Fans arrive before the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP/Lynne Sladky)
After a video depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes on President Donald Trump's Truth Social account on Feb. 6, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich and Detroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger sat up straight and called Trump out. Their righteous anger joined a bipartisan chorus of boos from elected officials, who were both embarrassed and aghast at the White House's attempts to laugh off the racist display and Trump's refusal to apologize for it.
While the offending post came down 12 hours after it appeared, it only bolstered the impression that racism permeates Trumpian policies, from the racial profiling present in the Department of Homeland Security's immigration crackdown to comments from deep within the Trump circle about "Americans" having more babies. White Christian nationalism has spread its ugly tentacles into nearly every part of the U.S. government, and it is growing.
They don't have much respect for women, either. The world saw, or at least heard, Trump's attitude toward women in 2016 when the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape caught him bragging that he would kiss the young women he would meet soon, because "When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab 'em by the p---y. You can do anything." Candidate Trump apologized — that time.
Since then, his signature misogyny has been on display in formal press conferences, airplane chats, even in his support of Turning Point USA's alternative Super Bowl LX halftime program featuring Kid Rock, whose rap "Cool, Daddy Cool" includes the lyrics, "Young ladies, young ladies, I like 'em underage / See, some say that's statutory but I say it's mandatory." While the aging rapper spared the audience that tune on Sunday, his inclusion was problematic.
Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican artist whose appearance at the NFL's halftime show had prompted Turning Point USA's alternative, has decried violence against women, most notably in accepting a 2020 Billboard Music Award. His profile is positive enough that, in Archbishop Ronald Hicks' sermon on Feb. 6 during his installation as New York's new archbishop, he approvingly quoted Bad Bunny's lyrics.
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Still, on the NFL's halftime show, Bad Bunny was surrounded by barely clad, noticeably young women. Together with his crotch-grabbing dance moves, his performance was a clinic in global machismo.
The U.S. bishops have rightly called out immigration travesties and speak on behalf of the poor, but have you heard any bishops defending women against Kid Rock or Trump or Bad Bunny?
Are they cowed into submission by the false notion that women do not image Christ? That statement stems from the ancient heresy of Arianism, which taught that Jesus was solely created as a man. Therefore, since Jesus only existed in history as a male, woman cannot "image" him.
Christianity opposes that argument in two directions. First, the doctrine of the Trinity presents Jesus as a co-equal member. Second, teachings about the resurrection of Christ present him as present in the world, in all people.
That would include female people.
Unfortunately, too many hierarchs are trapped in the all-male clerical bubble. They will grudgingly accept women as managers but draw the line at ministry. Such is the crux of the complaints women have presented for countless years. Now, as some bishops step up to defend Blacks, migrants and the poor, will they add defending the full humanity of women to their Gospel teachings? One can only hope so.
