Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, has denounced the public celebrations that followed the assassination of U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk, calling them “satanic” and rooted in “atheistic ideology.”
“Charlie Kirk was the victim of an atheistic ideology, whose followers erupted in satanic celebration over the heinous murder of an exemplary husband and family man,” Müller said in an interview with Vatican journalist Diane Montagna. The German cardinal said the devil “always takes possession of those who hate life and truth.”
Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was shot dead earlier this month in what U.S. authorities have described as a politically motivated attack.
Müller praised Kirk as a “martyr for Jesus Christ,” not in the formal sense of sainthood, but as a man who “gave his life in following his Lord” and defended “the beauty and sanctity of marriage and family” against modern ideologies.
The cardinal’s remarks came as part of a broader critique of what he described as the West’s “hostile takeover” by anti-Christian movements, including radical Islam and “woke” ideologies, as well as a recent LGBT event at the Vatican.
