US President and First Lady issue Lenten message for Catholics and other Christians
The Catholic Herald• March 6, 2025
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump issued a greeting to Catholics and other Christians for Ash Wednesday and the start of the Lenten period this year.
“This Ash Wednesday, we join in prayer with the tens of millions of American Catholics and other Christians beginning the holy season of Lent – a time of spiritual anticipation of the passion, death and Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,” the joint message issued on March 5 stated on the White House website.
The statement described how “during the Lenten season, Christians spend 40 days and 40 nights praying, fasting and giving alms to deepen our faith and strengthen our belief in the Gospel”.
It then explained how on Ash Wednesday “followers of Christ wear crosses of ash on their foreheads – a sacred reminder of our mortality and our enduring need for Christ’s infinite mercy and redeeming love”.
The message continued: “As we solemnly contemplate Jesus Christ’s suffering and death on the cross this Lent, let us prepare our souls for the coming glory of the Easter miracle.”
A Catholic Mass was also celebrated for staff at the White House in observance of Ash Wednesday, reports the Catholic News Agency (CNA).
An email from the White House Management Office informed staff that the Mass would take place in the Indian Treaty Room, located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, at 8:30 a.m. on March 5. “Staff who observe are welcome to attend,” the email stated.
US First Lady Melania Trump arrives for US President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the US Capitol, Washington, DC, USA, 4 March 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images.)
First Lady Melania Trump, who grew up in Slovenia when it was part of Yugoslavia, in eastern Europe, is reported to be a practicing Catholic. During a 2017 visit with her husband to meet Pope Francis, she adhered to Vatican protocol by wearing a mantilla during her visit to the Vatican.
During Donald Trump’s re-election bid in 2024, he energetically campaigned and pushed for the Catholic vote in the US, which may well have given him the edge in his ultimate victory.
Before Pope Francis was hospitalised on Feb. 14, there was much talk about how the new Trump administration and Francis’s papacy might clash or cooperate or do both, given their history or disagreeing and agreeing on various policies such as immigration, transgender ideology and abortion.
While the Pope’s ongoing hospitalisation means that such questions remain on hold, for now it can be said that this year has seen both a pope and US president issuing out Lenten messages – a combination that is far from assured in the secular era of modern politics.
The Lenten message from the US President and First Lady concluded: “We offer you our best wishes for a prayerful and enriching Lenten season. May Almighty God bless you, and may He continue to bless the United States of America.”
RELATED: Pope Francis’s message for ‘our Lenten journey’ released
Photo: US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visit the Saint John Paul II National Shrine to lay a ceremonial wreath and observe a moment of remembrance under the statue of Saint John Paul II in Washington, DC, 2 June 2020. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images.)