Bp. Robert Barron endorses ‘Obsession’…
‘Go See It’: Conservative Novus Ordo Bishop Recommends Lewd and Profanity-Filled Gory Horror Movie
In a post on X/Twitter yesterday, the Vatican II Church’s ‘media bishop’ Robert Barron gave a ringing endorsement to the gruesome horror flick Obsession that is currently running in theaters across the United States.
The motion picture has officially been given an “R” (“Restricted”) rating by the secular authority (MPAA), meaning anyone under 17 years of age must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian to be allowed to see it in a movie theater. The reason given for the rating is “strong bloody violence, grisly images, sexual content, pervasive language, and brief graphic nudity.”
More on that in a moment.
Barron on Obsession: ‘Important Spiritual Truths’
First, let’s have a look at what ‘Bishop’ Barron posted on X:
The horror film “Obsession” is a surprise hit at the box office this summer. Made for around one million dollars, it has already grossed over a hundred and fifty million. But it’s not only a financial success; it’s also a spiritually quite interesting film. What drives the plot is a young man’s ardent desire to be loved by the woman whom he loves. Seeking a gift for Nikki in an occult store, Bear finds a device that advertises itself as “One Wish Willow.” If you break the stick and make a wish, it will come true. In his desperation, he follows the instructions, and it works like a charm. The previously diffident Nikki becomes totally devoted to the delighted Bear. All his dreams, it seems, have come true. Then things go, shall we say, south. I won’t spoil any more of the plot. Suffice it to say that Nikki proceeds to devour the young man and push him toward despair.
Throughout this film, I kept thinking of Oscar Wilde’s famous line: “the only thing worse than not getting what you want is getting what you want.” The spiritual issue here is one that the masters have recognized for centuries and one that stands at the very heart of Biblical revelation: if you tie your deepest desire to anything or anyone other than God, you will find, not satisfaction, but destruction. This is the moral teaching behind the great Shema prayer: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is Lord alone.” Jesus reiterates this when he says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your strength.” The psalmist affirms it when he sings, “Only in God will my soul be at rest.”
During the rite of Confirmation, I ask the young people a series of questions, the first of which is “do you renounce Satan and all his works and empty promises?” Up and down the ages, Satan has made the same empty promise: I will give you something less than God and it will make you happy. In point of fact, it will ruin you, and the more you seek to acquire it, the unhappier you will become. What becomes clear in the course of “Obsession” is that the owners of the occult shop where Bear bought the fateful wish-willow are in fact involved with very dark spiritual powers. In my conversations with exorcists, I hear over and over again that those who get ensnared by the devil commence by dabbling in the occult.
“Obsession” is a good horror movie. If you like the genre, and you’re not too squeamish, go see it. For it won’t just scare you; it will offer some important spiritual truths.
(‘Bishop Robert Barron’, X post, June 2, 2026; see screenshot of tweet here.)
At the time of writing of this blog post, Barron’s tweet has garnered over 237,000 views in less than 48 hours. For better or worse, the man has influence over souls. How frightful that he is willing to use it to lead people into sin like that!
To recommend such a filthy flick as Obsession on the grounds that it “will offer some important spiritual truths” is mere window dressing. The spiritual ruin to be had from watching something so profane, cruel, impure, and disgusting far outweighs the potential spiritual benefit from understanding that we cannot find ultimate happiness in creatures. (One may be excused for suspecting that Barron’s reference to the scandalous sodomite Oscar Wilde is another intentional wink at immorality.)
If Barron’s real interest lay in teaching people spiritual truth, he would be recommending that people immerse themselves in the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Alphonsus Liguori, or Fr. Thomas à Kempis instead of suggesting that they wallow in the freshest load of Hollywood manure!
How many mortal sins will be committed by people ‘enjoying’ this movie on the ‘episcopal’ advice of Robert Barron? God only knows.
Yet, even Barron understands that sometimes a disclaimer or a warning is appropriate; so, while being entirely mum on any spiritual/moral dangers the picture will present to viewers, he is happy to temper his “go see it” advice with the stipulation that the viewer actually “like the genre” and is “not too squeamish”. After all, he wouldn’t want to be responsible for directing people to watch a picture that will bore people or gross them out!
