High-ranking Czech Cardinal to hold mass for Charlie Kirk amid public debate

Czech Cardinal Dominik Duka will lead a memorial mass in Prague next week for U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk, whose assassination in Utah this week has drawn international reactions. The decision has stirred both support and criticism in Czechia, where political tensions are already running high ahead of next month’s elections.

The service, organized by the Catholic St. John’s Festival Navalis group, is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 16, at midday in the Church of Our Lady before Týn on Old Town Square. Organizers announced that mourners can also lay wreaths and mourning ribbons at the Marian Column nearby.

Duka called Kirk’s death “a consequence of the growing political violence and hatred spreading in the public sphere.” Jan Wolf, a Prague city representative with the Christian Democratic KDU-ČSL party, promoted the event on social media, praising Kirk as someone who “turned a small student group into one of the most influential forces in U.S. Republican politics.”

The announcement has been met with criticism from some members of the public, who object to honoring a figure known for far-right rhetoric, including opposition to women’s rights and a strong pro-gun stance.

“An American activist known for racist and conspiratorial statements is shot dead… now Czech Catholics want to celebrate mass for him,” one online comment read. Critics also noted the sensitivity of Kirk’s pro-gun views in a country still grappling with its deadliest modern mass shooting, which took place in Prague less than two years ago.

The timing of Kirk’s murder resonates in Czechia, where political debate has sharpened ahead of the Oct. 5–6 general election. Earlier this month, opposition leader and former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš was attacked at a campaign event and required hospital treatment. Prime Minister Petr Fiala condemned Kirk’s killing as “a heinous crime” in a statement on Instagram.

“Politics is supposed to be a clash of opinions and ideas, but we must never accept violence in a democratic society. That would be the beginning of the end of democracy and freedom,” he said.

Interior Minister Vít Rakušan, a frequent critic of Kirk’s politics, also stressed that violence must be rejected. “He was a man with whom I certainly wouldn’t agree on much. But disagreements in world views must not be resolved with violence. I condemn this unequivocally,” he wrote.