White House Defends Trump After Archbishop Says Oval Office Prayer Was ‘Manipulated’

The White House is defending President Donald Trump after Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob publicly apologized for joining an Oval Office prayer that the administration posted online 12 days before the midterm elections.

In a letter titled “A Public Apology” and released Sunday, Grob said the Oct. 22 meeting he and 11 other bishops attended was “publicized by the administration without the consent of the participants.”

“To begin, the meeting was in no way an endorsement of the president, his policies, or his party,” he wrote. He said the bishops were invited in mid-September to discuss immigration enforcement, religious worker visas and human dignity.

Grob said the gathering was the second of two arranged by the Heritage Foundation. The bishops were told it would be a private discussion with a possible chance “to pray privately with the president.”

After a 90-minute session with White House domestic policy staff, the group was taken to the Oval Office. “We were then directed to stand behind him and pray,” Grob wrote.

“Unbeknownst to the group of bishops a video was also taken,” he added. “But permission for the public distribution or posting of either the video or photos was not given by the bishops.”

He said the prayer was “manipulated” and that the bishops came “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,” Grob wrote. “I did not go without reservations. I wish I had heeded them.”

White House Points to Trump’s Record

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers defended Trump’s record on religious liberty and Catholic priorities in a statement to Fox News Digital after the apology.

“There has never been a greater president for Catholic Americans than President Trump, and his strong record proves it,” she said, citing his defense of religious rights and his pardons of pro-life activists.

Asked whether the White House had received the bishops’ consent to release the images, the press office declined to answer that question, the Associated Press reported.

Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines also voiced regret. “I wish I had been more shrewd and less simple, like those who exploited our meeting for partisan political purposes,” he said in a statement.

Denver Archbishop James Golka told the Denver Catholic that he originally thought the meeting would be private but “knew that it could be shared.” He said, “This is what Catholics do. We pray for people.”

A spokesperson for retired Kansas City, Kansas, Archbishop Joseph Naumann told OSV News that the meeting was organized by the White House Faith Office as part of its regular outreach to faith leaders.

Naumann used the session to press for stricter regulation of the chemical abortion pill and to raise moral concerns about in vitro fertilization, the spokesperson said. A U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spokesperson said the organization had no role.

Trump described the encounter warmly. “It was a great meeting. Well, they prayed. They mostly prayed. It was actually a very nice meeting. They’re great,” he said, CNN reported.

The flap comes as Catholic support for Trump has slipped. A Pew Research Center survey found his approval among U.S. Catholics fell from 47% at the start of his second term to 30% in October.

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