The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, who called on Trump to ‘have mercy,’ to step down in 2028

The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington who drew the attention of the nation when she called on President Donald Trump to “have mercy” on the country’s immigrants and LGBTQ+ children, says she will step down in 2028.

Budde’s time as the spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington will end with the consecration and ordination of the new bishop in June 2028, according to her Oct. 1 resignation letter.

“I write today because I have discerned, in consultation with diocesan leadership and the Presiding Bishop’s office, that it is time to begin preparing for the election of your next bishop,” Budde wrote. “I have not come to this decision lightly or alone, and it will not be easy to say goodbye to the diocese I love.”

At a January 2025 prayer service marking Trump’s second inauguration, Budde called on the president — who was in attendance — to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” before specifically mentioning LGBTQ+ children and immigrants.

Her remarks at the Washington National Cathedral service drew harsh condemnation from Trump, who decried Budde as a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” and demanded that she apologize.

“She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” Trump wrote on social media, adding: “Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!”

In his second term, Trump has implemented a sweeping mass deportation agenda and issued several executive orders instituting restrictions on transgender people.

Budde, who in 2011 became the first woman to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, will remain in her position throughout the lengthy election process of her successor before returning to her home state of Minnesota, she told Religion News Service.

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