DONALD Trump toured a Catholic shrine in his second straight religious-themed appearance as the US grappled with continuing widespread unrest over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Despite many saying he was misusing religious symbols for partisan purposes, the White House claimed the president and first lady Melania Trump were observing a “moment of remembrance”, laying a wreath at Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington DC.
The visit came a day after Trump declared himself the “president of law and order” and then walked to St John’s Episcopal Church across from the White House after Lafayette Park was forcibly cleared of protesters.
He held up a Bible for photos in front of the church, leading to outrage from religious leaders.
The Right Rev Mariann Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington, said: “The president just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus.”
Washington Archbishop Wilton D Gregory said he was “baffled” by Trump’s visit to the shrine and called it “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”.
Gregory said the late pope was an “ardent defender” of human rights, adding: “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.”
On yesterday’s drive to the shrine, Trump’s motorcade sped past onlookers, some of whom booed and held “Black Lives Matter” signs.
On Monday evening, he had appeared in the White House Rose Garden and threatened to deploy the military across the country in response to unrest sparked by Floyd’s death.
Trump made the declaration to the sound of tear gas clearing
largely peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park.
He offered little recognition of the anger coursing through the country as he demanded a harsher crackdown on the action that has erupted.
Floyd died after a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, pinned him down and pressed his neck with his knee as the man pleaded that he could not breathe.
It was widely reported on Monday night that Floyd’s death was confirmed as homicide in a post-mortem examination, which listed the cause of death as “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression”.
Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the Floyd family, said: “The ambulance was his hearse.”
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