Here we see a symptom so typical of the Novus Ordo religion: The primary (and often exclusive) concern is always natural life and temporal welfare, never the supernatural or the spiritual. Does the movie make you feel uncomfortable? Then avoid it! Does it offend God and tempt you to commit sin? No problem, who cares?!
While Barron’s words are ostensibly opposed to the occult, the devil, and sin, his recommendation to watch the movie neutralizes his remarks entirely, at least in practice. For man is prone to consent to what his senses and his emotions concretely present to him, even if he has received a verbal message about how to interpret it. Barron’s recommendation to “go see it” is little different from suggesting that someone enter a brothel so he will learn the beauty and importance of chastity (cf. Mt 5:27-28). It is a devil’s bargain!
Filth, Filth, and More Filth
Returning now to the content of Obsession, the Novus Ordo OSV News movie rating is “O” for “morally offensive” — the worst possible category. The reviewer explains why:
The film contains excessive gory violence, grisly images, graphic premarital sexual activity with rear nudity, full nudity in a nonsexual context, cohabitation, occult and suicide themes, a repulsive scatological incident, a few uses of profanity, frequent milder swearing, references to incest, pervasive rough and considerable crude language, and a couple of crass expressions.
(John Mulderig, “Obsession”, OSV News)
Nonetheless, for Robert Barron the film is “spiritually quite interesting”. There is no doubt it will impact viewers’ spiritual lives, but not in a positive way.
OSV News’ media reviews are the successor to the movie ratings given by the now-defunct Catholic News Service after the so-called United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) stopped its evaluation of films. The USCCB was itself the successor to the Catholic Legion of Decency.
The non-religious but extremely helpful movie rating and review site Kids-in-Mind, which simply states matter-of-factly and in detail all the potentially offensive elements present in a particular motion picture, has given Obsession a 7-8-10 rating, as follows:
Those who ‘must’ know the details of the first two review categories for this film beyond what has already been described in the review above, can find them here, but we will not disclose anything further on this blog. Let the ‘language’ category alone suffice to convict Bp. Barron:
About 82 F-words, 6 sexual references, 21 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (less sappy, losers, weird, friend-zoned, strange, so embarrassing, closed book, freaky, scam, sucks, odd, crazy, super weird, terrifying, weird stuff, psychotic, obvious), exclamations (whatever, ew, freakin’ me out, guilt you, jeez, chill), 1 religious profanity (GD), 16 religious exclamations….
(Source; bold print added.)
Another secular movie review site, Common Sense Media, also has details about Obsession, which can be found here.
One wonders what Barron’s motive is in recommending this terrible motion picture. Is he just trying to be ‘cool’ and ‘relevant’ by speaking positively about a horror movie that glorifies gory violence, sexual sin, and cursing? Or is there an even more sinister motive?
With his Word on Fire ministry, Barron is supposedly all about evangelization, but even if we granted, for the sake of argument, that he does make converts to Catholicism, what good is that if these converted souls end up in hell nonetheless? Our Blessed Lord’s excoriation of the Pharisees comes to mind: “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves” (Mt 23:15).
Immoral Movie Recommendations: A Familiar Pattern
Barron’s disgraceful endorsement of Obsession is quite reminiscent of Novus Ordo deacon Steven Greydanus’s cheery review of the filthy sodomite flick Call Me By Your Name (2017).
Other scandalous movie endorsements from the ‘conservative’ side have come from Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, who in 2013 enticed his readers to give The Lives of Others (2007) a try, and in 2022 gave at least an indirect endorsement to Don’t Look Up (2021). In 2014, ‘Father Z’ drew attention to the “important” 42nd anniversary of the movie Deliverance (1972), embedding a video clip into his blog that included profanity. Anyone who decided to watch Deliverance on account of Zuhlsdorf’s recommendation (given without any sort of warnings or disclaimers), found out that it included also a brutal scene that cries to heaven for vengeance, one that was “so uncomfortable [that] cameramen avoided watching”, according to Wikipedia (we decline to put a link). In 2023, Zuhlsdorf happily promoted a provocative advertisement for razors.
Now that we know what kind of movies ‘conservative’ Novus Ordo clerics such as Bp. Barron like to watch, we would hate to find out what the progressivists recommend.
Our own recommendation is clear, and it is a warning: Don’t go see it!
;
No Comments
Be the first to start a conversation