Two Catholic bishops in the United States have said they regret taking part in a recent meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House. Images of them praying with the president spread widely afterward, leading many to question whether the clergy were making a political statement.
Photos and video from the 22 October meeting show a group of bishops standing around Trump at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob, who appears in the images, said he had understood the gathering to be private and not "a political photo opportunity".
Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines, Iowa, said in a statement posted online that officials from the White House Faith Office organized the meeting. Topics were to include immigration, visas for international clergy and the "exploitation of vulnerable poor persons". "In no way did any of us intend by our involvement to endorse any political party or any individual candidate," he said. He added: "I wish I had been more shrewd and less simple, like those who exploited our meeting for partisan political purposes."
The video was released by Margo Martin, a special assistant to the president and communications adviser who often shares behind-the-scenes images of Trump on social media. Grob said the religious leaders spent 90 minutes in meetings with officials before being brought into the Oval Office to pray with the president. He said none of the participants had given permission for video or photos to be distributed or posted.
Grob said the images later troubled some of his congregants. "I soon began receiving messages of serious concern over the possibility that I had inadvertently participated in a political event less than two weeks before a national election," he wrote. He also said some people told him they felt wounded because of the ways they or their families had been harmed by the president's policies.
The White House did not directly address questions from the BBC about the meeting or the bishops' comments. Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement: "There has never been a greater president for Catholic Americans than President Trump, and his strong record proves it."
The episode comes amid a strained relationship between Trump and Pope Leo XIV, and some US bishops have criticized the administration's immigration policies. Trump has typically had the backing of Catholic voters, but polling suggests that may be shifting. A Pew Research Center survey this month found 30% of US Catholics approved of his job performance, down from 47% when he returned to the White House in 2025.
That could matter in the 3 November midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress. In the same survey, 42% of Catholics said they preferred the Democrats running in their local House races, while 39% favored Republicans.
Nine days before the Oval Office meeting, Bishop Brendon Cahill and Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, issued a statement urging "Christian compassion and wisdom in the immigration debate". They said the clampdown has led to the "sowing of fear, the fracturing of families, the deprivation of due process, and the vilification of our neighbors." The US Conference of Catholic Bishops also recently condemned administration plans to livestream a military execution, which were later scrapped.
Some Catholic figures have closer ties to the administration. Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are both Catholics who have visited the Vatican during Trump's second term. Robert Barron of Minnesota, a member of the bishops' conference, agreed last year to serve on the president's Religious Liberty Commission, as did former New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan.
