Bishops who prayed over President Trump was never intended to be political says Archbishop Golka

 

Catholic Leaders Say Meeting with Trump Wasn’t Intended to Be Political

A video of Catholic leaders praying with the president was shared by the White House. One archbishop said it was done without permission.

Archbishop James R. Golka during Mass earlier this year. The archbishop said he prayed about whether to accept the invitation to the White House.Credit...Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post, via Associated Press

By Mitch Smith

The video, not even 30 seconds long, showed several Roman Catholic bishops praying with President Trump last week in the Oval Office.

That footage, shared on social media by a White House official during the thick of election season, blazed across the internet and became entangled in the fractured politics of the country and the church.

Archbishop James R. Golka of Denver, who led the prayer, told a local Catholic publication that it “was never my intention” for the meeting to be seen as an endorsement.

One attendee, Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines, wrote afterward that “I wish I had been more shrewd and less simple, like those who exploited our meeting for partisan political purposes.”

Another, Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob of Milwaukee, publicly apologized on Sunday and claimed that the video had been shared by the White House without the bishops’ permission.

“I feel a heavy sadness, not only over the pain I caused, but also for the fact that something so sacred to a group of religious leaders, prayer to our Heavenly Father, would be manipulated in that way,” Archbishop Grob wrote in an open letter. He added: “We should never have been put in that position by the White House.”

White House officials did not directly comment on Archbishop Grob’s claim that the video was shared without permission.

“There has never been a greater president for Catholic Americans than President Trump, and his strong record proves it,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement when asked about the meeting. She said that the president had pardoned anti-abortion activists, “proudly defended and expanded our religious rights” and “stopped the weaponization of the federal government against Christians.”

The prayer itself — at least the snippet of it shared by the White House — was not explicitly political.

Archbishop Golka, with his hand on Mr. Trump’s shoulder, said, “Thank you for the gift of our great, beautiful nation; thank you for the gift of our government; thank you for the gift of this office of presidency. We lift up our president and ask your blessing upon him.”

The video, posted on X by the White House official Margo Martin, appeared to start mid-prayer and seemed to end before the archbishop had finished. Footage of the meeting was also posted on a Facebook page for Mr. Trump’s political operation with the caption, “FAITH FRIDAYS: This White House prays together.”

American Catholics are politically mixed.

Denver Archbishop James Golka prays over President Donald Trump alongside brother bishops at the White House on Oct. 22, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the White House

Pew Research Center data from 2023 found that about 52 percent of Catholics were Republicans or leaned Republican, and 44 percent were Democrats or leaned toward Democrats. Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a Democrat, and Vice President JD Vance, a Republican, are both Catholic.

Catholic leaders have historically called out presidential administrations of both parties for actions seen as contrary to the church’s teachings. Mr. Biden was often criticized for his support for abortion rights. And Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, has often been publicly at odds with Mr. Trump.

Last year, Archbishop Grob and other Wisconsin bishops signed a letter voicing “strong concern regarding the indiscriminate nature of the current federal immigration enforcement.”

In his apology on Sunday, Archbishop Grob said he had been joined by 11 other bishops at the White House in a meeting organized by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative group. A Heritage Foundation spokeswoman, Marguerite Bowling, said the organization had not arranged the meeting but that one of its leaders was in attendance.

Archbishop Grob said he had been “told the meeting was to be a private discussion, that several Catholic members of the cabinet might make an appearance, and that there could be an opportunity to pray privately with the president.” He said he had not intended to endorse “the president, his policies or his party.”

“We came in good faith to try to work for the betterment of our fellow human beings, to ease their suffering, to build up the common good and to pray with a president, not to pose for a political photo opportunity to benefit the few,” Archbishop Grob wrote.

Bishop Joensen of Des Moines wrote that “there are many things tied to this present administration that are blatantly at odds with our Catholic faith,” but that he often engages with officials who hold differing views.

“None of us bishops were unaware that our meeting was on the cusp of a national election,” Bishop Joensen wrote. “Yet in no way did any of us intend by our involvement to endorse any political party or any individual candidate. That said, in retrospect, I would have done well to be more mindful of Jesus’ admonition: ‘Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.’”

In an interview with Denver Catholic, an archdiocese publication, Archbishop Golka described praying about the invitation.

“Though I originally thought it would be a private meeting, I knew that it could be shared and that some might use it for political purposes,” the archbishop said. “But as I prayed about it, I thought that this is what Catholics do. We pray for people. No matter whether we agree or disagree on anything, we always pray for our country and leaders.”

Mitch Smith is a Chicago-based national correspondent for The Times, covering the Midwest and Great Plains.