Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 3, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA).
Word on Fire Founder Bishop Robert Barron will attend President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday following an invitation from Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia.
“Through Word on Fire, Bishop Barron has helped countless souls discover, strengthen, or return to the Catholic Church by proclaiming the Gospel ‘through the culture,’” Moore, who is Catholic, said in a press release shared with CNA on Monday.
Word on Fire is a nonprofit global media apostolate founded to evangelize and educate with an emphasis on contemporary media that produces blogs, podcasts, books, videos, and educational materials.
While he is in Washington for the president’s address, Barron will celebrate Mass for Catholic members of Congress.
“His use of contemporary media to reach people is innovative and highly effective,” the Republican congressman continued. “I am honored to host him as my guest for President Trump’s joint address to Congress and am equally thrilled to have him celebrate the Mass for my colleagues and me prior to the speech.”
One of the most well-known bishops in the United States, Barron has 1.85 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he teaches about the faith through talks, interviews, and prayer. Many of his videos also address politics and religion, delving into the principles of the American founding and their relationship to contemporary politics.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude to Rep. Riley Moore for his kind invitation to celebrate Mass for Catholic members of Congress and to attend, as his guest, the State of the Union Address,” Barron said in the statement, adding: “I look forward to this opportunity both as a Catholic bishop and as an avid student of American history.”
The speech will mark Trump’s first address to Congress since taking office for his second term.
Barron serves as the bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, and as chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth.
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It is heartening to see a Catholic politician who doesn’t run and hide his faith but unabashedly seeks to incorporate it into his secular public life and invite others to do the same. It is religion that is ultimately going to preserve our civic life and, to a greater extent, our Western culture.
“WE ORDAIN THAT THE WHOLE CATHOLIC WORLD SHALL REVERE CHRIST AS KING”
(Pope Pius IX, 1925)
John 19:15 “But they were crying out: “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The high priests responded, “WE HAVE NO KING BUT CAESAR.”
Fr. Ernesto Cardenal was a Catholic priest who became a key political figure in the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.
He served as Minister of Culture in the Sandinista government, promoting literacy, arts, and revolutionary ideals.
In 1983 he was publicly reprimanded by Pope John Paul II at the Managua airport for his political involvement. The Pope wagged his finger at Cardenal and told him to “regularize” his situation with the Church.
In 1984, the Vatican suspended him a divinis (barring him from performing priestly duties) because of his political role.
Despite the suspension, he remained a priest and continued his activism.
In 2019, Pope Francis lifted the suspension, restoring him to full priestly ministry shortly before his death in 2020.
And this is directly relevant to the article how exactly?