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Last week, Bishop Robert Barron told the Washington Post’s Adam O’Neal that he hates “the tribalism” of online Catholicism — “the scapegoating mobs,” “this goofy us against them,” “liberal conservative Catholics in their little teams.” He claimed he had “scolded my own audience” against character assassination.

“I hate all that,” the bishop of Winona-Rochester said.

Unfortunately, Barron’s words don’t match his own behavior. Consider this bombastic tweet from less than a year ago.

Bishop Robert Barron@BishopBarron

@LarryChappGS22 It frankly delights me to see how I obviously haunt the fevered imaginations of those on the extreme Catholic left.

2:33 PM · Jun 7, 2025 · 260K Views

173 Replies · 153 Reposts · 1.85K Likes

By the standard he set with Adam O’Neal, he has spent the past year personifying the very behavior he claims to disdain.

In an interview with Fox News, Barron praised border czar Tom Homan — accused of taking a $50,000 cash bribe from undercover FBI agents stuffed in a Cava restaurant bag before Trump appointed him — as a Catholic who “spoke with great passion” on a White House call about immigration, parroting Homan’s framing on child trafficking.

The same Tom Homan declared from outside the White House that “the Catholic Church is wrong” on immigration, mockingly invited the Holy Father on an ICE ride-along, and said he would “educate” the pope on Catholic teaching. Barron has said nothing about any of it.

The same Tom Homan has called Pope Leo XIV “a tool of our enemies”, mockingly invited the Holy Father on an ICE raid, and said he would “educate” the pope on Catholic teaching. Barron has said nothing about any of it.

The pattern follows a year of escalating partisan provocations dressed up as theology. In February, Barron praised Marco Rubio’s Munich speech as a defense of Western civilization’s Christian soul, then accused Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of running the “Marxist playbook” for daring to push back.

Bishop Robert Barron@BishopBarron

I was impressed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio's speech at the Munich Security Conference. He indeed addressed a number of particular political issues, but what most grabbed my attention was his stress on the common culture that unites Europe and America. He cited Dante,

1:30 PM · Feb 15, 2026 · 349K Views

503 Replies · 2.57K Reposts · 16K Likes

Vatican officials began an informal review of his conduct in the weeks that followed, as Letters from Leo first reported.

Two revelatory moments stood out to me in particular in the latest interviews.