Readers respond to the Right Rev. Mariann Budde’s message to President Donald Trump at Washington National Cathedral. Regarding the Jan. 22 Metro article “ At National Prayer Service, a plea to Trump: ‘Have mercy’ ”:

Mariann Budde on Tuesday at the inaugural prayer service held for President Trump. “The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list,” Collins wrote in a post on X with a clip of Budde’s comments.

President Trump early Wednesday morning slammed the reverend at a National Cathedral prayer service for the inauguration who called on him to have mercy on transgender children and immigrant

The president may not have approved of Mariann Edgar Budde’s homily at the National Cathedral. But the bishop answered to a higher moral calling.

The new president was in Washington D.C. for church services Tuesday when Bishop Mariann Budde, born in New Jersey, asked Trump during the service to have “mercy” on undocumented immigrants and other marginal groups, which Trump has spoken critical of during his campaign.

U.S. president calls the clergywoman a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater,” “ungracious,” “nasty” and “not compelling or smart.”

President Donald Trump, left, watches as Rev. Mariann Budde, second right, arrives at the national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) President Donald Trump,

Donald Trump reacts to Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde's sermon, calling it 'nasty' amid ongoing debates on LGBTQ+ rights and immigration policies.- Watch Video on English Oneindia

New president furious over prayer service appeal for compassion and tells government departments to prepare to dismiss employees hired under diversity initiatives

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded an apology from the Episcopal bishop of Washington after she made a direct appeal to him during a prayer service marking his inauguration to have mercy on the LGBTQ+ community and migrant workers who are in the United States illegally.

The Episcopalian bishop at the center of a controversy after her prayer breakfast sermon is a graduate of the University of Rochester.