A Catholic man in Washington, D.C., marked the “first time” he left Mass on Sunday, citing the priest’s political homily.
This homily allegedly centered on the testy exchange between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House. As Zelensky offered criticism to Trump and Vice President JD Vance amid the presence of the press, Trump warned Zelensky that he was “playing with World War III.”
“First time I left a Mass in my life. Priest in Georgetown, DC, delivering his homily and proceeds to use today’s Gospel of Satan’s temptation of Christ in the desert to Trump and Vance’s ‘taunting’ of Zelensky in the Oval Office. He delivers direct quotes from Trump. The comparison to Satan was not remotely veiled,” Declan Ganley wrote on X Sunday.
The Washington Examiner reached the Archdiocese of Washington for comment.
Sunday’s gospel was meant to center on Luke 4:1-13, a passage detailing the story of Jesus Christ’s 40-day fast. Catholics celebrate this story by simulating a similar fast called Lent, which began last week.
“Honestly, I’m fine with leftie Jesuits. They are necessary, and they have a charism but raw nasty partisan political speeches from the Altar that compare the President of the United States to Satan? Beyond the Pale, not going to bring people closer to salvation,” Ganley wrote in a post that was viewed over 1 million times.
Ganley eventually found Our Lady of Victory on McArthur Boulevard to attend instead. He did not name the first priest or the church involved in his complaint.
This comes after Pope Francis named Cardinal Robert McElroy the archbishop of Washington on Jan. 6. This was also days before Trump’s inauguration. McElroy, 70, was the outspoken bishop from San Diego who has criticized Trump’s deportation plans since his first term.
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McElroy is a native of San Francisco and succeeded Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone in 2022. This was after Salvatore recommended that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) not receive communion over her stance on abortion. Meanwhile, McElroy rolled back the stance.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., since 2019, retired. Gregory, 77, did not refuse Pelosi nor then-President Joe Biden communion over their policies. He was also the first black leader of the Catholic Church in Washington and the first-ever black U.S. cardinal.
