Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde instantly became a topic of national conversation after issuing a heartfelt plea directly to President Donald Trump during a sermon one day after inauguration day. Here’s what to know about the Episcopalian Bishop, the prayer service, and the reaction.

Who is Mariann Edgar Budde?

According to the New York Times, Bishop Budde is the first woman serve in the capacity of spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. She has been at the helm of the diocese for over a decade, since 2011. Budde, 65, was previously a rector in Minneapolis at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Per the news outlet, she was raised in Colorado and New Jersey and attended the University of Rochester. She also holds a masters in Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary.

What Did Bishop Budde Say During Trump’s Inauguration?

Per the Independent, and on viral videos currently circulating on the internet, Bishop Budde issued a plea for mercy directly to President Trump as he and his wife Melania attended her prayer service on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 at the National Cathedral in Washington.

“There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives,” she said while at the podium. “Millions have put their trust in you. In the name of our God, I ask you, have mercy on people in our country who are scared now.”

Bishop Budde continued, addressing the concerns of migrants who live in the country. “The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they – they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation,” she said. “But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors.”

In a phone interview with the New York Times, Bishop Budde clarified that her intent was not “calling the president out.” “I was trying to say: The country has been entrusted to you,” she explained. “And one of the qualities of a leader is mercy.”

During a remote appearance on The View on January 22, she again commented on the sermon without backing down. “I think if you read what I said, how could it not be politicized?” she said.  “We’re in a hyper political climate. One of the things I caution about is the culture of contempt in which we live that immediately rushes to the worst possible interpretations of what people are saying and to put them in categories…That’s part of the air we breathe now. And I was trying to speak a truth that I felt needed to be said, but to do it in as respectful and kind a way as I could, and also to bring other voices into the conversation, voices that had not been heard in the public space for some time.”

How Republicans Feel About Budde

President Trump himself told reporters after the prayer service that he wasn’t impressed and that he “didn’t think it was a good service.” Per The Hill, he took to Truth Social to expand on his feelings about the service. “The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater,” he wrote on Wednesday, January 22. “She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”