Instead, Howe said everyone needs to take responsibility for United's Premier League form and poor defending.
Newcastle have now conceded eight goals in their last three Premier League home games and were punished for their own errors against the Toffees.
Pope's clanger led to Everton's second goal when the keeper parried what should have been a routine save, allowing Beto to pounce.
The mistake came after fresh reports this week claiming the Magpies will again look to sign a new goalkeeper this summer after last summer's failed pursuit of James Trafford.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Howe was asked about Pope's error and whether signing a keeper will be a summer priority, but said: "I think it's difficult for me to comment on any one player or position.
"Collectively, we have to defend our goal better. That's everyone across the board. That's me taking responsibility for that first and filtering that down to the players."
Newcastle have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 10 games in all competitions and Howe admits the defensive record is an issue.
He said: “Absolutely, and it's such a strange one because we started the season so strong defensively on every metric, clean sheets, we looked like we were really difficult to score against and that's sort of flipped on its head, and that's been coming for us.
“It's been building, where our defensive resilience, our ability to keep the ball out of the net, has not been good enough, really highlighted by today's performance.
“I think you could see there was no way we should have conceded three goals in that game, but we did and that's something we've really got to focus on. We've got to get out dependability back and our reliability back in our defending."