Has Candace Crossed a Catholic Line?

While the debate is settled whether curiosity killed the cat, it should be added that it can kill the Catholic, as well. Therefore, Catholics like Candace Owens should be cautious about what the Catechism calls “unhealthy curiosity.” Truth warrior as she has been, many sense that Candace has departed from the path of truth in her recent embroiling over Erika Kirk, the widow of assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, descending into a spirit of inquisitiveness.

During Great Lent, Eastern Catholics recite the Prayer of St. Ephrem in the Byzantine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, which includes the following petition:

O Lord, Master of my life, grant that I may not be infected with the spirit of slothfulness and inquisitiveness, with the spirit of ambition and vain talking.

Inquisitiveness is a fascinating (and terrifying) sin to consider in the modern context. St. Bernard of Clairvaux called curiositas the errant desire or pursuit of forbidden knowledge, which deals most obviously with dark arts like witchcraft, divination, and other such occult outrages. But less obviously, avoidance of this sin requires a moderation of mind. Even when it comes to the infinite potential of our God-given intellect, the skies are not the limit. There are boundaries the mind must respect, and the spirit of inquisitiveness trespasses against modesty and temperance in seeking to know that which should not be known.

As St. Thomas Aquinas put it, such curiosity and scrutiny is not ordered toward a useful end. Ours is an age of inquisitiveness where noise replaces knowledge with devilish purpose, as Uncle Screwtape reveals:

All has been occupied by Noise—Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile—Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples, and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end.  

Catholics should steel themselves against noise, especially against Internet noise which often is a species of inquisitiveness. Many have encountered this pitfall with the turn conservative podcaster Candace Owens has taken regarding conspiracies she has almost single-handedly woven around Erika Kirk. In a recent episode, Candace shared a comment from one of her viewers saying that the “demons militate to absurdity.” This was a description of the mad diabolical strategies that Candace makes her bread and butter, but it also serves as an ironic assessment of an unfortunate slant Candace’s own militant work against the demons has taken. If the powers of darkness know how to do anything, it is to subvert, turning the sword back upon its wielder—and there is something absurd about the militant reporting of Candace against Erika.

There is an edge of inquisitiveness in Candace’s desire to “expose” Erika. Candace was a friend and supporter of Charlie Kirk and his mission to frame political debates with truth, courteous argument, and Western Christian tradition, and her desire to determine if a possible Zionist plot or other geopolitical ends led to his assassination is admirable. But when she decided to turn her YouTube crosshairs on Erika, she went down a rabbit hole that Catholics should be wary of because, at bottom, it is more sensational than substantial.

Without intending to throw any stone at Candace Owens for being a sinner, sister in Christ that she is, there is an intention to caution her and her followers from betraying a righteous Catholic spirit with the spirit of inquisitiveness. That spirit pursues topics with relentless needlessness, pushing and pulling people into a web of intrigue that is more noise than knowledge. Candace appears even obsessed with Erika Kirk, and Catholics should be honest about that. The pursuit of truth can go astray by turning into self-serving officiousness, attention mongering, or crowd-stirring rhetoric for its own sake. Inquisitiveness causes outrage where there is no solid justification, making outrageous conjecture sound like outrageous fact, and that is not the way of truth, Candace.

This might be contentious given Candace’s track record for standing up for truth, and she has been an impressive figure in the landscape of influencers. She is right to say “Christ is King” loudly and proudly. She is right in sounding alarm bells about the tentacled interests of Israel. She is right that there are demonic forces that are at work feeding off the blood of innocents in an Epstein parody of power. She is right to mistrust the government, to question the narrative, and to condemn elitist ideologies. She is right to want to get to the bottom of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

But many don’t think Candace is right in delving into the life of Erika Kirk as she has been. She has gone too far, leaning in with presumptive reasoning that Erika is a grifter, or political operative, a femme fatale who was complicit in her husband’s murder. Granted, Erika’s behavior and demeanor have at times been odd, even having that performative smack that Candace has made much of. But to lambast her with all but accusation in what seems a thinly founded suspicion that she may somehow be involved in the horrific UVU shooting is simply too fantastically speculative to be presented as legitimate journalism or investigation.

