On the evening of November 14, 2025, in Madrid, Spain, the San Pablo CEU University opened its doors to leading global anti-woman and anti-LGBTQ+ figures — including Ignacio Arsuaga, president of CitizenGO, and Lola Velarde and Jaime Mayor Oreja, the executive and honorary directors of the Political Network for Values — for the launch of the “Catholics and Public Life” congress, as GPAHE was able to confirm by attending the event.
They attended an opening address delivered by Kevin Roberts, president of the American Heritage Foundation which spearheaded the Christian nationalist and authoritarian Project 2025 for President Trump. Roberts’ speech focused on “recovering Christianity with renewed fervor and without apology.” The CEU (meaning Center for University Studies in Spanish) gathering brought together far-right figures from both sides of the Atlantic, including Sophia Kuby, director of strategic relations at Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADFI), and Agustín Laje, an Argentinian political scientist known for his homophobic rhetoric and an ally of Argentine President Javier Milei. Kuby and Laje took part in additional panels throughout the weekend.
During his visit to Spain, Roberts met with Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right party Vox. His trip to Europe came amid growing controversy over his defense of a friendly Tucker Carlson podcast interview with Nick Fuentes, a prominent American white supremacist, antisemite, and misogynist. Roberts’attempt to sanitize Fuentes has triggered an internal revolt at Heritage, prompting several resignations of staff, advisors and board members in response to his refusal to denounce Carlson’s platforming of a raging antisemite.
Silence over Fuentes backlash
In his speech, Roberts made no mention of the Fuentes controversy. Instead, he presented Christianity as an antidote to the rule of “secular elites,” arguing that these elites are trying to create the belief that it is “impossible to rebuild Christendom after a century or more of decline.”
A post from Santiago Abascal, leader of the Spanish far-right party Vox, reads: “It is always a pleasure to meet with Kevin Roberts. friend, ally, and president of Heritage. We share the same goal: to defend freedom, prosperity, the sovereignty of nations, and to strengthen the unity of patriots on both sides of the Atlantic.” (Source: X)
Before Roberts took the stage, organizers played a tribute to Charlie Kirk, the Christian nationalist commentator and founder of Turning Point USA, who was murdered in September 2025. Roberts praised him, claiming his “martyrdom will serve” as a “great inspiration for years and decades” and would help accelerate what he sees as a growing return to the Church.
From there, Roberts shifted his focus to the younger members of the audience. He celebrated what he described as a “revival” of Christianity “led by young men.” “The young men that know the new world order tried to shame them for their privilege, their patriotism, their toxic masculinity, but instead are taking up their crosses,” he said.
Roberts and Opus Dei
Echoing his support for the Trump administration, Roberts argued in Madrid that the president “all he is doing is saving America and the West,” and halting “the Western Hemisphere’s migration.” Roberts didn’t mention that Trump’s policies have helped criminalize Spanish speakers in the U.S. Government agents use speaking Spanish to justify indiscriminate immigration stops, an aspect that did not go unnoticed in a country where Spanish is the national language.
During the introduction to Roberts’s speech, Rafael Núñez Huesca, a Popular Party (right-wing) deputy in the Madrid Assembly, argued that “Spanish culture is the second culture of Americans,” highlighting the “remarkable imprint” of the “Spanish past” in the U.S. On that basis, he criticized one of Trump’s decisions: “We believe that eliminating the Spanish version of the White House website is not consistent with American history and tradition.”
CitizenGO president Ignacio Arsuaga posted on X: “A beautiful tribute to Charlie Kirk during the opening sessions of the Catholics and Public Life Congress of the Catholic Association of Propagandists.” (Source: X)
Roberts’ speech also leaned heavily on religious references. He repeatedly invoked Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of the secretive and ultra-conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. According to an investigation by The Guardian, the Heritage president has close ties with, and receives regular spiritual guidance from an Opus Dei-led center in Washington, D.C.
Roberts might be keen on Opus Dei, but it is deeply controversial. In 2022, Pope Francis moved to curb the organization’s power within the Church. In his 2024 book Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church, author and investigative journalist Gareth Gore described Escrivá’s organization as “a danger to itself, to its members, to the Church and to the world,” and noted that in the U.S., “Opus Dei has devoted many resources towards increasing its influence. It’s no coincidence that it has flourished in times of deep division and cultural wars.”
The recruitment methods and treatment of female members within Opus Dei are currently under investigation by the Argentine justice system. In 2024, prosecutors accused the former leaders of the Catholic organization in South America of its alleged role in a trafficking scheme that exploited poor women for labor, a system that Opus Dei is accused of designing and operating for at least four decades in Argentina. The complaint was filed by 43 former female members who claim they were promised education but were instead forced into servitude and self-mortification.
Kevin Roberts at the opening session of the “Catholics and Public Life” Congress.
The “Catholics and Public Life” congress, held in Madrid and gathering far-right figures from Europe and the Americas, was organized by the Catholic Association of Propagandists (ACdP). Founded in 1908 by figures linked to the Catholic Church, the ACdP describes its mission as “bringing Catholicism into public life,” a goal it advances in Spain through the private CEU University and the newspaper El Debate.
CEU University is among the educational institutions linked to the transnational far right, as documented by GPAHE. Its Center for Studies, Training and Social Analysis (CEFAS), part of the CEU network, has become an active far-right hub, building connections among authoritarian organizations and political parties. In recent years, its events have featured staff and researchers linked to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, including the Danube Institute, the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, and the Center for Fundamental Rights. CEFAS has also sent students to the Heritage Foundation for training programs, and recently opened its first office abroad, in Lima, Peru, further extending its international footprint.
