Politicians Weigh in on the Controversy
Adding to the upset were images of protesters being cleared from the area by tear gas and rubber bullets so the president could approach the church. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican, says the crowd included “professional agitators” who engaged in “calculated” tactics in front of news cameras.
Texas Senator John Cornyn, also a Republican, says the president is “free to go where he wants and to hold up a Bible if he wants,” adding that the media will “never…find any good or any positive development in anything.”
Joe Biden, Trump’s presumptive Democrat opponent in November’s election, accuses Trump of being “more interested in serving the passions of his base than the needs of the people in his care.” About the Bible Trump held up, Biden says, “I just wish he opened it once in a while instead of brandishing it,” adding, “He could have learned something.” The former vice president says, “We are all called to love one another as we love ourselves. It’s really hard work, but it’s the work of America.”
Tuesday’s Schedule Includes Religious Issues
This morning, the president and first lady visited the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., to mark the centennial of that pope’s birth. Beforehand, D.C. Catholic Archbishop Wilton Gregory said, “I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree.”
The archbishop, America’s highest-ranking African-American Catholic bishop, adds, “Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth. He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace.”
This afternoon, Trump is expected to sign an executive order on international religious freedom. A senior administration official says the order continues the president’s call for an end to religious persecution in other countries.
