Why this Black Catholic thinks Bishop Robert Barron was wrong to defend President Trump

Bishop Robert Barron is not the typical American bishop. 

In addition to leading Minnesota’s Diocese of Winona-Rochester, he is the founder of Word On Fire, a global Catholic media outreach. The organization sells books, videos, and other items to people around the world. Barron himself is steeped in Catholic theology, art, tradition, and praxis. 

I own some of their publications, including versions of the New Testament and a volume on the Second Vatican Council. In terms of theological depth, Word on Fire provides items that enable believers to appreciate both the history and practical application of the faith. 

Even so, I have found Barron’s recent statements about President Donald Trump to be totally contrary to my understanding of the Gospel, the Catholic faith, and Catholic social teaching. Barron, like many (though not all) U.S. Catholic bishops, is so enthralled with the president that it is difficult for him to have anything close to a prophetic witness. 

Barron appears to be particularly taken with Trump—blinded, it seems, by proximity to power. He also seems, like many bishops, to be unaware (or dismissive) of his obviously nationalistic and racist policies. 

The most recent example is Barron’s shameful decision to excuse Trump for depicting himself as the pope.

On the president’s social media account, later reposted by the White House’s account, Trump sits in white papal attire. He is holding up his hand, finger pointed upward, like many artistic renderings of Jesus, the apostles, and Catholic saints. 

After several days of silence, when asked about this affront, Barron found every excuse imaginable to avoid direct criticism of the president. 

“I think it was kind of a sophomoric attempt at humor. I don’t think at all it represents some, you know, disdain for the Catholic Church, or some attack on the Catholic Church. President Trump has signaled in all sorts of ways his support for and affection for the Catholic Church. I think it was a bad joke that obviously landed very poorly and was seen as offensive by a lot of Catholics.”

Asked whether it was merely done in poor taste, Barron answered, “I think so.” The bishop also noted, weakly: “I wish he hadn’t done it.”

A sophomoric attempt at humor? As the phrase suggests, that’s for sophomores in high school. Frankly, it is an insult to the youth of America to suggest they would try that same stunt. The president of the wealthiest country on earth should not have time to post bad jokes. 

Besides, it wasn’t a joke. Every time Trump utters divisive rhetoric or untruths, his supporters claim he was just kidding. From the Hollywood Access tape to his words on January 6, 2021, he is consistently acquitted and excused. 

I am intrigued that Barron noted the post was seen as “offensive by a lot of Catholics.” He did not say it was offensive, but only that some Catholics were offended. Ahead of the conclave, where the immediate future of the Church was decided, when cardinals from all over the world were in prayerful discernment, the president of the United States paraded himself online in papal attire. To Barron, though, the action was apparently not offensive. Only some overly sensitive Catholics took it that way.

Regarding the bishop’s other comments, I would love to hear concrete examples of Trump’s affection for the Catholic Church. It certainly is not represented in his funding cutoff for Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services, which work for the vulnerable and poor in America and around the world. It is also not represented in the White House rejecting anything related to climate response, a major subject of Pope Francis’ papacy and a concern of his predecessors dating back even to Pope Paul VI. Francis also condemned Trump’s mass deportations, demonization of immigrants, and flaunting of due process. 

The president’s rhetoric about LGBTQ+ people and DEI has included hostile and vile acts toward gays, lesbians, African Americans, and others. Focusing on genocide, slavery, lynch mobs, and White terrorism can now be considered unlawful and worthy of funding cuts. In contrast are the Catholic Church’s emphasis on integral human development and global inequality—as Paul VI wrote in “Populorum Progressio”, Pope John XXIII in “Pacem in Terris,” and many other Church leaders when addressing core Catholic teachings. Even our new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, has addressed many of these issues with a compassionate heart, including in the first speech of his papacy.

Where, in Trump’s policies, is any echo of “Gaudium et Spes”? It opens with the following:

“The joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish, of the followers of Christ as well.”

We are called to share in the grief of the afflicted, not celebrate the man who increases their affliction. 

I wonder if Barron is further blinded by his recent appointment to the president’s Religious Liberty Commission, just days before Trump's pope tweet. From photos at the event announcing the new office, it appears the attendees were 95% White. This, in a nation where only 70% of the population is part of that racial group.

Prominent in the photo is Pastor Paula White, Trump’s senior advisor to the White House Faith Office. The same woman who called the Black Lives Matter movement “the anti-Christ,” sold blessings and angels for $1,000, preaches a prosperity gospel, and allegedly enriched herself and her family through questionable use of church funds. 

The new commission is Trump’s attempt to address the fiction that the Christian church in America is persecuted and mistreated. Barron’s tepid response to Trump imagining himself as pope, and the bishop’s silence regarding the ills of the commission itself, seem to indicate that he is fully part of the charade. 

The election of Pope Leo XIV—a Trump administration critic—only heightens the obligation for Barron and other bishops to prophetically call out the White House machinations. The president has slashed funding for poor, sick, and dying people around the world. The pope served the forgotten as a missionary, pastor, and bishop in Peru for 20 years. Trump’s speeches and interviews are filled with falsehoods, bluster, intolerance, and boasts. Leo’s inaugural address to the College of Cardinals spoke of the “merciful face of the Father… revealed in his incarnate Son, the ultimate hope of those who sincerely seek truth, justice, peace, and fraternity.”

As a Catholic prelate, Barron must be keenly familiar with Vatican II’s decree on the pastoral office of bishops, “Christus Dominus.” It notes that:

“Bishops should represent Christ’s teaching in a manner relevant to the needs of the times, providing a response to those difficulties and problems which people find distressing and burdensome.”

These are, for many around the world and in our nation, distressing and burdensome times. Where, in the ministry of Barron and many other Church leaders, are Christ’s full teachings? I would think that Barron has a particular responsibility here, not only as a bishop but as head of a global ministry.

Quite frankly, as an African-American Catholic—now with an American pope—I am embarrassed, offended, and deeply disappointed. 

Daryl Grigsby is the author of “In Their Footsteps: Inspirational Reflections on Black History For Every Day of the Year.” He is on the board of directors for Color Me Human and has a Master’s in Pastoral Studies from Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry.

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