A Catholic priest who gave the benediction at former President Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday reportedly prayed for his safety–and urged Americans at the rally to do so too–just moments before the attempted assassination.
Father Jason Charron, a Ukranian Catholic pastor, had given a benediction prior to the former president’s rally on Saturday. As he was trying to leave, a group of 15 to 20 people reportedly called him over to a barricade within the rally asking that he pray.
“I said to them: I prayed for him and his safety, but that they have to pray, as well, because there are people who want to kill him,” Charron told the Catholic News Agency (CNA). “And little did I think — literally a few minutes later there was this kind of indistinct sound, and people began leaving, and at that point I heard someone saying that that was a gunshot.”
Charron said he briefly spoke with the former president before the rally. The campaign had contacted him a few days prior to give a benediction.
“I spoke with him regarding the situation in Ukraine and shook his hand. It wasn’t a very in-depth conversation,” Charron said.
Charron told Pints with Aquinas that he prayed a prayer of protection for the former president.
“My prayer was one of protection. My prayer there was for the restoration of right relationships in our society — relationships at the individual level, at the familial level, at the societal level, such that our nation would be made great again in God’s sight. And our nation be made great again, I said, that our world be made great again, in God’s sight,” Charron said.
“All of this presupposes that people, first of all, begin to live their daily lives in accordance with God’s will,” he added.
While Charron said he has disagreements with the former president, he still wanted to be at the rally.
“If people are going to wonder why I was at a Trump rally, it wasn’t to canonize him or absolve him from his many imperfections,” Charron told CNA.
“His recent shyness on championing pro-life legislation is undesirable, and it’s not for that that I’m there, but to encourage him to build on the pro-life victories of his first administration,” he said.
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