Floyd, a Black man, died May 25, 2020, after a Minneapolis police officer crushed his neck for 8 minutes, 46 seconds.

When asked who disputed it Deborah DelPrince said, "The tape". Read more

The 75-year-old Gugino, who ended up in intensive care after he fractured his skull and suffered a brain injury, won't discuss his condition, other than to say that he tires easily.

"The lawyers don't want me to talk about my health because they don't want the judge to say we've been trying this case in the court of public opinion," Gugino said in a phone call with RNS. Read more

They called for new legislation to address racial inequities in the country.

And they urged people to vote.

Among the speakers Friday was a son of Martin Luther King Jr and Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, whose killing in 2012 led to the Black Lives Matter movement.

He urged participants — who watched on television, online and in-person — to continue the work of the 1960s with what his father called the "coalition of conscience" by seeking a country that seeks love and health and dispels fear and hate.

"To achieve that America, we need to raise our voices and cast our votes," King said. "There's a knee upon the neck of democracy and our nation can only live so long without the oxygen of freedom."

The Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, and other speakers echoed some of the same themes enunciated by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his "I Have a Dream" speech at the first march in 1963.

"We come in the same spiritual lineage," said Sharpton, organizer of the Commitment March, after members of King's family addressed the crowd. "'cause I want this country to know that even with your brutality you can't rob us of our dreams."

Sharpton announced the event — also called the "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" march — as he preached at the funeral for George Floyd, a Black man who died in May under the knee of a white police officer.

Standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial before thousands, Sharpton said that Black people have long fought bigotry. But he noted that members of the interracial crowd that gathered in the same spot where others marched in 1963 have the power to move beyond their circumstances.

"We are the dream keepers, which is why we come today — black and white and all races and religions and sexual orientations — to say that this dream is still alive. You might have killed the dreamer but you can't kill the dream."

Before the throngs of people started marching to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the granddaughter and a son of the famous civil rights leader took turns at the microphone to speak where their predecessor had appeared 57 years before.

"Americans are marching together — many for the first time — and we're demanding real, lasting structural change," said Martin Luther King III.

"We are socially distanced but spiritually united. We are masking our faces but not our faith in freedom."

"There are two systems of justice in the United States," said the father and namesake of Jacob Blake, the man who was shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday.

"There's a white system and there's a Black system. The Black system ain't doing so well. But we're going to stand up."

Sybrina Fulton, also addressed the crowd saying her favourite Bible passage is Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not unto your own understanding."

"Even though it looks dark, I want to tell you to be encouraged," she said.

"Don't stop saying Black Lives Matter. Don't stop peaceful protesting. Don't stop praying. Don't stop unifying. Stand together," she said.

Source RNS

The police, from India's southern Tamil State, allegedly tortured and killed two Christian men in custody last month.

A post-mortem report and an investigation helped the court order the arrest of the accused police officers on murder charges.

Church officials and rights groups have welcomed the state high court's decision that resulted in the arrests.

"The high court has done a commendable job and now we can hope the victims' family will get justice," said Bishop Stephan Antony Pillai of Tuticorin.

The victims, a father and son, died in a government hospital.

The son died on June 22 and his father the next day. They belonged to the Protestant Church of South India.

The father was arrested for not closing his son's mobile phone shop in time in line with Covid-19 restrictions.

His son, who went to the police station to enquire about his father, was also arrested.

A national uproar followed the news of the two Christians' torture and murder, with people comparing their deaths to George Floyd's murder by US police.

Human rights group protests have intensified across Tamil Nadu, with people saying the state government was trying to hush up the murders.

The government's attitude led to the state's high court ordering a probe by a judicial magistrate.

The probe confirmed police brutality led to the deaths. The court also found the police officials did not cooperate with the probe and even attempted to threaten the magistrate.

In a rare move, the court directed the district's top administrative officer to take control of the police station. This was "to protect the evidence" against the accused officers.

However, the state government has asked for the court's permission to entrust the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, a federal agency. The court has left it "to the wisdom" of the government to decide this.

Church leaders and rights activists oppose the move. In their opinion, the federal agency can start work only after gaining permission through a time-consuming process. In the meantime, the four accused will have time to erase the evidence and escape.

