(LifeSiteNews) – In a recent wide-ranging conversation with Bishop Robert Barron, Tucker Carlson offered heartfelt praise for the Catholic Church’s defense of the unborn.
“I’m so grateful to the Catholic Church for standing up for life, for opposing killing. Truly grateful,” Carlson said.
Carlson’s comments come after a series of viral interviews and podcast appearances in which he described abortion as a demonic “offering to the spirit world” and a form of “human sacrifice.”
He has repeatedly referred to “outside forces acting on people… to convince [them] that if they sacrifice their children, they will be happy and safe.”
In a 2023 talk, he warned his listeners: “Anyone telling you, ‘Don’t have children’ [and] ‘Kill your children’ is not your friend. They’re your enemy.”
“Now they’re saying, ‘Abortion is itself a pathway to joy,’” he added. “Really? So this is not a political debate. This is a spiritual battle. There is no other conclusion.”
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“The one unalloyed source of joy in your life is your children,” he declared in 2023. “The point of life is to have children, and to watch them have grandchildren. Nothing will bring you joy like that will.”
In this latest discussion with Barron, Carlson broadened his focus, connecting the Church’s defense of life with its social teaching. He praised the Church for “emphasizing the poor,” adding that he was “grateful that the Catholic Church has never stopped doing that.”
However, he lamented the silence of many clerics on economic exploitation, and usury in particular.
“I don’t hear any conversation ever from normal Catholic clerics about, ‘Hey, maybe you shouldn’t exploit people in business like that,’” he added.
Discussing Leo XIV’s choice of name, Barron had described Leo XIII as “the father of the modern Catholic social teaching tradition,” particularly in reference to his encyclical Rerum Novarum.
Carlson pressed Barron on the Church’s position on usury, focusing in particular on Pope Leo XIII’s treatment of the subject. Barron appeared to interpret the question as referring to John Paul II, and cited Centesimus Annus, which he described as supporting a market economy with moral and legal restraints.
In fact, Leo XIII’s encyclical sharply condemned “rapacious usury” that “is still practiced by covetous and grasping men” under new disguises. Leo XIII warned that such injustice enables “a small number of very rich men” to lay “a yoke little better than that of slavery” upon the poor.
The term “rapacious” does not imply that “moderate” usury is acceptable. Usury – charging interest on a loan secured only by the borrower’s personal promise, rather than collateral – remains condemned in Catholic teaching.
Carlson expressed frustration that such teachings are seldom preached and lamented that this kind of moral clarity is lacking among many clergy today.
