The release by Church Militant described its chief executive’s departure as a “shock” but did not explain how Voris had violated the morality clause, saying only that the board “has chosen not to disclose Michael’s private matters to the public.”
The release added: “The apostolate will be praying for him, and kindly ask that you do the same.”
Neither Voris nor Church Militant immediately responded to requests for comment, but Voris posted a video Tuesday evening on X addressing the situation. Voris, visibly emotional, offered an apology but did not volunteer details of the reason for his departure.
“Sometimes it takes very horrible events, even at your own hand, in your life to surface certain things that need to be faced,” Voris said. “There are some very, very ugly truths from my past that I, for essentially 62 years, have avoided facing because … I wanted them resolved, but I understand that touching that pain is going to be a very horrible thing.”
Voris said he thought multiple times this year about resigning.
“I need to conquer these demons,” he said, referring both to what he called “act-out demons” and “the underlying cause of it.”
The departure of its founder is a major change for the outlet, which has developed a reputation for controversy and stridently right-wing Catholic rhetoric. Church leaders have long rejected its message: In 2011, the Archdiocese of Detroit told the group to change its original name, “Real Catholic TV,” because it “lacked the authorization required under Church law to identify or promote itself as Catholic.”
More recently, the website has drawn criticism for calling then-Archbishop Wilton Gregory an “African queen,” which was widely condemned as homophobic and racist. Gregory has since become a cardinal.
Church Militant also has emerged as a consistent critic of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, hosting a large protest in 2021 during the prelates’ annual gathering in Baltimore and calling on the U.S. government to cut funding for bishop-run programs that aid immigrants.
Through it all, Voris has been a central part of the group’s public persona. In addition to hosting a Church Militant web show known as “The Vortex,” Voris appeared regularly on Church Militant programs and spoke at Church Militant events. A vocal critic of LGBTQ rights campaigns, Voris revealed in 2016 that he had previously “lived a life of live-in relationships with homosexual men” but now “abhor all these sins” since what he said was his “reversion to the faith.”
He has drawn other controversial figures to his cause as well, among them the far-right agitator Milo Yiannopoulos, who, Voris has said, embraced conservative Catholicism and began identifying as “ex-gay” after an interview with the Church Militant founder. With Voris as his spiritual adviser, Yiannopoulos began appearing regularly on Church Militant’s website and emceed that year’s protest of the USCCB in Baltimore. Yiannopoulos eventually parted ways with the group, but not before helping broker an interview that Voris conducted last year with the right-wing congresswoman and self-identifying Christian nationalist Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
The lawmaker made headlines for telling Church Militant that Catholic bishops lending aid to undocumented immigrants was an example of “Satan controlling the church.”
“I don’t think the congresswoman went far enough, really,” Voris later said.
— Religion News Service