"Since the high court is monitoring the probe, there seems to be no need for any other agency to probe," Bishop Pillai said.

"Any delay to the probe can damage the prospects of the victims getting justice."

Source

• UCA News
• Image: Sabrang India

He labelled people who failed to see it as a critique of racist attitudes rather than an endorsement of them as "stupid."

"One of the things I've learned in the last 180 years is that people have very different senses of humour," the writer, actor and founding member of Monty Python said from his home in Los Angeles.

"Some of them understand that if you put nonsense words into the mouth of someone you want to make fun of you're not broadcasting their views, you're making fun of them."

On its official Twitter account, UKTV said it had "temporarily" removed the final episode of the first season of the short-run but legendary sitcom because it contains "racial slurs."

The streamer said the episode was under "review" adding "we want to take our time to consider our options for this episode."

Though no further explanation has been given, it is believed the offending scene is one in which the Major (Ballard Berkeley) uses the N-word three times while regaling hotel manager Basil Fawlty (Cleese) with a story about taking a woman to see a Test match featuring India.

"The Major was an old fossil leftover from decades before. We were not supporting his views, we were making fun of them," said Cleese, who knew nothing of the BBC's move until this masthead contacted him.

"If they can't see that, if people are too stupid to see that, what can one say?"

"Fawlty Towers has given a large number of people a great deal of happiness, why would you want to stop that," he added.

"It reminds me of the definition of a Scottish Presbyterian as someone who has a nasty, sneaking feeling that someone, somewhere, is having a good time."

Cleese was critical of BBC management for bowing to pressure to purge its catalogue of "problematic" material in the wake of global Black Lives Matter protests without assessing that material on a more nuanced basis.

"A lot of the people in charge now at the BBC just want to hang onto their jobs," he said.

"If a few people get excited they pacify them rather than standing their ground as they would have done 30 or 40 years ago."

He also questioned the wisdom of trying to make past cultural artefacts - Fawlty Towers was first broadcast in 1975 - conform to contemporary moral standards.

"Sir Isaac Newton had shares in the South Sea Company, which indulged in many different types of trading, and some of it, disgracefully, was slavery," Cleese said.

"So are we going to get rid of Newton's optics on the grounds that it's not really sound any more because he held shares in a company that dealt in slaves?"

"The Greeks in 500 BC felt that culture, or any kind of real civilisation, was only possible because of slavery - does that mean we should take down all the statues of Socrates?"

"Do you say we shouldn't be looking at Caravaggio's paintings because he once murdered someone?"

Despite taking issues with moves to cull offending items, Cleese expressed his support for the aims of the Black Lives Matter protest movement. Continue reading

On June 1, President Donald Trump infamously had the street in front of the White House cleared of protesters so he could use St. John's Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square as a photo backdrop.

Not only were peaceful demonstrators tear-gassed, clergy were chased away from the church, which was turned into a political prop without the permission of its pastor or bishop.

The crassness of this photo-op was transparent to all but the president, who is used to being blessed by obsequious clerics in the Oval Office.

If this were done in China, it would be denounced by the U.S. State Department as a violation of human rights and religious freedom.

Meanwhile, many of the demonstrators who had been pushed aside were responding to the prophetic call of their religious leaders.

Racism was denounced as a sin, and police violence condemned as an assault on the life and human dignity of God's children.

This prophetic voice was heard especially from black clergy, but white clergy and white believers also responded to the call.

Religion can be a political prop or a prophetic voice. History should teach religious leaders not to get in bed with political leaders.

Religion and politics have been locked in a relationship since the dawn of humanity.

Sometimes that relationship is healthy and sometimes it's exploitative.

Working together in a positive way, the two forces have created community and fostered the common good.

With the blessing of the gods, political leaders could rule without brute force. With the help of political leaders, great temples and works of art were created that enriched the religious and cultural life of the community.

Conflict between religious and political leaders could also be healthy.

Before there were elections, independent courts and the rule of law, religion often provided the only check on political power. There was a higher law than the law of the king, and the prophet could challenge the despot with the voice of God.

On the other hand, rulers sometimes became the only ones powerful enough to reform religious institutions that had become corrupt.

Over the course of history, prophets and reformers have only succeeded when the people supported them.

