The Episcopal bishop of Washington, Right Rev. Mariann Budde, has openly criticized some of President Donald Trump’s policies.
Urban Express News Online reports that Trump returned to the White House on Monday, January 20, 2025, as the 47th President of the United States.
After his swearing on Monday, as tradition demands, the President held an inaugural prayer sermon at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday.
Bishop Budde, one of the invited preachers, begged the new President to “have mercy upon” communities targeted by his administration’s immigration and LGBTQ+ policies.
Speaking from the pulpit, the Bishop appealed directly to Trump who sat stone-faced in the front row, alongside Melania Trump and his Vice, JD Vance.
“You have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy on the people in our country who are scared now,” she said.
President Trump spent his first hours in office signing executive orders.
One executive order directed the federal government to recognize only “two sexes – male and female.”
“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in both Democratic, Republican and independent families who fear for their lives,” Budde added.
She reminded the President that the immigrants are the ones who “pick our crops” and “work the night shift in hospitals” – but “may not be citizens or have the proper documentation” but pay their taxes and are good neighbours.
“Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were once strangers in this land.”
