Time to get off the computer...the world has gone mad.


Sculpture of Jesus and Charlie Kirk to be installed at Ave Maria University

Timothy Schmalz’s latest sculpture, soon to be installed at Ave Maria University in Florida, depicts Jesus covering the fatal wound of slain Christian activist Charlie Kirk. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Ave Maria University

By Amira Abuzeid
CNA Staff, Oct 3, 2025 / 06:00 am
The day after Charlie Kirk was αssαssιnαtҽd, renowned Catholic sculptor Timothy Schmalz began working on a sculpture no one had commissioned: Jesus comforting the slain conservative Christian activist, the fatal wound to his neck covered by Christ’s pierced hand.
“Shocked and devastated” upon hearing of the Turning Point USA founder’s assassination, Schmalz told CNA in an interview that he entered his studio at 4 a.m. the following day and began building up the sculpture with his hands as “a form of prayer.”
“I had an audio recording of the Old Testament playing in the background and Charlie’s voice debating at the same time as I sculpted,” he said.
When he first formed the face of Jesus, Schmalz said it was screaming with rage, reflecting the rage he himself felt at the time.
“This was the murder of a human being. It was also a violent attack on the premise that we can have discussions as decent human beings,” said Schmalz, who had listened to Kirk regularly and admired him for his courage and energy. “When he was murdered, it was like our freedoms were murdered as well.”
“Another reaction I had was horror at seeing the murder on video over and over again,” he said. “Can you give this person some dignity? Not only are people absolutely barbarically rude when it comes to social media, but now you have this other layer of removing things that are sacred: the idea that a human life should not be murdered.”
Seeing it posted everywhere made it “seem more barbaric and animalistic,” he said.
“All of this really compelled me to do something positive within this horrible situation,” Schmalz said. “I wondered, how would Charlie, who loved Jesus, want to be represented?”

“As I worked, Jesus’ face became less angry and more compassionate,” he said.
“Hopefully, that will be how our society becomes. Hopefully, like my sculpture of the face of Christ, it will change. I had him enraged and then it turned. I hope our world will also turn from that rage.”
“My hope with the sculpture is that it gives some dignity to the human life of Charlie and to all of us. We are slowly moving away from this dignity in culture today,” he lamented, saying he wanted to do what he could to make the world “more kind and peaceful.”
‘If we are in a culture war, we have to fight it with culture’
“We are in a culture of nihilism, and our secular society has to be challenged,” he said. “If we are in a culture war, we have to fight it with culture.”
“I have spent my life doing sculptures like my piece ‘Angels Unawares’ that presents the truth that all human life is sacred,” he said.
The day after Kirk’s death, Schmalz and his 16-year-old daughter, who he had been unaware also followed Kirk, began talking about “important issues like abortion.” She told Schmalz she had joined the high school debating club because of Kirk.
“It was the first time I had such a conversation about deep issues with my daughter,” he said.
A fortuitous meeting
Schmalz told CNA that after showing Ave Maria University President Mark Middendorf photographs of the sculpture, which was still in its early stages, at a fortuitous meeting in Orlando in mid-September, Middendorf told him “that belongs on our campus” and asked if the school could receive the first bronze casting.

Schmalz's latest sculpture. Credit: Courtesy of Ave Maria University

Schmalz agreed, and the sculpture will soon be installed at the Catholic school in southwest Florida.
Middendorf told CNA that the Ave Maria University community, which has had an active Turning Point USA chapter for years, responded immediately to news of Kirk’s passing. An on-campus Mass was offered for the repose of Kirk’s soul on the evening of his death.

