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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thedialog.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/26160903\/20261026T1350-WASHINGTON-LETTER-10-26-1828901.jpg\" "\\"WHITE")
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<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\nWASHINGTON \u2014 An Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and a dozen U.S. bishops<\/a> less than two weeks before the midterm elections prompted controversy among some Catholic commentators, who characterized tension points between Church teaching on human life and dignity and some of the Trump administration\u2019s policies as the elephant in the room.<\/p>\n John White, a professor of politics at The Catholic University of America in Washington,<\/a> told OSV News that a video circulated by the White House of the meeting showing the bishops praying over Trump, so close to the Nov. 3 elections, risks creating the appearance of a \u201ctacit endorsement.\u201d But he called it \u201cnotable\u201d that a number of bishops distanced themselves from the meeting through more official channels.<\/p>\n The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has long held that it will not endorse or oppose specific candidates for public office, instead referring Catholics to its document \u201cForming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship\u201d as a guide for discerning their choices at the ballot box. Chieko Noguchi, a spokesperson for the USCCB, told OSV News the organization had no role in the meeting.<\/p>\n After video footage of the meeting was circulated by the White House, Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob of Milwaukee, one of the attendees at the meeting, on Oct. 25 offered a public apology and said the meeting was \u201cpublicized by the administration without the consent of the participants.\u201d He said the bishops did not give permission for public distribution or posting of either the photos or the video, which he added was filmed \u201cunbeknownst\u201d to them.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease know that my intention was never to cause confusion, anger, or disappointment among the people entrusted to my care,\u201d he said, adding the meeting was \u201cin no way an endorsement of the president, his policies, or his party.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d he said. \u201cWe 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. We should never have been put in that position by the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n In a similar statement, Bishop William M. Joensen of Des Moines, Iowa<\/a>, said, \u201cThere are many things tied to this present Administration that are blatantly at odds with our Catholic faith. The advance communication we received indicated that we were to have a conversation and that key officials would be interested in hearing our perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNone of us bishops were unaware that our meeting was on the cusp of a national election,\u201d he said. \u201cYet 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\u2019 admonition: \u2018Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves\u2019 (Matthew 10:16). I wish I had been more shrewd and less simple, like those who exploited our meeting for partisan political purposes. I pray I am more prudent and wise going forward, even as I remain resolute in my openness to engaging and praying for political leaders at all levels.\u201d<\/p>\n White argued that from the White House\u2019s perspective it was certainly \u201ca campaign event.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was designed to be that and to be promoted as such, in an attempt to win the Catholic vote at a time when Trump is losing the Catholic vote for a whole lot of reasons,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>