On his second day as President, Donald Trump attended a church service at the Washington National Cathedral, where Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde used her sermon to deliver a pointed message to the new president.
“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families—some who fear for their lives.
“The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals—they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara and temples.
“I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.
“Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God, for the good of all people—the good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.”
Rev. Budde (born Dec. 10, 1959) is an Episcopal prelate who has served as bishop of Washington, D.C., since 2011.
Before being elected Washington, D.C.’s first female diocesan bishop, she served 18 years as the rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis offered a message to Trump on Jan 20. Pope Francis offered him “cordial greetings” and urged him to lead a society with “no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion” and to promote “peace and reconciliation among peoples.”
In a previous statement, Pope Francis said that Trump’s plans to deport illegal migrants from the United States would be a “disgrace” if they were carried out.
Speaking to an Italian TV program from his Vatican residence, Pope Francis said that if the plans went ahead, Trump would make “poor wretches that don’t have anything foot the bill.”
“That’s not right,” he said. “That’s not how you solve problems.”
