Charlie Kirk Saw Through Francis and Leo

Even as a Protestant, he recognized the fraud of the postconciliar papacy

The Catholic commentariat loves to dismiss Protestant critiques of Rome as ignorant or simplistic. But sometimes the outsider sees more clearly than the insider. And sometimes, tragically, it takes a Protestant to say the obvious: if the pope speaks heresy, maybe he isn’t the pope.

Charlie Kirk, an evangelical who died wearing a St. Michael medal around his neck, had that clarity. He looked at the clown show in Rome under Francis, and then under Leo, and called it what it was: Marxism dressed up as Christianity.

Below is a roundup of Kirk’s words, sharper and braver than most so-called “conservative cardinals,” and what they reveal about the crisis in the Church.

1. Francis: The Pope of Empty Pews

From as early as 2014, Kirk mocked Francis’s impotence:

By 2015, he was hammering Francis for missing opportunities to end abortion:

And by 2016, he was skewering the hypocrisy of a Vatican walled fortress lecturing America on immigration:

Kirk wasn’t fooled by the “who am I to judge” media darling. He saw a pope who could bless Biden but never rebuke Obama.

In 2023 he went further, pairing Francis with Andy Stanley as men ensnared by the same “heretical trap,” thinking souls can be won by compromise:

2. “Maybe He’s Not the Pope”

Kirk’s most prophetic line came in a conversation with Michael Knowles:

“If my pastor starts saying crazy things, I find a new pastor. So if your pope starts saying crazy things, maybe he’s not the Pope.”

That is the scandal of our time, spoken bluntly by a Protestant. Millions of Catholics have thought the same in their hearts, but most Catholic “leaders” refuse to speak it. Kirk had the courage to articulate the thought that terrifies bishops and cardinals.

3. Leo: The Chicago Globalist in a Cassock

When Prevost became Leo XIV, Kirk gave him the benefit of the doubt. He prayed publicly that the new pope might usher in a “Golden Age of Christianity”:

That was May 2025—days before Kirk realized the game was already rigged.

Within a week, he was warning his audience:

Charlie Kirk saw what many Catholic commentators refused to see. He recognized the telltale signs: the George Floyd retweets, the open-borders messaging, the continuity of Francis’s agenda under a new face.

4. “Why is the Pope Targeting the Latin Mass?”

Here is where Kirk absolutely nailed it. While conservative Catholics were wringing their hands, Kirk said the quiet part out loud:

“We knew that ‘Catholic’ Joe Biden’s FBI was targeting the Latin Mass, but why is the Pope?”

That one tweet exposes the entire fraud. Kirk instinctively understood that the Latin Mass is the barometer. No Protestant loyalty to Vatican politics, no fear of losing privileges, just a straight shot of truth: Biden’s regime and Francis’s Vatican are on the same side against tradition.

For a man outside the Church, Kirk grasped what bishops inside the Church refuse to say. The suppression of the Mass of the Ages is proof that these men are not defending Christ’s Church, they are dismantling it.

5. A Protestant Outsider With Catholic Instincts

Kirk was no theologian, and he admitted his stumbling blocks: transubstantiation, Marian dogmas, the papacy itself. But in practice, he lived with instincts more Catholic than many bishops.

He wore the St. Michael medal. He mocked heretical statements on 60 Minutes:

He knew Truth saves souls, not compromise. And he recognized that if Rome preaches Marxism, it ceases to speak for Christ.

Conclusion: The Judgment on the Cardinals

It is a profound indictment when an evangelical commentator saw more clearly than the princes of the Church. While cardinals mutter about “forgetting” Fiducia Supplicans, Charlie Kirk declared: “Maybe he’s not the Pope.”

Kirk’s words leave the hierarchy without excuse. If he, outside the household of faith, could recognize the stench of apostasy, then what is stopping the shepherds who possess both the authority and the duty to act? Silence for the sake of “unity” is no excuse. Souls are at stake.

Charlie Kirk died wearing the cross of St. Michael, not because he believed the Vatican’s lies, but because he loved the truth of Christ. That alone makes him a rebuke to the postconciliar papacy and its silent collaborators.