Catholic bishops pray with President Trump

In addition to praying with Trump, topics discussed during the meeting included religious freedom, school choice, religious visas, and life policy.



The view of the White House from the South Lawn with the U.S. flag on April 18, 2026. | Credit: Ivan Ventura/Shutterstock

By Tyler Arnold

October 22, 2026 at 6:52 PM ET · 

Denver Archbishop James Golka and over half a dozen fellow U.S. Catholic bishops met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Oct. 22.

White House Faith Director Jenny Korn told EWTN News the meeting was organized by the White House Faith Office “as part of our ongoing engagement with faith leaders of all denominations from across the country.”

In addition to praying with Trump, Korn said several topics were discussed during the meeting, including “religious freedom, the role of the White House Faith Office, school choice, religious visas, and life policy.”

Participants included Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles; Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas; Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico; Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas; Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines, Iowa; Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee; and Bishop Michael Barber, SJ, of Oakland, California.

Before concluding the meeting, Golka and his brother bishops gathered around Trump at the Oval Office’s iconic Resolute desk to pray.

Archbishop of the U.S. military says Catholic soldiers should not serve on firing squad

The Associated Press

Updated Mon, October 12, 2026 at 2:04 PM EDT

FILE - Military Services Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, speaks during a press conference at a plenary assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees the Catholic Church's pastoral services to Catholics in the U.S. military, is condemning the proposed livestream of the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan.

Broglio, in a statement Monday, also stipulated that any Catholic soldier assigned to the U.S. Army firing squad should ask to be excused from that duty, which he described as contrary to the teachings of the church. He joins other Catholic leaders in speaking out against the death penalty and the livestream plans.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people in 2009 at Fort Hood in Texas, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on Dec. 3.

Broglio recalled that he presided over the funeral of Michael Grant Cahill, the only civilian killed in that attack.

The crime committed by Hasan "was heinous, but does exposing the public to his execution serve any purpose?" Broglio asked.

"The US military generally enjoys a good reputation in the world," Broglio added. "Is there really a value to throwing them in the same boat with terrorists by broadcasting the image of the execution of a man in a wheelchair to the whole world?"

___

Source 

On Pope Leo’s World Day of Migrants, Cardinal McElroy Indicts Trump’s War on Immigrants

Preaching on the Good Samaritan for World Day of Migrants, Washington’s archbishop named Minneapolis, a five-year-old used as bait, and a nation that “passed on by.” He told Catholics to fight every dimension of it.

Christopher Hale




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Cardinal Robert McElroy stood at the ambo of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on Sunday evening, less than a mile from the White House, and told Washington’s Catholics that their country has spent a year and a half walking past a man left bleeding by the road.

“For the last year and a half, the people of the United States have witnessed the suffering of the undocumented in our midst, purposely and strategically magnified by our government,” the archbishop of Washington said, “and for the most part, we have simply passed on by.”

The Mass marked the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which Pope Leo XIV devoted this year to children under the theme “Even Just One of These Children.” McElroy preached on the Good Samaritan. He borrowed a rule from one of his seminary scripture professors: in any parable, look for the character you most dislike, “and that is you.”

For Americans in 2026, he said, that character is the priest who crossed to the other side of the road (and the Levite who followed him).

The parable came second. McElroy opened with what he called the two great legacies that shape America’s duty to the stranger: the command in Deuteronomy that “you shall not violate the rights of the alien or the orphan,” and the words Emma Lazarus wrote for the Statue of Liberty. “There was a time when these words brought tears to every American,” he said of the poem. “Now they are shunned, riddled with conditions, or ignored altogether because they remind us of what we have become.”

In direct appeal to Trump, Catholic bishops' president urges end of mass deportations of Haitians

(RNS) — The letter marks a shift toward a more direct and pointed tone in challenging President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.

Community members hold a protest rally as immigrants enter an ICE facility at a Department of Homeland Security field office during a mandatory check in where most received ankle monitors, after thousands of Haitians lost Temporary Protected Status (TPS), in Blue Ash, Ohio on Aug. 9, 2026. (RNS photo/Carol Guzy)

Aleja Hertzler-McCain
September 9, 2026 at 5:31 p.m. ET

(RNS) — Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference president, sent a letter on Tuesday (Sept. 8), urging President Donald Trump to cease the deportation of “large numbers” of Haitian immigrants.