But when religion and politics were in an incestuous relationship, religion turned rulers into gods and political leaders corrupted religious leaders with wealth and gave them power to impose religious beliefs on unbelievers.

Temples and churches became not houses of God but monuments to clerical power and privilege.

The history of the United States has seen these themes play out. Political and religious leaders supported slavery and racism in an incestuous relationship where religious institutions even owned slaves.

On U.S. soil, religion too often became part of the establishment and turned against new immigrants, whether Catholic or Muslim, Irish or Chinese.

Too often religion stood on the side of the status quo against workers, blacks, women, gays and social reformers.

It too frequently used its political influence to protect criminal clergy and hush up scandals. It tried to impose its views about human behaviour long after it had lost the support of the public.

But religion in America also had a prophetic voice, whether it was Catholic clergy defending Irish immigrants against the WASP establishment or black clergy leading the civil rights movement against racism.

Today, there are prophetic voices on almost every issue, sometimes on both sides. There are pro-life prophets and feminist prophets. How can we judge true prophets from false prophets?

Here are four ways to test a prophet:

• Follow the money. No prophet in the Scriptures was ever rich. "What did you go out to the desert to see?" asks Jesus about John the Baptist in Luke's Gospel. "Someone dressed in fine garments? Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously are found in royal palaces." A true prophet does not get rich speaking for God.
• Who are the prophet's friends? A true prophet is friends with the poor and the powerless. A false prophet keeps company with the rich and powerful. Jesus was criticized for keeping company with tax collectors and sinners. "Put no trust in princes," says the psalmist in Psalm 146. Prophets should not get in bed with politicians.
• For whom does the prophet speak? The job of the prophet is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. False prophets tell their congregations what they want to hear. We can see some clergy fawning over political leaders as others challenge them to protect the marginalized and serve the common good. A prophet who ignores the sins of his friends is a prophet for a party, not for God.
• How does he speak? The words of a prophet can ring with righteous anger but not with hate. The prophet must condemn exploitation but have compassion for sinners. If there is no love in the prophet's voice, then he does not speak with the voice of God. A true prophet speaks only after listening and praying.

Religion can be a political prop or a prophetic voice.

History should teach religious leaders not to get in bed with political leaders.

Religious and political leaders can work together for the common good, but they should be enriching the community, not each other.

A prophet can speak courageously about issues, but when he starts endorsing political parties and candidates, he is no longer speaking for God.

• Thomas Reese SJ is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, and a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America. First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

He said the sin exists among those who say they fight for all human life - yet it doesn't fit with the belief system that defends human life at all stages.

"We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life," Francis said.

"Today, I join ... in praying for the repose of the soul of George Floyd and of all those others who have lost their lives as a result of the sin of racism."

Generally, Floyd's murder and the subsequent global protests denouncing racism and police brutality might have drawn a muted diplomatic response from the Vatican. But this is a U.S. election year.

The intensity and consistency of the Vatican's reaction suggests that, from the pope on down, the Vatican is seeking to encourage anti-racism protesters, say a number of commentators.

At the same time, the Vatican is making a clear statement about where American Catholics should stand ahead of President Donald Trump's bid for a second term this November.

As an example, Francis rang to praise Texan Bishop Mark Seitz who took the knee at an anti-racism protest last week.

"That's what our Catholic Christian faith is all about: It's about the fact that God has loved humanity enough — not just one group... that he chose to become one of us," Seitz said.

"When it comes to racism, clearly this is a sin that causes division, and it is against the will of God."

Anthea Butler of Yale Divinity School said Francis "wants to send a very clear message to these conservative Catholics here who are pro-Trumpers that, ‘Listen, this is just as much of an issue as abortion is'".

In another sign of his push for unity among Catholics in America, Francis quoted the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) calls for nonviolent protests.

Archbishop José Gomez, who is the USCCB president had both condemned Floyd's "senseless and brutal" death and said the violence that occurred in the first days of protests was not the right way to address it.

"The violence of recent nights is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost," Gomez's said. Francis echoed these words.

The pope's comments on protests against police violence and racism in America occurred as Trump's support among Catholic Americans is slipping.

A Pew Research poll conducted in late April and early May shows Trump's support among white Catholics was on the decline because of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

A poll published by the Public Religion Research Institute last week also showed Catholic support further declined in the days following Floyd's death.

