Bishop Barron’s Latest MAGA Crusade Sparks Vatican Alarm
On Monday, Barron accused the Democratic Party of embracing Marxism and trying to destroy Christianity. Rome is watching — and it’s not pleased.
Dear friends
Over the past few days, Bishop Robert Barron has taken another series of jarring public steps to align himself with President Trump’s partisan agenda — praising Marco Rubio’s Munich speech on American nationalism and Western civilization, accusing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of promoting Marxism and Democrats of trying to destroy religion, and once again remaining silent about the killing of Catholic nurse Alex Pretti.
If you’ve been following our earlier coverage — here, here, and here — this escalation won’t come as a surprise. But what is new is the growing concern now reaching the highest levels of the Church.
Today’s subscriber-only essay reports that Vatican officials have recently begun an informal review of Barron’s erratic conduct — including his strong alliance with MAGA activists, his growing proximity to the Trump–Vance White House, and even the historic controversies surrounding his Word on Fire ministry, most recently a homoerotic social media scandal involving “Brazilian Feet.”
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Bishop Robert Barron, once viewed as a thoughtful evangelist bridging faith and culture, has in recent weeks accelerated a troubling alignment with the Trump-Vance administration and MAGA priorities.
Barron’s latest partisan provocations are now raising alarm within the Vatican.
His continued silence on the murder of Catholic ICE nurse Alex Pretti, paired with effusive praise for Marco Rubio’s Munich speech and unprovoked attacks on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Democratic Party, signals a deepening partisan drift that stands in stark contrast to Pope Leo XIV’s consistent moral witness on migrants and religious liberty.
This pattern is not isolated; it fits a broader trend documented in prior Letters from Leo essays, where Barron’s actions appear to prioritize loyalty to American political figures over the universal call of the Church.
I have two theories to why Barron has gone full blown MAGA. Whatever the explanation, his slide into authoritarian politics isn’t slowing down — it’s accelerating.
The latest episode unfolded rapidly. Rubio told the gathering that America and Europe “are part of one civilization — Western civilization,” forged by “centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage.”
Barron hailed Rubio’s address as a much-needed defense of the West’s Christian foundation, effectively giving the prelate’s imprimatur to Rubio’s call to adhere to Donald Trump’s America First nationalism.
But when Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, speaking on a Munich panel the next day, criticized Rubio’s speech, calling it a thin “appeal to Western culture” and poking fun at his claim that American cowboys came from Spain — Barron lashed out.
He posted a video accusing Ocasio-Cortez of parroting “the Marxist playbook,” saying her dismissal of Western heritage echoed Karl Marx’s insistence on undermining religion.
The bishop warned that Democrats are becoming “unapologetically Marxist,” and noted that Marxist movements always target religion first.
In Barron’s telling, AOC’s critique wasn’t just a history lesson — it was an omen that the left wants to erase America’s Christian values and the Catholic Church itself.
Yet even as he thunders against false threat of American Marxism, Barron has been silent about real attacks on Catholics.
On January 24, a Catholic ICU nurse named Alex Pretti was shot dead by ICE agents during a Trump administration immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Video showed Pretti was unarmed and helping a pepper-sprayed woman just before agents killed him.
The incident — the second fatal ICE shooting of a civilian in Minnesota this year – prompted immediate outrage from local and Vatican officials. Barron, however, said nothing — not a statement, not a tweet, not a word.
After an earlier ICE killing in his state in January, Barron’s only comment was a Fox News op-ed faulting “both sides” for an “unbearable” confrontation and defending border enforcement, without a clear word of condemnation. Now, with Pretti’s blood on the street, the bishop has not even offered that much of a response.
He has likewise kept quiet about Catholic suffering in other crises — from war-torn Gaza to migrant families separated at the border — even as he finds time to tweet about “cowboys” and collectivism.
The pattern suggests Barron is far more eager to wage culture wars than to fulfill his pastoral duty to comfort his flock.
Over the summer, he said it “delighted” him how much he “haunted” the Catholic left.
Much to his chagrin, Barron’s recent moves are now haunting his bosses in Rome.
Here’s what we know.
