Trump's Catholic ally Bishop Barron warns communism is ‘making a comeback’ in US ahead of Sheen beatification
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Trump's Catholic ally Bishop Barron warns communism is ‘making a comeback’ in US ahead of Sheen beatification")
Bishop Robert Barron speaks with US President Donald Trump as Trump presents findings of his Religious Liberty Commission in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC on June 26, 2026 Photograph: (AFP)
Bishop Robert Barron warned that communism is “making a comeback” in the US ahead of Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s beatification in St. Louis.
Trump's Catholic ally Bishop Robert Barron has warned that communism was on the rise in the country, and urged catholics to embrace the late archbishop and television personality's oppositon to the ideology. The statement was made by Barron on Tuesday, speaking ahead of the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.
"Now, you don't need me to tell you that communism is making a comeback right now in our country," said Barron. “And I think especially churchmen need, like Sheen, to raise their voices against it and, furthermore, as American churchmen, to speak out strongly on both American and Catholic principles against the re-emergence of this still very dangerous ideology.”
Archbishop Sheen was a modern evangelist who used radio and television to preach the Gospel. He reportedly performed a miracle on a child born without a heartbeat or respiration and revived after 61 minutes. Beatification is a step in the process of Sainthood when the Vatican approves the miracle and clears him for beatification to be revered by fellow believers. He was cleared for beatification by Pope Francis in 2019, but it was delayed over Sheen's dealing with clergy sexual misconduct cases while serving as a bishop in New York during the late 1960s. Now it will take place on September 24, 2026, with approximately 47,000 tickets sold.
According to Barron, the late Archbishop, who quoted Sheen's 1948 book, Communism and the Conscience of the West, communism has a "hostility to religion."
"Communism has a theory and a practice; it wishes to be not only a state but a church, judging the consciences of men; it is a doctrine of salvation and as such claims the whole man, body and soul, and in this sense is totalitarian," Sheen wrote.
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Barron's comment comes just ahead of the November midterms. America has seen a significant rise in democratic socialism – which some Catholics view as far-left or communist – with leaders like Zohran Mamdani epitomising the rise. The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) has backed roughly 80 candidates who won their primaries, whereas the far-left organisations like Justice Democrats and Working Families Party are fielding roughly 18 to 20 candidates in solid blue heartland. Several high-profile nominations are on the list, like Abdul El-Sayed and Ilhan Omar.
The Democrats in US politics have no unified ideology; they are more like a coalition of interest groups. What Catholics view as communist or far-left in US politics is practically welfare capitalism or social democracy, which wants lower taxes, free buses, affordable housing, healthcare and taxes on the rich. Whereas Barron is arguing against the ideas of theoretical communism or traditional Marxism-Leninism.
