Bishop Barron is wrong for Chicago Catholics; Pope should look elsewhere for archbishop

Most Rev. Robert Barron. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

There’s been growing chatter among American conservatives in the Catholic Church, quietly, and sometimes not so quietly, calling for Bishop Robert Barron to be elevated to archbishop of a major metropolitan see.

Chicago, his hometown, is often at the top of that wish list.

But if Pope Leo XIV is listening to these voices, I hope he takes a hard, discerning look at what Barron actually represents.

Because for Catholics in Chicago, especially those shaped by the Second Vatican Council and guided by the compassionate tone of Francis’ papacy, Barron is the wrong man for the job.

Bishop Barron is no humble shepherd. He is a multimillionaire media mogul.

He’s a bishop with a brand. His Word on Fire ministry has turned Catholic evangelization into an empire, full of glossy YouTube videos, sleek books, and curated content meant to appeal to a very specific segment of the Catholic population: those who pine for a return to an idealized pre-Vatican II Church.

He represents folks who want the Church to return to clearer hierarchies, stricter moral lines, and less room for questioning or inclusion.

Bishop Barron is the darling of a Catholic right wing that feels embattled by Pope Francis’ more inclusive vision of the Church.

His approach to theology may be intellectually engaging, but it often comes across as rigid, dismissive, and exclusionary.

Whether it’s LGBTQ Catholics, women seeking a greater role in Church leadership, or those who wrestle with the very real moral complexities of modern life, Barron has shown little pastoral warmth or openness.

Instead, he has repeatedly inserted himself into the culture wars Francis had warned bishops not to inflame.

Francis’ call was clear! Stop using the Church as a weapon in ideological battles. Yet Barron has doubled down on these very battles.

He has opposed “liberalizing” voices in the Church, criticized the synodal process as too open-ended, and even compared “wokeness” to a heresy.

His recent comments suggesting that “a smaller, purer Church” is preferable to one that grapples with diversity, disagreement, and complexity are out of step with both the real lives of Catholics and the pastoral vision of the current pontificate.

This is not the kind of leadership Chicago needs.

Chicago is a city of contradictions and resilience, a mosaic of cultures, working-class grit, immigrant strength, and deep Catholic roots shaped as much by social justice as by doctrine.

Its Catholicism has long leaned toward the progressive and prophetic like Cardinal Bernardin’s “seamless garment” of life ethic, Cardinal Cupich’s focus on accompaniment, and the Church’s historic presence in labor and civil rights movements.

To parachute Bishop Barron into Chicago would be to replace that legacy with an ideologically driven culture warrior whose polished message hides a harsh rigidity.

Chicago’s Catholics, Black, brown, white, immigrant, queer, old and young, deserve a shepherd who listens more than he lectures. Someone who walks with the people instead of building a media empire on their backs.

If the rumors are true that conservatives want to elevate Barron to one of the Church’s great urban pulpits, it’s not because he has a gift for uniting diverse communities or embodying the Gospel’s radical hospitality.

It’s because they want a symbol, a figurehead to signal that the era of Pope Francis has come to an end, and a return to fortress Catholicism is on the horizon.

Catholics, do not fall for it.

I pray that Pope Leo sees through the pageantry, the marketing, and the carefully constructed public persona.

I pray he listens to the Catholics of Chicago, not just the loud voices on the internet, but the parishioners in Pilsen, the nuns in Englewood, the deacons on the West Side, and the lay leaders organizing food pantries and immigrant shelters.

The faithful in Chicago know what kind of bishop they need.

And it’s not Bishop Barron.

Chicago deserves better.

The Church deserves better.

As a former Catholic, I’m just saying.

Further reading: https://www.geraldfarinas.com/home/next-chicago-archbishop-is-important-to-protestants-too