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National Prayer Event -

On January 21, 2025, the National Prayer Event, an interfaith tradition that has gone on for more than a century marking the end of a president’s inauguration, took place at the Washington National Cathedral.

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Bishop Mariann Budde -

With the returning president seated in the front row, Episcopal Church Bishop Mariann Budde held the daunting task of making her statement at the ceremony, following a history of expressing concern regarding the president’s behavior over the years.

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Tremendous responsibility -

“It is a tremendous responsibility,” the bishop expressed, reflecting on the task at hand. “One that I take with humility and prayer.” Budde began by highlighting the foundations for national unity, namely honesty, humility, and the dignity of all.

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Budde asks for "mercy" -

Then, looking directly at President Trump, Budde pleaded that the president exercise “mercy” upon the nation's most vulnerable groups, including undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers, and the LGBTQ+ community.

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Compassion -

Budde’s strong statement, which went on to ask Trump to exhibit compassion for immigrants, the majority of which, she says, “are good neighbors,” accompanied a letter that was issued on the same day from Episcopal leaders to Trump posing a challenge to his executive orders on immigration policy.

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Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe -

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe wrote in the letter, “As Christians, our faith is shaped by the biblical story of people whom God led into foreign countries to escape oppression,” urging Congress to oppose the deportation of undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers.

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Trump's response -

Trump responded in a statement to the press following the event, stating he didn’t think it was a good service. He then took to social media, accusing Budde of “ungracious” behavior; “nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”

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Woodrow Wilson -

This is not the first time the church is at odds with a sitting president. In January 1919, then-President Woodrow Wilson (pictured right at the Paris Versailles Peace Conference) was touring Europe for over six months. Although it wasn’t in his original itinerary, Wilson paid a visit to Pope Benedict XV.

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Strategic visit -

Wilson’s visit was strategic. There were a growing number of Catholics in the United States, largely comprised of European immigrants, and he sought to win them over through his visit. Then, an awkward moment ensued.

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Where are the Catholics? -

At the end of their meeting, an aide informed the pope it was time to bless the group. Wilson, a Presbyterian, wasn’t so keen on being blessed. Instead, he polled his staff: who was Catholic among them? Pictured is an image from Wilson's arrival in Vatican City.

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Wilson remained standing -

The Catholic members of his staff knelt in front of the pope to be blessed, as Wilson (pictured left) reportedly remained standing during the occasion.

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Pope visits to the US -

The first pope to visit the United States would only come in the 1960s, Pope Paul VI, under President Lyndon B. Johnson (pictured in New York). The first time a pope would visit the White House would only be in 1979, with Pope John Paul II visiting while Jimmy Carter was in power.

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Pope John Paul II visited over 12 times -

In the 27 years that Pope John Paul II lead the Vatican, he had more than a dozen meetings with US presidents. He is pictured with then-President Jimmy Carter.

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Jimmy Carter -

Yet, Jimmy Carter had a tense relationship with the church. Carter identified as a born-again evangelical and a Southern Baptist; this in a time when evangelicals weren’t really known to the general public.

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Church began to change -

Yet the church that Carter identified so much with began changing, iterating public opposition to issues like racial integration, abortion, and LGBTQ+ rights. In fact, prominent evangelical leaders were endorsing Carter’s opponents.

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Southern Baptists adopt Christian nationalism -

As the Southern Baptist churches leaned more into Christian nationalism and became more conservative and hostile to specific groups and issues, Carter could no longer reconcile his denomination with his progressive political positions.

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Carter left the church -

In 2000, after the church barred women from leading congregations, Carter left the church. For Carter, Christianity was an opportunity to attempt to emulate a life of service to others in accordance with human rights, rather than an avenue of repression through growing fundamentalism.

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Complicated relationship with Israel -

Notably, it is for this reason that Carter also held a complicated relationship with the state of Israel. Carter considered Jewish fundamentalism the major obstacle to peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, angering the evangelical community at home.

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George W. Bush -

George W. Bush also faced some awkward moments with the church, particularly during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the White House, during which the pope condemned the Iraq War and the scandals of Abu Ghraib.

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Joe Biden -

Joe Biden has also faced his own issues with his church, the St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church located in Greenville, Delaware.

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Backlash -

The former president, who was the first Catholic president in over 60 years, faced a great deal of backlash from the Catholic community over the years, particularly due to his views on abortion.

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"Apostate" -

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann (pictured) went so far as to urge the president to not identify himself as a practicing Catholic, given his contradictory views on abortion in opposition to “Catholic moral teaching.” Cardinal Raymond Burke called Biden an “apostate,” meaning someone who renounces a religious belief or principle.

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Heckling -

Walking into St. Joseph’s for mass, Biden had often been met with shouting from other churchgoers, accusing his taking of communion to be “sacrilege” and accusing him of being a “fake Catholic,” among other taunts.

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Insight into American politics -

Presidents’ interactions with the church are not just a series of anecdotes, but provide important insight into the role that Christianity plays in American politics.

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Evangelicals overwhelmingly voted for Trump -

In 2020, approximately 85% of regular evangelical churchgoers voted for Donald Trump. The numbers rang the same for Trump’s reelection.

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Influence of fundamentalist Christian groups -

The influence of fundamentalist Christian groups is immense, despite the separation of church and state in the nation. This is true even despite the fact that more and more Americans are not identifying with religion.

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Discrepancy -

There seems to be a significant discrepancy between how religious voters behave and, in general, how the church and its leadership position themselves. This is particularly so under the leadership of Pope Francis, who is considered generally progressive in comparison to his predecessors.

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Archbishop of the Diocese of Washington, D.C. -

In fact, on January 6, 2025, the Vatican announced that Cardinal Robert McElroy, a stern critic of Trump's’ political positions, had been allocated the role of Archbishop of the Diocese of Washington, D.C.

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A voice to the resistance -

Trump’s choice to represent the US at the Holy See, Brian Burch, is a staunch critic of Pope Francis’ support for progressive causes. Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University, believes the pope’s choice of McElroy is “a voice to the resistance against Trump.”

Sources: (The Washington Post) (NPR) (The New York Times) (Politico) (The Economist) (Sight Magazine)

See also: Sacred secrets? Surprising papal facts you might not know

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