Source

• Newsweek
• AP News
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Interfaith leaders gathered on the steps of St Paul's Anglican Cathedral in Wellington to hold their Bibles and other sacred texts for a photo opportunity.

But this was a photo of a very different kind to the one in which Trump held up a Bible on the steps of an Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.

The US President had stood in front of Washington's St John's Episcopal Church clutching an upside-down copy of the Bible amongst a backdrop of anger over the death of black man George Floyd at the hands of a police officer.

World media has widely reported the angry response to Trump's photo, which came after law enforcement teams used violent tactics against peaceful protesters in order to clear the way for the President to walk to the church.

In response, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, the Very Rev. David Rowe, felt it was time to re-imagine Trump's photo through the lenses of peace, love and solidarity.

He invited interfaith and cultural leaders to stand on the steps of the Cathedral, holding their sacred texts, to model a more positive alternative.

Members of the Sikh, Muslim, Baha'i, Jewish, Protestant and Catholic communities were among those in attendance.

Some members of the group held signs saying Love your neighbour, and Aroha ki tou hoa tata.

"We wanted to just say ‘there is another way, a peaceful way,' and to express our unity and working together for the common good," Rowe said.

Source

• movementonline.org.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

As I reflect on the heartbreaking deadly scene of a Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee into George Floyd's neck for nearly nine extremely long minutes, and recall my harrowing encounter, I have a small, gut-wrenching sense of the fright Floyd must have felt when he cried out "I can't breathe!"

As reported by Democracy Now, friends of Floyd said that he was a mentor to young African American men in Houston where he grew up. He preached "peace, love, God, unity, advocating against gun violence" said Corey Paul, a Houston hip-hop artist who ministered with Floyd.

On Pentecost Sunday, I participated with about 150 black, white, young and elderly people in two peaceful protests in Dorchester County, Md. - where the famous Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman was born and enslaved.

While most of the other protests throughout the U.S. and world were also peaceful, several were violent - tragically causing more innocent deaths and many small businesses being destroyed.

Violence, in all its many evil forms - including riots - is always harmful and hurtful. Violence is never the answer!
Pope Francis said "The violence of recent nights is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and much is lost."

But in order to end violence, we must seriously probe its root-causes. And to that end the Holy Father also said, "My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life."

In his article "The Psychology of Rioting: The Language of the Unheard" at Psychology Today, Dr. Joe Pierre, M.D. writes, "Denouncing symptoms of disease without treating the root cause is bad medicine. … The root cause in this case is systemic racism."

From 1619, when kidnapped Africans were brought for the first time to what would later become the U.S., to the brutal death of George Floyd, it is beyond dispute that countless African Americans have been, and still are, the victims of systemic racism.

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who consistently preached and lived Gospel nonviolence, said in his 1967 "The Other America" speech "I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. I'm still convinced that nonviolence is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and justice."

"It is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots. I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air."

But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard."

"America has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility, and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity … Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention."

Please also watch "Race Matters: America in Crisis."

And kindly consider prayerfully reading the 2018 U.S. Catholic bishops' pastoral letter against racism "Open Wide Our Hearts: the enduring call to love".

Beginning their letter the bishops quote from Scripture's First Letter of John, "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are."

Loving Father, open wide our hearts that we may truly know and live this truth!

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

The gesture has spread. Lately, even police officers showing solidarity have knelt before those protesting the May 25 killing of George Floyd, who died after being filmed pinned to the ground with a knee to his neck, constrained by a police officer.

On 1 June Bishop Mark Seitz from El Paso joined with the gesture, 'taking a knee' during a rally. He was the first Catholic bishop to do so.

Holding a sign that read "Black Lives Matter", he led a silent prayer for eight minutes and 46 seconds - the length of time police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on George Floyd's neck.

Seitz says he was nervous about making the gesture.

"It's difficult to know what a bishop should do. But I've had some excellent advisers — people and priests. I tried to listen to them, listened to my heart."

"Sometimes, you just have to take the leap into the unknown."

Seitz's action was rewarded last Wednesday, when he received an unexpected phone call.

It was the Pope's secretary, who said the Holy Father was on the line.

Francis congratulated him for speaking out, Seitz said.

