During the Munich Security Conference last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a fool of herself on several occasions. Not only did she engage in Kamala-esque word salads, she said we need a wealth tax "expeditiously," and didn't rule out a 2028 run. She also criticized Western culture, calling it "thin" and "ephemeral."
"Marco Rubio's speech was a pure appeal to 'Western culture,'" AOC said. "It's also important to note how thin that foundation is,"
But Bishop Robert Barron was having none of it, and gave an passionate defense of Western culture.
🚨 Bishop Robert Barron just DROPPED TRUTH BOMBS on AOC! 🚨
— Reverend Jordan Wells (@WellsJorda89710) February 17, 2026
She called Western culture "thin" and "ephemeral" — dismissing the very foundations that built our world.
Bishop Barron fired back:
"The culture that gave us Dante, Shakespeare, the rule of law, individual rights,… pic.twitter.com/JpVd0gIlG5
He said AOC's statement "illuminates the Marxist ideology which continues to take hold of American politicians."
A recent statement by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez illuminates the Marxist ideology which continues to take hold of American politicians. Here are my thoughts. pic.twitter.com/Edgy0smzeb
— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) February 16, 2026
"Just last week, Marco Rubio gave a talk that I thought was really good, in Munich. He was talking about the 'shared culture' of Europe and America. He referenced gothic cathedrals, and Dante, and Shakespeare and even the Beatles," Bishop Barron said.
"His point was we've got to get beyond just our political differences and find our sources in the great culture that unites us," Bishop Barron continued. "And then he took a further step that was very much in line with Pope Benedict XVI and Christopher Dawson, namely that culture is grounded in cult. At the root of all culture is something like religion and so he wasn't afraid to reference the Christian faith as a key element in giving rise to the shared culture of Europe and America. So a really good speech, I thought."
"I think it was yesterday, I saw Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez answering him, and I was very struck by her answer. I thought it was very illuminating," Bishop Barron said. "She said...this appeal to culture is so 'thin' because culture is ephemeral, it's always changing, and so we shouldn't pay attention to culture, we should just pay attention to the material foundations in the class struggle."
"Well, all of that, everybody, is right out of the Marxist playbook," Bishop Barron added.
"First of all, is Western culture, as Rubio invoked it, is thin? The culture that gave us all those great figures, that gave us the rule of law, that gave us respect for the rights of the individual, that gave us our democratic political system, that gave us the university system? That's thin?" Bishop Barron said. "And you're argument is well, because cultures always change, that's a banality. Of course, cultures are alive; they change and evolve."
"It doesn't mean for a second we can't identify the key elements within a culture that give it its character," Bishop Barron continued, "but also this: to characterize culture as thin is a Marxist move. Marx said that culture is simply an epiphenomenal superstructure on top of the economic substructure, and don't be distracted, therefore, by the culture. That's just protecting the economics at the bottom."
"Listen to her: let's pay attention to the material conditions and to class struggle. Again, that's the Marxist playbook. What's worrying me, everybody, is the extent to which political leadership on the Left in America...it's unapologetically Marxist. The Mayor of New York City, you know, the 'warmth of collectivism,' he's calling for the confiscation of private property, of seizing the means of production. All language right out of The Communist Manifesto," Bishop Barron said. "Might I encourage followers of Mayor Mamdani and AOC, talk to some of them...the people that fled Marxist tyranny in Europe. People laboring under it, to this day, in Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, etc. And this too: it concerns me not just as someone who follows politics, but as a Bishop of the Catholic Church. Marx himself said the first critique is a critique of religion and his political adepts followed him. The first thing that the Marxist tyrannies went after in most cases was religion."
"I'm getting a little concerned that in some of these leading figures in our own politics, a Marxist philosophy is taking hold," Barron added. "As a religious leader, this is concerning me quite a bit. Take a look...attend to the language, in a way they're telling us who they are and what they're for."
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