Mark Middendorf, president of Ave Maria University in Florida. Credit: Courtesy of Ave Maria University

“I admired Charlie’s search for truth,” Middendorf said. “Engaging in peaceful dialogue with others who believe things contrary to ourselves is profoundly needed in our current climate. My hope is that our students will continue to engage our culture with courage, sharing the truths of our faith.”On Sept. 14, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Middendorf said Deacon Mark Miravalle in his homily recalled one of Kirk’s own remarks: “When asked, ‘Why does God allow suffering or evil?’ Kirk had once responded: ‘Wrong question. The right question is: What did God do about it? The answer: the cross.’”
Statue to stand as ‘lasting tribute to Charlie Kirk’s fearless witness’
Middendorf said the sculpture will serve as a “profound and lasting tribute to Charlie Kirk’s fearless witness, bold defense of life, and unwavering love for Jesus Christ.”
The university president told CNA he also wants the sculpture “to serve as inspiration for students to live and share their faith with heroic courage and to use their God-given gifts to transform the culture and seek the salvation of souls, which is why Tom Monaghan built this university, and why I and all our faculty and staff are here.”
The bronze sculpture will not be the first piece of Schmalz’s work on campus. Monaghan commissioned him to make the university oratory’s crucifix. In addition, along the school’s rosary wall, Schmalz also made a sculpture depicting the Annunciation.
Art as a form of evangelization
The acclaimed artist attributes his success to seeing his work as a form of prayer and his studio as a chapel, in a sense. He also sees his work as a form of evangelization, which he said is “unique” in the current art world that does not value beauty or truth.
“If the truth of our faith were presented in an awesome way, you would have more people coming to Christ. People are spiritually starving out there. We need to reach out to them however we can,” including through beautiful art, he said.
“My mission is to use artwork to bring peace to the world,” Schmalz said. “We have to be better humans.”
Pope Leo-inspired statue in the offing
Earlier this week, the artist met with Pope Leo XIV to present his idea for a new sculpture titled “Peace Be With You,” inspired by the pope’s first message to the world upon being elected pontiff in May.
Schmalz’s works are on display all over the world. He created a sculpture of the Blessed Virgin Mary pregnant with Jesus that will be displayed on the grounds of the state capitol in Austin, Texas, after that state’s Legislature approved in May the installation of what it calls the “Texas Life Monument.”

A rendering of the Blessed Virgin Mary carrying the unborn Jesus. Credit: Courtesy of Timothy Schmalz

Earlier versions of the 8-foot-tall statue were erected in Rome in 2022 at the Church of San Marcello al Corso and at the national seminary of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Timothy Schmalz sits beside a bronze casting of his “Homeless Jesus” in Philadelphia, one of more than 50 locations that has installed the work. Credit: Courtesy of Timothy Schmalz

The Canadian artist’s “Homeless Jesus” statue, inaugurated in March 2016 during the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in Vatican City, is now installed in more than 50 locations around the world, including Hong Kong, the end of the Camino de Santiago in Spain, and in Capernaum in Israel.

I actually like this sculpture though I know I won’t find much agreement on this group and you’ll all say I’m not real ‘trad’😀 I agree with him about the footage of Kirk’s assassination being replayed online so much that it became more horrifying, plus the evil comments from some of the liberals how they’re glad he’s dead etc… 

Let’s make a statue to honor the Sacred Ice Cube. It can be set up next to St. Charlie.

What about the sculpture do you like?

I see it as the sculptor’s way of counteracting the vile behaviour of those who celebrated Kirk’s assassination, also it has a reasonably traditional appearance, not like some of the horrors that have been done by the modern church eg the ‘Luce’ cartoon like figure. 

My husband says Jesus looks a bit like a hippy in it so there is that 😀
I just don’t think it’s the abomination some claim.

Could Charlie Kirk had been a free mason?   

I see it as the sculptor’s way of counteracting the vile behaviour of those who celebrated Kirk’s assassination

The Catholic sculptor could have just as easily made a nice sculpture of just Kirk, no? Because what the sculptor essentially did was, as a layman, personally canonize a non-Catholic. Do you "like" that? Do you understand that, notwithstanding Vatican II, the Church has never canonized someone who, by all appearances, died a non-Catholic, outside of her? You do not counteract "vile behavior" with more of the same (i.e. religion indifferentism)