Citing the violence in Haiti, Coakley wrote: “As citizens of this great country, we have been entrusted with a tremendous moral responsibility, and this is true most of all for you as our head of state, Mr. President. To this end, I respectfully ask: What good is the immense wealth, prosperity, and influence with which we have been blessed as a nation if not used in service of our humanity?”

The letter’s language marked a notable hardening in tone from the U.S. bishops’ conference, though Coakley also wrote that he was “humbly” appealing for Trump’s assistance.

Last November, the U.S. bishops’ conference released a special pastoral message calling for an end to “indiscriminate mass deportation,” a sign of how seriously the conference is taking deportation policies that could impact nearly 1 in 5 U.S. Catholics directly or through their family. But that message did not name Trump.

In his letter this week, Coakley wrote that he was inspired by the massacre of 47 people in Haiti’s Kenscoff farming community to write. Some of the people killed had been taking refuge in a church, and some of those killed were children. Coakley called the violence “unconscionable.”

“I very much wish this recent and tragic example of human life being extinguished, virtually with impunity, was an irregularity in Haiti. Unfortunately, it is not,” Coakley wrote. He told Trump that deportations endanger “innocent human life” and “contribute to the country’s already deepening crisis.”

Bishop Robert Barron & Bill O'Reilly on Religion and Mass Migration

Bill O'Reilly

Premiered Aug 15, 2026

Bishop Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire, discusses the issues surrounding mass migration.

Bombshell! Over 80% of Catholic Bishops Revenue Came From Immigration

 

Haiti’s cardinal and U.S. bishops lead Mass of Solidarity...

Haiti’s cardinal and U.S. bishops lead Mass of Solidarity as Haitian immigrants face losing their TPS status

Cardinal Chibly Langlois of Les Cayes, Haiti, (second from left), gives the final blessing at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Takoma Park, Maryland, on July 28, 2026 during a Mass of Solidarity with the Haitian community and those impacted by changes to immigration policy. The concelebrants at the Mass included Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami at left, and Archbishop Robert G. Casey of Cincinnati and Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS, of Charleston, South Carolina at right. The Mass was coordinated by offices from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. (Catholic Standard photo by Mihoko Owada)

Mark Zimmermann

Jul 30, 2026 US & World

As an estimated 350,000 Haitian immigrants to the United States face losing their Temporary Protected Status and confront the possibility of having to move back to their country that is plagued by gang violence and political instability, Cardinal Chibly Langlois of Les Cayes, Haiti, celebrated a Mass of Solidarity on July 28 with the Haitian community and those impacted by changes to immigration policy.

The concelebrants at the Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Takoma Park, Maryland, included Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami; Archbishop Robert G. Casey of Cincinnati; Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS, of Charleston, South Carolina; and 10 priests, including priests from Haiti serving Haitian immigrants in the United States, priests whose religious orders serve in Haiti, and priests whose parishes have longstanding outreach programs there.

The Mass was celebrated in French, with the choir singing songs in Haitian Creole, French and Latin.

Cardinal Chibly Langlois of Les Cayes, Haiti, gives the homily at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Takoma Park, Maryland, on July 28, 2026 during a Mass of Solidarity with the Haitian community and those impacted by changes to immigration policy. (Catholic Standard photo by Mihoko Owada)

As he opened his homily, Cardinal Langlois said, “Today we gather to bring before God the pain, sorrow, and anxiety of the Haitian community in the United States as they face the consequences of the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). This celebration is a profound gesture of solidarity by the Church in the United States and the Church in Haiti with more than 350,000 people who now find themselves in this difficult situation. We gather not only to pray, but also to remind one another that we are one family in Christ. When one member of the Body of Christ suffers, the whole Body suffers with it.”

Referencing the reading at the Mass from the prophet Jeremiah, the cardinal said, “Many families are living with fear and uncertainty. Yet Jeremiah teaches us something important: even when God's people feel abandoned, they never stop turning to Him. They lift up their eyes to the Lord, asking for healing, mercy, and deliverance. We bring our anxieties before God, but we do not lose hope.”

Mass of Consecration of the United States of America to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Mass of Consecration of the United States to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Thursday - June 11th @ 4:00 PM EST

https://www.youtube.com/live/j1WyC4TSeoo?is=OhLgW4EPNudSal0Z

America to Be Consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus | EWTN News In Depth June 5, 2026

Pope Taps Former Illegal Alien And DEI Warrior As Leading US Bishopset

(Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP via Getty Images)

Reporter

May 01, 20262:11 PM ET


Pope Leo XIV announced the new heads of several dioceses across the U.S. on Friday, including a former illegal immigrant and staunch defender of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).

