a Saint’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Destabilizing Moldova: Europe and Zelensky’s Plan to Thwart Trump-Putin Peace Efforts With Provocations in Transnistria Guest post by Simona Mangiante New reports indicate a major operation is underway, spearheaded by European leaders, in conjunction with Ukraine and Moldovan governments—to expand the war in Ukraine by fomenting hostilities in the Russian-allied region of Transnistria. SPECIAL REPORT Are NATO and Ukraine planning to open a new front in the country of Moldova and the breakaway region of Transnistria
The post SIMONA MANGIANTE EXCLUSIVE: Destabilizing Moldova – Europe and Zelensky’s Plan to Thwart Trump-Putin Peace Efforts With Provocations in Transnistria appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Vice President JD Vance will host the Charlie Kirk Show live from the White House this afternoon, five days after the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder’s tragic passing.
The post WATCH LIVE: JD Vance Hosts Charlie Kirk Show from the White House – 12 pm ET appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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‘Our sacred belongingness’ – 
In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul wrote, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience…And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” These virtues are not easy to practice, but they are key to making God’s kingdom more present on Earth. So, how can we approach this task? Singer-songwriter Sarah Hart finds inspiration in a pivotal moment from monk and author Thomas Merton’s life. While standing on a street corner one day in Louisville, Ky., Merton was suddenly overwhelmed by a divine sense of
U.S. — Reports from across the country reveal millions of Christian extremists gathered in groups this morning to pray for the people who want to kill them.
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A Formula One car Cooper T53, built in 1961 by the by British motorsport team Cooper for sales. The picture was taken in 2023, during a historic race at Donington Park, England.
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Now roughly 14th magnitude, Comet C/2024 E1 Wierzchoś is ripe for spotting with an 8-inch scope. With no Moon in the evening sky, darkness is on your side; and tonight and tomorrow night, the comet lies just 0.5° from 5th-magnitude Iota (ι) Coronae Borealis, the easternmost star in the curved Northern Crown. Around 9 P.M.Continue reading “The Sky Today on Monday, September 15: Comet Wierzchoś curves through the Northern Crown”
The post The Sky Today on Monday, September 15: Comet Wierzchoś curves through the Northern Crown appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.
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