Francios also said he had called Archbishop Jose Gomez, the president of the U.S. bishops' conference, to convey support and solidarity during the civil unrest.

"I told him I felt it was very important at this time to show our solidarity to those who are suffering," Seitz says.

"I told him I had just come from Mass at which I was praying for him and I always do. He thanked me and said that whenever we celebrate Mass, we are praying together, he where he is and me at the border."

Seitz says the phone call shows Francis "is aware of what's happening...and is anxious for the church to be responsive in a pastoral way ... in solidarity with those who have experienced racial discrimination."

After the call, Seitz wrote an essay reaffirming his commitment to racial justice.

"Frankly, civil rights are not enough. That's the minimum and clearly, we're not there yet," he wrote.

He also reflected of an image he saw on video of "a young white woman at a protest near the White House who put her body in front of a young kneeling black teenager as police officers in riot gear approached."

"As Jesus said, ‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."

"It's a scene of solidarity and self-giving that has played out across the country so many times in the last week.

"Here in El Paso there were two young police officers who knelt down ... during our protest and it helped diffuse some tension. There is something profoundly eucharistic about that and I'm so inspired by our young people. They are teaching us something."

Source

• Catholic News Service
• Insider
• Image: KVIA

In stark contrast to today, Robert Kennedy, a Democratic presidential candidate, gave the following speech in Indianapolis.

Kennedy's speech perhaps offers a lesson in leadership and reminds the United States, but also the world there are different ways to lead.

Robert Kennedy's speech

"I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.

"Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.

"In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.

"For those of you who are black—considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible—you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

"We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization—black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

"Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.

"For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling.

"I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

"But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

"My favourite poet was Aeschylus.

"He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

"What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness, but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.

"So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly, to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love—a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

"We can do well in this country.

"We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

"But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land.

"Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

"Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people."

The Church in the Modern World

That the world, but particularly the United States still needs to address the issues of race, power, pain, privilege and violence remains a scandal.

A little more than 50 years ago, Pope Paul VI promulgated Gaudium et Spes, the "Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World".

"The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men and women of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.

"Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.

"For theirs is a community composed of men and women.

"United in Christ, they are led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the Kingdom of their Father and they have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for every man and woman.

"That is why this community realises that it is truly linked with humanity and its history by the deepest of bonds." (Paragraph 1.)

Sources

• Gaudium et Spes
• The History Place

Gregory said arranging for Trump to visit the shrine was "baffling and reprehensible." He is outraged at what he called a politicised photo opportunity.

Protesters from a number of Catholic social advocacy groups greeted Trump as he arrived at the shrine.

Cardinal Blase Cupich defended the protesters, saying "if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. What did we expect when we learned ... the price of a black life is a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill?"

During the past week the US has devolved into widespread unrest after police killed an unarmed black man, George Floyd.

A police officer involved in the killing has been sacked and arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter.

Gregory says he is outraged 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.

"Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings," said Gregory, who is Washington's first African American archbishop.

"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."

Gregory called out the sin of racism while encouraging nonviolent protests as a means of resistance.

"We, as a society, must find ways to understand and to respond to the pain of our brothers and sisters. We see racism destroying the lives of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian people ... [it] triggers the divisive and xenophobic attitudes of nationalism."

"We must non-violently and constructively work together to heal and build the ‘Beloved Community' ..." he added.

A statement from the Shrine (which is a Knights of Columbus initiative) defended Trump's visit saying he had originally intended to sign an executive order on religious liberty while he was there.

"This was fitting given Saint John Paul II was a tireless advocate for religious liberty throughout his pontificate."

"International religious freedom receives widespread bipartisan support, including unanimous passage of legislation in defense of persecuted Christians and religious minorities around the world."

Trump's visit to the shrine came less than twenty-four hours after police used tear gas to dislodge protesters so Trump could visit St. John's Episcopal Church across from the White House.

St. John's rector, Rev. Gini Gerbasi, said on Facebook that she was shaken by the show of force for a photo opportunity.

"The patio of St. John's... had been holy ground today ... But that man turned it into a battleground first and a cheap political stunt second."

After police removed the St John's protesters, Trump posed in front of St John's church holding a Bible.

Source

• Archdiocese of Chicago
• Crux Now
• The Oregonian\
• Image: CNN