Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester said he was stunned by a line from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s New Year’s Day inaugural address.
“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” the 34-year-old democratic socialist told a crowd of supporters.
Barron, founder of Word on Fire and one of the most popular Catholic voices in America, said the line took his breath away.
“Collectivism in its various forms is responsible for the deaths of at least one hundred million people in the last century. Socialist and Communist forms of government around the world today—Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, etc.—are disastrous,” Barron wrote on X.
“Catholic social teaching has consistently condemned socialism and has embraced the market economy, which people like Mayor Mamdani caricature as ‘rugged individualism.’ In fact, it is the economic system that is based upon the rights, freedom, and dignity of the human person. For God’s sake, spare me the ‘warmth of collectivism,’” he added.
There was a line from Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural address yesterday that took my breath away. He said he intended to replace “the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” Collectivism in its various forms is responsible for the deaths of at least one…
— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) January 2, 2026
Mamdani was the Democratic nominee for mayor and was endorsed by the New York City Democratic Socialists. He defeated Independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the November election on a platform of freezing rent, establishing city-owned grocery stores, and eliminating fares on city buses.
He was also endorsed by several of New York’s top Democrats, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
