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EXCLUSIVE: Bishop Robert Barron slammed “borderline communists” in the Democratic Party, explaining in an interview with Digital why he believes the “extreme leftward shift” in politics poses a serious danger to the American way of life.
Barron, who leads the Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, and is the founder of the massively successful Word On Fire Ministries, is set to give an address at President Donald Trump’s “Rededicate 250” prayer event on the National Mall this weekend. Besides being a high-ranking leader in the Catholic Church hierarchy, he is perhaps best known for his unapologetic social media defenses of Christianity and Western civilization.
This January, Barron slammed socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for using his inaugural speech to praise the “warmth of collectivism,” writing on X “for God’s sake, spare me.”
Speaking with Digital this month, Barron shared that hearing Mamdani’s collectivist line “just triggered something in me.” He said that he has heard many, even in the Catholic Church, referring to capitalism as the “economy that kills.”
“Capitalism, like all economic systems, is going to be flawed because it’s made up of flawed human beings, but the economy that kills? Socialism is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of people,” he said, adding that “collectivism has been such a disastrous concept.”
BISHOP ROBERT BARRON SLAMS ZOHRAN MAMDANI ‘WARMTH OF COLLECTIVISM’ LINE: ‘FOR GOD’S SAKE’
Bishop Robert Barron (left) called out “borderline communists” in American politics, expressing concern about the mainstreaming of politicians such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (center), I-Vt., and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (right). (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images; Joe Maher via Getty Images; Digital/Deirdre Heavey)
Barron explained that he is “against socialism precisely as a Catholic,” emphasizing that the church’s social teaching unequivocally condemns the theory.
He admitted he has been surprised by the “extreme leftward drift of the Democratic Party” in recent years, which he said is evidenced by the broader acceptance of socialist candidates like Mamdani.
“We have a two-party system. If one of our two parties has gone that far to the left where explicit socialists, even, I would say, borderline communists, are being proposed as serious candidates, I think we’ve got a problem in our body politic.”
As a bishop, Barron said he has looked on with concern as figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats, have gone from isolated lone wolves to the norm among new members of the party.
“When Bernie Sanders first emerged … I thought, ‘Well, he’ll never go anywhere.’ But of course, he was quite successful,” he noted. “But to go from let’s say Bill Clinton style Democratic Party to Bernie Sanders, that’s a pretty big shift in a relatively short time.”
FAITH RETURNS TO THE PUBLIC SQUARE DURING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM, CHRISTIAN LEADER SAYS
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hugs Rep. Bernie Sanders during an address marking Mamdani’s first 100 days in office at the Knockdown Center in New York on April 12, 2026. (Andres Kudacki/AP)
Yet rather than standing by silently, Barron called on Christians to not “retreat into privacy” but rather “stand to thwart socialism.”
“There are forces that want us to withdraw into privacy, to be on the margins of society. [But] it’s especially now that the religious, I think, have to assert themselves in the public square.”
To Barron, this means “talking about the faith publicly and with confidence and with panache.”
“It means entering into dialogue and debate. It means living out your faith in a public manner. It means getting into university culture and getting into the institutions of our country in a way that’s not aggressive, but at the same time not apologetic,” he explained.
DNC CHAIR DOWNPLAYS SOCIALIST–MODERATE RIFT AS MAMDANI’S RISE HAS SOME DEMS RATTLED
Bishop Robert Barron speaks at the White House during a National Day of Prayer event as President Donald Trump listens on May 1, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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He noted that this taking of the faith into the public sphere is an “unrealized dream” of the Catholic Church’s Vatican II Council.
“What we have to fight for is a democratic civilization predicated upon objective moral value and finally upon God who presides over the very freedom that we exercise,” he said. “Fight for that culture in entertainment and in politics and in communication and in every aspect of life. That is a cultural war worth fighting.”
Digital reached out to Sanders and Mamdani for comment.
