- President Donald Trump hosted an Easter prayer service at the White House, where he spoke about his administration's commitment to defending Christian faith.
- During the event, Trump recognized several notable attendees, including Alveda King, evangelical pastors and Patty Morin, whose daughter was killed.
- Vice President JD Vance attended Good Friday Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica while on an official visit to Italy, where he also met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump hosted an Easter prayer service and dinner at the White House, following his and first lady Melania Trump’s Holy Week message last Sunday.
That message stated, “This Holy Week, my Administration renews its promise to defend the Christian faith in our schools, military, workplaces, hospitals, and halls of government. We will never waver in safeguarding the right to religious liberty, upholding the dignity of life and protecting God in our public square.”
Attendees included the niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Alveda King; evangelical pastors and reverends, Jentezen Franklin, Greg Laurie and Franklin Graham; Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress; and Patty Morin, who spoke at a White House press briefing on Wednesday about the murder of her daughter Rachel.
Trump also gave attendees an upstairs tour of the White House, showing some of the family quarters and the Lincoln Bedroom, as Laurie posted on Instagram.
The Marine Corps Band and Christian singer Charles Billingsley provided music for the event.
Trump points out several notable guests
Following remarks by Franklin Graham, the president of an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization — Samaritan’s Purse — Trump spoke, thanking attendees for their “tremendous support.”
“Everybody in this room is a very special friend,” Trump said. He added he was very proud, “being here with you in the middle of Holy Week as we remember two of the most monumental events in all of history: the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Trump then introduced several dinner attendees to the rest of the room.
“Angel mom who’s been through hell, Patty Morin,” Trump said. The president asked Morin to stand. “Her daughter is looking down on Patty today,” he said. “This is some day for you, and we appreciate it, Patty. We’re all with you, 100%, and you are indeed an angel mom.”
Morin spoke at the White House press briefing earlier on Wednesday, where she spoke about her daughter’s murder in August 2023. On Monday, Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was found guilty of killing Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, while she was exercising on a hiking trail outside of Baltimore, Maryland.
‘Jesus defeated darkness’: Trump’s Holy Week speech
“Nearly 2,000 years ago during this sacred week, the living Son of God entered Jerusalem in triumph. Soon after, the Savior of mankind, who brought truth and light into the world was betrayed, arrested and tried, beaten and nailed to a cross and crucified,” Trump began. “For our sake, He gave up his life.”
Trump then quoted attendee Franklin Graham’s father, Billy, a Southern Baptist minister, who said, “God proved his love on the cross when Christ hung and bled and died. It was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’”
“Those are beautiful words from a great man,” Trump said, adding that his father and Billy were friends.
Trump continued, “Three days later, Christ’s followers found the empty tomb. Jesus had defeated darkness and death and promised new life to all of human kind, and that’s what we celebrate each year, as we proclaim on Sunday, He is risen.”
Trump references religiously inspired policy moves
The president spoke about the creation of the White House Faith Office and a new Department of Justice task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias,” in addition to other policies he considers faith-based.
“We’re stopping the radical indoctrination in our schools and supporting school choice,” Trump said, explaining he would do so by moving power from the Education Department to the states “where they belong.”
He also mentioned his executive orders to ban biological men from women’s sports and make it the official policy of the U.S. that “God created two genders: male and female.”
“As we gather with family and friends, we will not forget the true source of our joy and our strength,” Trump said. “America has put our trust in God. It will always be in God we trust.”
Meanwhile, JD Vance attends Good Friday Mass in Vatican City
Vice President JD Vance traveled to Italy for official duties on Friday, meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. During his visit, Vance was also able to attend Good Friday Mass at Saint Peter’s Basilica with his family.
“I’m grateful every day for this job, but particularly today where my official duties have brought me to Rome on Good Friday,” Vance wrote on X on Friday morning.
Vance added that he’d had “a great meeting with Prime Minister Meloni and her team” and wished “all Christians all over the world, but particularly those back home in the US, a blessed Good Friday. He died so that we might live.”
Vance was baptized into the Catholic Church in 2019, when he was 35.
At the Chigi Palace, the official place of residence for Italian prime ministers, Meloni told reporters that after their “wonderful meeting we had yesterday in Washington,” she is “proud” that Vance chose to spend Easter in Rome.
“We think Italy can be a reliable and and serious partner in Europe, in the Mediterranean, in the Mediterranean area, and so we are proud to have this special relation with with us and with this administration,” she said.