(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Robert Barron on Friday slammed the newly inaugurated New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s praise of the “warmth of collectivism,” stressing that the ideology killed at least a hundred million in the 20th century.
Bishop Barron, an influential Catholic intellectual, shared on social media that the mayor’s glowing esteem for collectivism “took my breath away.”
Mamdani, a self-described “democratic socialist,” declared during his inaugural speech on January 1, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
Collectivism, a governing philosophy about subordinating individual rights to a perceived “greater good,” manifested in some of the most brutal and disastrous ideologies of the 20th century such as Communism.
Bishop Barron highlighted this fact in his post, noting that “Collectivism in its various forms is responsible for the deaths of at least one hundred million people in the last century,” and that its manifestations in socialist and Communist forms of government, such as in Cuba and North Korea, have proved “disastrous.”
“Catholic social teaching has consistently condemned socialism and has embraced the market economy, which people like Mayor Mamdani caricature as ‘rugged individualism,’” Bishop Barron wrote. “In fact, it is the economic system that is based upon the rights, freedom, and dignity of the human person.”
Bishop Barron here echoed the economic teaching of the Church expressed in documents such as Rerum Novarum, which condemns socialism and defends the right to private property, a right Mamdani has explicitly rejected. A resurfaced video shows Mamdani saying the “abolition of private property” to guarantee housing is “preferable” to the current state of affairs.
“For God’s sake, spare me the ‘warmth of collectivism,’” Bishop Barron said.
Mamdani’s express support of collectivism has sparked backlash from other conservatives such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who also highlighted the murderous track record of collectivism.
“The ‘warmth’ of collectivism that always requires coercion and force,” DeSantis remarked. “How many dead over the past 100 years due to collectivist ideologies?”
The “warmth” of collectivism that always requires coercion and force.
How many dead over the past 100 years due to collectivist ideologies? https://t.co/hWPzrO0GxG
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 1, 2026
UK activist Tommy Robinson contrasted Mamdani’s statement with other praises of collectivism by the biggest mass murderers of the 20th century.
“The individual is nothing; the collective is everything,” is a statement attributed to Joseph Stalin.
Mao Zedong has also said, “The interests of the individual must be subordinated to the interests of the collective.”
“Don’t be afraid to call out objective evil when you hear it,” Robinson wrote.
“The individual is nothing; the collective is everything.” – Stalin
“The interests of the individual must be subordinated to the interests of the collective.” – Mao
“Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.” – Mussolini
“We’ll replace…
— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) January 2, 2026
Since his election, Mamdani has shown no signs of moderating on any of his socialist ideas or far-left agenda. As previously covered by LifeSiteNews, he has threatened to put crisis pregnancy centers out of business, pledging on the campaign trail to “enforce Local Law 17, which protects New Yorkers from false information spread by Crisis Pregnancy Centers, including lies about abortion safety and medications” (which historically means true information the abortion lobby dislikes).
He has also committed, according to Planned Parenthood’s statement endorsing him, to “confronting private health care institutions that have refused to provide” so-called “gender transition” procedures.
The mayor also favors effectively unlimited abortion-on-demand and, per Planned Parenthood, “doubling funding for both New York City’s Abortion Access Hub and the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF),” all but ensuring more mothers will ultimately have their babies killed rather than give them a chance through crisis pregnancy centers.