The line-up includes Father Robert Boxie III, who was selected as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and Bishop Evelio Menjivar, who was named bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, which includes all of West Virginia, according to a statement from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. (RELATED: DUKE: Faith Under Fire)

Menjivar, a 55-year-old native of El Salvador, previously attempted to illegally cross the U.S. border three times before he was successfully smuggled into the country in the trunk of a car in 1990, according to The Washington Post.

Menjivar then worked odd jobs before obtaining his citizenship, according to the U.S. Catholic. He was eventually chosen to be the first Salvadoran bishop in the U.S. in 2023 and an auxiliary bishop of Washington, The Washington Post reported.

NEW: Pope Leo XIV has named Salvadoran immigrant Evelio Menijar-Ayala to be West Virginia’s lone Catholic bishop.

As a teenager, he made three attempts to enter the United States illegally.

He finally arrived in California in 1990, having been smuggled in the trunk of a car… pic.twitter.com/B3nxn9xZYG

— Christopher Hale (@ChristopherHale) May 1, 2026

The Vatican vs. Mar-a-Lago

ByKevin Gallagher

Pope Leo XIV is making it impossible to reconcile MAGA politics with Catholic faith.

Within the US Catholic church, Leo’s interventions may decisively undercut those who have argued for a “seamless garment” of Catholic faith and MAGA politics. (Alberto Pizzoli / AFP via Getty Images)

Jacobin‘s special spring issue, “Teen Jacobin,” is out now. Follow this link to get a discounted subscription to our beautiful print quarterly.


“Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.” As thousands of believers filled St Peter’s Square in the Vatican for the rites of Palm Sunday this year, Pope Leo XIV chose to include in his homily these words that God speaks at the beginning of the Book of Isaiah. In the context of his brief homily, it was the last of several Bible verses Leo chose to illustrate the idea of “Jesus, King of Peace.” But in the context of the Trump administration’s ongoing war on Iran, it was immediately understood as a direct rebuke to a prayer service led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon a few days earlier, in which he had besought the Almighty for “overwhelming violence.”

Leo may not have intended his words as a direct response to Hegseth — a pope hardly needs a special excuse to preach about peace at Easter time — but Leo did nothing to discourage that interpretation. A few days later, when asked about Donald Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization, Leo unequivocally rebuked such threats as “unacceptable,” and directly asked that Americans call their congresspeople to demand an end to hostilities.

This was not the first time Leo had chosen to venture into American politics in this first year of his papacy. He had previously made public comments against the mistreatment of immigrants and against the occupation of Minneapolis. But this time, the Trump administration’s response has been far more aggressive. President Trump made a rambling late-night post on his Truth Social network to announce that “Leo should get his act together as pope”; Vice President J. D. Vance chided the Supreme Pontiff to “be careful” about what he says; and a whole series of lesser officials and right-wing media personalities lined up to denounce the pope’s statements.

When asked about these attacks by the press, Leo stated, “I have no fear of the Trump administration,” and he has gone on to show himself uncowed. At a recent prayer meeting on his tour through several African countries, Leo returned again to the theme of his Palm Sunday homily — this time not quoting the Bible but speaking in his own words: “Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”

Full interview: U.S. Military Archbishop Timothy Broglio on Iran

 

 Full Transcript

Archbishop for U.S. Military Says It’s ‘Morally Acceptable’ for Troops to Disobey Orders Amid Escalating Trump Threats

by
Connor Greene

Editorial Fellow

Archbishop Timothy Broglio conducts an Easter Sunday Mass at Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, Sunday, April 12, 2020.Jose Luis Magana—AP Photo/File



The archbishop for the U.S. military services said that it “would be morally acceptable” for troops to disobey orders that go against their conscience as the Trump Administration ramps up its military actions and threats, joining other prominent Catholic leaders in sounding alarms over President Donald Trump’s aggressive foreign policy moves.

“It would be very difficult for a soldier or a marine or a sailor to by himself disobey an order,” Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio told the BBC Sunday. “But strictly speaking, he or she would be, within the realm of their own conscience, it would be morally acceptable to disobey that order, but that’s perhaps putting that individual in an untenable situation, and that’s my concern.”

When asked if he was “worried” about the troops in the archdiocese he oversees, Broglio responded: “I am obviously worried because they could be put in a situation where they’re being ordered to do something which is morally questionable.”

