Bishop Robert Barron said the rise of extreme socialists and communists in U.S. elections poses a “real and present danger” to democracy because Marxist politics must suppress religion to succeed.
Barron argued Marx treated religion as the “opium of the masses,” making clergy obstacles to revolution, while communism also seeks total control over education, media, politics and the economy.
The bishop said the First Amendment’s ban on religious establishment and protection of free exercise are crucial because religion provides an independent moral check on government power.
Barron pointed to communist-era China, Russia, Cuba and Poland as historical evidence, highlighting Pope John Paul II’s June 1979 Warsaw appearance before about 1 million people as a turning point against Soviet rule.
He ended with a political call to action, urging religious believers to vote, speak out and organize against what he described as a leftward shift in the American body politic.