Two Catholic Bishops Express Regret Over White House Prayer Photo With Trump

Two Catholic bishops have said they regret agreeing to a White House meeting that produced a publicly distributed photo of them praying with President Donald Trump. Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob issued a statement on Sunday that was titled as a public apology. He said he had received many questions about the episode. The bishops said the photo was used politically. Grob's public criticism of the prayer meeting was accompanied by an expression of deep sadness. The excerpts available do not give the rest of Grob's statement, the second bishop's name, or the date of the meeting.

Right-leaning outlets tracked by Crosswire had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative/independent outlets had. Among left-leaning sources, Raw Story leads with Grob alone, describing the prayer meeting as drawing a public rebuke from an archbishop and quoting his sadness in its headline. Its opening text is a Reuters photo caption showing Trump bowing his head in prayer at a Hispanic Heritage Month reception in the East Room on September 30, 2026. The excerpt does not link that setting to the bishops' meeting. Raw Story's framing centers on criticism of the White House event. The alternative outlet, AP, covers both bishops, leads with their regret, and reports the claim that the photo was used politically. It also includes the detail that Grob had received many questions. The two accounts agree that Grob publicly criticized or apologized for the meeting. They differ in emphasis: Raw Story stresses rebuke and sadness, while AP stresses shared regret and political use of the image. No right-leaning account exists to compare.