Prayer photo with Trump sparks regret among US Catholic leaders

VIA ABC NEWS ON X:

Two Catholic bishops have expressed regret about agreeing to a White House meeting that produced a publicly distributed photo of them praying with President Donald Trump, according to Associated Press.

Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob, in a statement titled “A Public Apology,” said Sunday that he had received many questions and comments, some of them distraught, about Thursday’s meeting, which he and 11 other bishops attended. He said the White House publicized it with photos and a video, without the participants’ consent, less than two weeks before the midterm elections. “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,” Grob said.

Des Moines Bishop William Joensen also issued a statement. “I wish I had been more shrewd and less simple, like those who exploited our meeting for partisan political purpose,” he wrote. Asked whether the bishops consented to the release, the White House declined to answer. Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said, “There has never been a greater president for Catholic Americans than President Trump, and his strong record proves it.”