The way Candace is broadcasting Erika’s history, suggesting snappish hypotheses about her motivations and connections, does not feel like the work and words of an intelligent person that is concerned primarily about the truth, which Candace should be—and that from a Catholic perspective. Instead, Candace suddenly has the appearance of putting out material that is purposefully dramatic, intentionally conspiratorial, and too airy to justify raking a widow over the coals of the Internet. Even her series title, “Bride of Charlie,” is ugly in its clickbaity reference to the schlocky horror movie Bride of Chucky. Give us a break, Candace.

Yes, people grieve differently and even peculiarly. And yes, Erika has a different and even a more peculiar past than most would expect. But to call it all suspicious is a leap. To call the public narrative of Charlie Kirk’s death suspicious, however, is fair; but to conjure up a dark circus of power leveraging, pedophilia, and death around a black widow is a bridge too far. Investigate with reason, Candace, but Christian charity and basic professionalism should prevent premature and incendiary propagation. This borders on inquisitiveness, to say the least.

Candace Owens is capitulating to the vortex of fake news, and Catholics must be honest about it. So much of what is considered news is little better than a gossip column or scandal tabloid, shouting from the rooftops in the name of some idea of a supposed right to know. But in reality, it is simply feeding our appetite for “the dirt.”

Secrecy breeds mistrust, but peddling so-called secrets for mass consumption is similarly destabilizing. People know too much about too many public figures in a world that overshares, making widely available what is not necessary, useful, or healthy. Taking an interest in society is one thing, but Catholics should be careful to weigh what is good to know against what is useless and what is feeding our lower cravings for superficial thrills and empty intrigue. To indulge in these is nothing less than breaking into the seedy realm of inquisitiveness.

This realm is ruled by what St. Peter called a roaring lion, seeking to devour Catholics through their own devouring. The information overload that is rampant can easily become excessive. Any good thing taken to excess, as in the myth of Icarus, can be deadly.

Hence, while the middle course is to be reasonably informed, there is a risk in becoming overly informed, leading to a disquiet or dispirited soul. The never-ending barrage of news, podcasts, and opinion pieces can be a cause of the restless addiction of being dazed and confused. It is not a stream that is conducive to the contemplation of truth—that is for certain, and that is a problem. Instead, these sources excite unease, mistrust, and even fear as they present problems that are too big to understand, let alone dispel. There is a panicky pleasure in doomscrolling that is the devil’s delight.

This is not good food for the mind or the soul. It provides a sin-distorted outlook that focuses on the negative instead of the positive. It dwells on the far-fetched and far-flung instead of the reasonable and accessible. It revels in the tempting and transgressive, putting stock in shock value instead of truth. The more controversy, the more engagements, the better the post—which is a system that promotes the outrageous and outré instead of the seasoned and sensible. This is the petty place of flapping tongues and wagging heads, dominated by accusation and attack. This is the slippery slope of inquisitiveness that St. Ephrem warns against. This is the confusion that heralds not Heaven but Hell.

Overall, Candace Owens should be admired, or at least appreciated, for her bold stance and unapologetic demand for truth. Her view is spot-on that the devil is in the details of our society and must be laid bare and resisted. But her platform is also one that needs views to survive. It needs hot takes and controversial content, it needs monetization and viral ambitions. And that can lead to taking things too far, posing things as truth when they are speculative. It can lead to the sin of inquisitiveness, invading into places where decency doesn’t belong.

Of course, if Candace proves to be correct in her explosively amorphous theorizing about Erika Kirk, then let all hats be eaten. But on its current face, Candace is crossing a line by blurring the lines between factual evidence and conjectural indignation, prying instead of probing, and flirting with defamation rather than disclosure. Let us all pray for deliverance from evil with our fellow Catholic, Candace Owens; and as she battles in the front lines under enemy fire, let us pray for her, as well, with the prayer of St. Ephrem:

O Lord and King, bestow upon me the grace of being aware of my sins and of not thinking evil of those of my brethren. For You are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.