Archbishop James Golka of Denver stood at President Donald Trump’s right hand beside the Resolute Desk on Thursday, Oct. 22, and prayed aloud. “We lift up our president and ask your blessing upon him,” he said, while eleven other Catholic bishops gathered around the seated president, some resting a hand on him. A White House communications aide posted the video that afternoon, and the president’s campaign account pushed it out as well. Americans vote in the midterm elections on Nov. 3.
Four days later, Newsweek ran the headline “Trump’s Twelve Apostles Are Already Repenting.” The headline promises a stampede of regret. The reporting beneath it names two bishops.
Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee issued a statement titled “A Public Apology.” He wrote that the White House publicized the meeting without the participants’ consent, and that a gathering he understood to be a private prayer became a “political photo opportunity.” Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines said he wished he had been “more shrewd and less simple.” Both bishops stated that the meeting was no endorsement of the president or his party.
The other ten have retracted nothing. Golka defended his participation in an interview with Denver Catholic, saying he did not intend an endorsement and was “heartbroken” that people were hurt. Nine bishops had issued no public statement as of Monday. Trump told reporters the day after the prayer that it was a great meeting at which the bishops mostly prayed. He has not described it as an endorsement. His part, by every account published so far, was to release the footage.
The evangelical precedent
The frame is familiar. In July 2017, about thirty evangelical leaders laid hands on Trump at the same desk. In March 2025, more than a dozen Christian leaders prayed over him in a meeting arranged through the White House Faith Office. In March 2026, during the first week of the Iran war, the White House released footage of clergy including Pastor Robert Jeffress, Samuel Rodriguez and David Barton laying hands on him. None of those clergy has publicly taken it back.
The Biden dispute
The Catholic establishment has argued this ground before, with a different president. A priest in South Carolina denied Joe Biden Communion in 2019 while he campaigned. In June 2021, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted 168 to 55 to draft a statement on the Eucharist that could bear on politicians who support abortion rights. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco said such politicians should not receive Communion. Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington said Biden was welcome at the altars of his archdiocese. In October 2021, Biden said the pope had told him to keep receiving. That fight concerned a man’s standing at his own altar rail. The October 22 fight concerns a photograph.
Catholic supporters of Trump say his record aligns more closely with Church teaching on the issues the bishops have named for decades. Joseph Meaney, a past president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, said Trump did almost everything possible to reverse Biden’s abortion policies, reinstating the Mexico City Policy and backing the Hyde Amendment. Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society credits the administration with delivering on religious liberty through the White House Faith Office. Biden abandoned his decades-long support for the Hyde Amendment during the 2019 primary.
Critics inside the Church answer with immigration. In November 2025, more than 95 percent of the bishops who voted approved a pastoral message opposing indiscriminate mass deportations, while bishops such as Arlington’s Michael Burbidge noted that Catholic teaching does not endorse open borders. Meaney himself called Trump’s IVF executive order highly objectionable from a pro-life perspective.
The pope and the vice president
Trump and Pope Leo XIV have never met. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, visited Leo in Rome on May 19, 2025, and hand-delivered Trump’s letter inviting him to the White House. The pope answered, “at some point.” The Vatican has since said no papal visit to the United States will take place in 2026.
The count
Twelve bishops walked out of the Oval Office on Oct. 22. Two have taken back their steps. The evangelical pastors who stood in the same spot in 2017, 2025 and 2026 apologized for nothing. The president released a video and claimed no endorsement. Ten of the twelve stand where they stood that Thursday afternoon, praying for the peace of the city.
