Political and religious leaders call for prayers for Trump and the country after apparent shooting

In the aftermath of an apparent shooting at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, political and religious leaders took to social media to ask Americans to pray for the former president and for the future of the country.

“Prayers for President Trump right now,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.

“Karen and I are praying for President Trump and urge every American to join us,” said former Vice President Mike Pence, who served alongside Trump during his time in the White House.

President Joe Biden said on X that he’s praying for Trump and his family and rally attendees.

“There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it,” Biden said.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said “Folks, we need to pray.”

“Pray for Donald Trump and pray for our nation,” he added.

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The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, tweeted that he’s praying for a “hedge of protection” to surround Trump and President Joe Biden.

“I pray that all Americans rebuke and repudiate all vestige of rhetorical and physical violence from our political discourse; in the mighty name of Jesus!,” he said.

The Rev. Rodriguez and Perkins are among the faith leaders who have worked with the Trump campaign in the past.

Other pastors who have called for prayers for Trump have been outspoken critics of his leadership.

“Political violence is evil to the core and is an attack on everything this country represents. Attempted murder is an attack on the image of God. This is awful,” tweeted Russell Moore, a prominent evangelical leader who became known for his “never-Trump” status eight years ago.

Responses to shooting at Trump rally

Calls for prayer for Trump and the country continued to appear on social media after Trump’s campaign announced that the former president is safe.

Here are some more faith-related responses from politicians and pastors.

“Together with my brother bishops, we condemn political violence, and we offer our prayers for President Trump, and those who were killed or injured. We also pray for our country and for an end to political violence, which is never a solution to political disagreements. We ask all people of goodwill to join us in praying for peace in our country. Mary, Mother of God and Patroness of the Americas, pray for us,” said Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a statement.

“The way of love — not the way of violence — is the way we bind up our nation’s wounds. We decry political violence in any form, and our call as followers of Jesus of Nazareth is always to love. We pray for the families of those who were killed. We pray for former President Trump and his family and for all who were harmed or impacted by this incident. I pray that we as a nation and a world may see each other as the beloved children of God,” said the Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop, the Rev. Michael Curry, in a statement.

“We are grateful that President Trump was not seriously injured in the the tragic shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania this afternoon. We are praying earnestly for Mr. Trump and his family and the loved ones of the bystander who was killed — and we ask our fellow Christians to call on our mighty and merciful God to comfort all those affected,” said Focus on the Family President Jim Daly in a statement.

“We are so grateful to God for His protection of President Donald Trump. The Secret Service did their job, along with law enforcement, and we are appreciative. But we know the hand of God was at work in this and his angels supernaturally protected Donald Trump. This is a time for Christians everywhere to pray for former President Trump and for his family as well. This is also a time to pray for our nation because we are living in perilous times. May God be glorified in this tragedy and triumph against all enemies of darkness. At a time like this we are not Democrats or Republicans. We are Americans praying against the evil works of darkness,” said the Rev. Jack Graham in a statement.