Broglio, who has served as the head of the Washington, D.C.-based archdiocese of the U.S. military since 2007, specifically pushed back against Trump’s repeated threats to annex Greenland.

“Greenland is a territory of Denmark,” the archbishop said. “It does not seem really reasonable that the United States would attack and occupy a friendly nation.”

Read more: Trump Warns There’s ‘No Going Back’ on Greenland and Accuses U.K. of ‘Act of Great Stupidity’

A number of other high-ranking Catholic bishops and Pope Leo XIV have also raised vocal concerns in recent weeks as U.S. forces deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the President has levied threats against several other countries and territories, including in his renewed push to acquire Greenland. The Pope, who—along with a number of U.S. bishops—has also challenged Trump’s immigration crackdown, recently condemned a “diplomacy based on force” in an annual speech at the Vatican.

TRUMP meets with the president of the U S Conference of CATHOLIC Bishops

'Climate of fear': Church leaders slam mass deportations Story

by John Baker 

‘Climate of Fear’: Church Leaders Slam Mass Deportations

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City said the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans are creating fear and uncertainty in immigrant communities.

Supporters of the administration argue that stepped-up enforcement is a lawful response to years of inconsistent immigration policy and is aimed at restoring deterrence. They say it’s crucial to restore border control and credibility to the legal immigration system, not targeting communities indiscriminately.

Coakley said, “It’s instilling, as I said, fear in a rather widespread manner. So I think that’s something that concerns us all, that people have a right to live in security and without fear of random deportations. Be generous in welcoming immigrants. We certainly have a right and a duty to respect borders of our nation.”

He urged officials to welcome immigrants with generosity while also respecting the nation’s borders.

Coakley said immigration policy must uphold human dignity and criticized indiscriminate deportations and the vilification of migrants.

The Bishops’ statement said, “We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement. We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement, endorsed by Pope Leo XIV and Bishop Ronald Hicks, that condemned the raids and raised concerns about detention conditions and limited pastoral care.

Pope Leo XIV said, “I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have. If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice.”

This story was reported by content partner Modern Newsstand LLC.

Source

Society of Jesus in the United States Applauds U.S. Bishops’ Special Message on Immigration

November 13, 2025
Memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

The Society of Jesus in the United States applauds and thanks our bishops for their Special Pastoral Message issued at their Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore. We echo their concerns, we join them in prayer, and we stand with them in the defense of the dignity of our migrant brothers and sisters in Christ.

We encourage everyone in the Jesuit network to read the bishops’ message and to join us in participating in their You Are Not Alone initiative, such as by signing the Cabrini Pledge. Alongside the bishops and in solidarity with our migrant brothers and sisters, the Jesuit Conference will continue to advocate for the reform of our immigration system. As the bishops wrote, “Human dignity and national security are not in conflict. Both are possible if people of good will work together.”

Media contact:
Mike Jordan Laskey
Director of Communications, Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States
jccucommunications@jesuits.org | 202.629.5933

Source

Pope Leo Condemns ‘Extremely Disrespectful’ Treatment Of Migrants By Tru...

U.S. Catholic Bishops Issue Rare Public Rebuke Against Trump Administrat...

Catholic leaders acknowledge tension between Trump immigration policy and religious liberty

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump gesture during a ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., Sept. 11, 2025, marking the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. (OSV News photo/Evelyn Hockstein, Reuters)

Catholic leaders acknowledge tension between Trump immigration policy and religious liberty

September 16, 2025
By Kate Scanlon

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The same week President Donald Trump spoke at a hearing of the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Commission in Washington, a key Catholic bishop said some of his immigration policies risk presenting the church with religious liberty challenges.

“It is interesting that since the administration has put a large amount of emphasis on all kinds of liberty right, including religious liberty, that we find ourselves in this conflict on some of these court cases recently,” Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, told reporters before a roundtable discussion on migration issues hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.

Trump in May signed an executive order creating a religious liberty commission, which includes Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minn. Bishop Seitz noted their presence on the commission, saying, “a couple of our bishops belong to it; and there’s also an advisory committee, more bishops belong to it.”

Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala speaks during a roundtable titled “Deportations and Assaults on Human Dignity: on Catholic Principles, Human Costs, and Pastoral Challenges” at Georgetown University in Washington Sept. 11, 2025. Also pictured is Sister Norma Pimentel, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus, who is executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas. (OSV News photo/Rafael Suanes, courtesy Georgetown University)