His very public conversion and groundbreaking Gospel CD have made Kanye West perhaps the most conspicuous, and unlikely, champion of faith and moral values in America today. Yesterday, TV’s most-watched cable news channel turned to Acton Institute founder Rev. Robert Sirico to analyze West’s sincerity and impact on America’s most secular generation.

West’s public witness “goes right to the heart of what is wrong in our culture – the materialism, the oversexualization of the culture, the disrespect for the dignity of human life,” Rev. Robert Sirico told Neil Cavuto on the Fox News Channel. “And this man seems fearless.”

Conversion is the germ of a new creation in Christ (II Cor. 5:17). The cultivation of this seed of faith will prove pivotal in determining how it affects the nation and, as importantly, Kanye himself. Rev. Sirico mended that West could best increase his faith by embedding himself deeply within a longstanding Christian tradition.

“I hope he gets the right people around him,” Rev. Sirico said. “Conversions can happen, but they take the right environment.”

If he does that, it could have a sanctifying effect on the culture.

“Christianity really formed Western civilization, and I’ve been saying for a long time it can reform it if we have the right people in place and the right thinking in place,” said Rev. Sirico.

In the interview, Rev. Sirico also shared his views about whether Kanye seems to have experienced an authentic conversion or perpetrated a cynical ploy to increase sales, whether Pope Francis would join forces with Kanye West, and why Rev. Sirico says Liberation Theology and the Prosperity Gospel are carnival-house mirror images of one another.

You can watch the full interview below:

West was also the subject of a recent Acton podcast.