Donald Trump has hit out at the bishop of Washington after she lectured him on respecting immigrants and LGBT+ citizens during a televised church service.

The president remained straight-faced alongside his vice president JD Vance as bishop Mariann Edgar Budde addressed him at Tuesday’s interfaith prayer service at Washington National Cathedral, telling him to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now”.

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The direct appeal to Mr Trump, which went on for around two minutes, has gone viral on social media and drawn criticism from Republicans, including a congressman who urged the president to deport the bishop.

But what exactly did Bishop Budde say and what has the president’s response been?

What did Bishop Budde say?

She began: “Let me make one final plea, Mr President. Millions have put their trust in you.

“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.

“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in democratic, republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives.”

The bishop then highlighted the contributions of asylum seekers – a group Mr Trump has wasted no time in cracking down on.

She listed groups including “the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings” and those “who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals”.

“They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” she said. Mr Trump then looked down at the floor.

She continued: “I ask you to have mercy, Mr President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.

“And that you help those who are fleeing war and persecution in their own lands, to find compassion and welcome here.

“Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.”

Her comments came after Mr Trump promised to carry out the biggest deportation in US history and his executive order stating the government will recognise only two sexes.

How did Donald Trump and other Republicans react?

The president remained stony-faced during the remarks, during which he sat alongside wife Melania in the front row, and next to Mr Vance and his wife Usha Vance.

He did at one point turn away and look over his shoulder before examining the booklet he was holding.

At another point in the sermon, Mr Trump turned towards his VP and the pair shared a wordless exchange of looks.

Mr Vance raised his eyebrows at one stage and turned to share a look with his wife, whose gaze remained firmly forward.

He repeated the move after the bishop spoke about immigrants, and followed it up by whispering to Mrs Vance.

When Bishop Budde finished her sermon, Mr Trump leaned over to say something to Mr Vance, who shook his head in response.

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Asked what he thought of the sermon as he returned to the Oval Office, the president told reporters: “They could have done better.”

In a late-night post on his social media platform Truth Social, he called Bishop Budde a “radical left hardline Trump hater” and said she was “nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart”.

“She brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way,” he said.

“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.”

Republican congressman Mike Collins shared a video of the sermon on X and wrote: “The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.”

Who is Mariann Edgar Budde?

She was elected as the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington (EDW) in 2011, having served as rector of St John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis for 18 years.

She has had her sermons published in several books and journals, and has authored three of her own books about faith – most recently in 2023.

She has also been openly critical of Mr Trump before, having written an opinion piece for The New York Times in 2020, in which she condemned him for clearing Lafayette Square, near the White House, amid the George Floyd protests and then posing for photos on the grounds of nearby St John’s Church while holding a Bible.

She said she was “outraged” by the move and claimed he was using the Bible and the backdrop of the church, which belongs to her diocese, “for his political purposes”.

The EDW’s website describes her as “an advocate and organiser in support of justice concerns, including racial equity, gun violence prevention, immigration reform, the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, and the care of creation”.

The bishop is married and has two children and grandchildren, the website adds.

A two-year-old boy and 41-year-old man have been killed while two others were injured in a stabbing incident in the southern German state of Bavaria.

A man, described by police as a 28-year-old Afghan national, has been arrested following the knife attack in a park in Aschaffenburg on Wednesday.

Police said the two seriously injured people were receiving hospital treatment and that a cordon remained in place in the area around the scene.

Officers have said the motive for the attack is currently unclear.

The suspect, who had followed a day care group of five small children, was detained at the scene in Schoental park, an English-style garden in the Bavarian city, where the attack occurred at around 11.45am local time.

Train services in the town were temporarily interrupted as the suspect tried to flee along the tracks, German news agency dpa reported.

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However, he was quickly detained, police said.

A witness is being questioned, police added. They said there was no indication of further suspects and no danger to the public.

Police said they did not know the nationality of the two people who were killed and they did not release any details about those injured.

Germany has been hit by a string of violent attacks, including a car ramming into a crowd at a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg in December, killing six people and injuring about 200.

South Korea will remove concrete barriers used at airports across the country after a plane crash in December that claimed the lives of 179 people.

While investigators are still probing South Korea’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster at Muan International Airport, experts have said the massive berm supporting navigation antennas at the end of the runway likely made the crash more deadly than it might have been otherwise.

Only two crew members seated near the rear of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft survived the crash at Muan, about 180 miles south of Seoul, on 29 December.

At the time, a special disaster zone was declared as video emerged of the aircraft, which may have malfunctioned because of bird strikes, attempting to crash-land.

On its second attempt, the Jeju Air plane, which had been flying from Bangkok, Thailand, veered off the runway and crashed into a wall, quickly becoming engulfed in smoke and fire.

It did not have its landing gear deployed and was travelling at speed before crashing, footage appears to show.

Following a review of antenna structures known as Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), or a “localiser”, authorities have now said they will make new foundations or other adjustments for similar antennas at seven airports, including Muan, that are either below ground level or easy to break.

“Muan International Airport plans to completely remove the existing concrete and reinstall the localiser in a fragile structure,” the transport ministry said in a statement.

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It comes after the ministry said on Saturday the airport will remain shut till 18 April.

Among other steps being taken following the disaster, the transport ministry said it will ensure a 240-metre (787-ft) long runway safety area at all airports to meet all relevant regulations.

The area at Muan airport was about 200 metres long before the crash.

Police said separately that Son Chang-wan, the former president of the state-run Korea Airports Corporation who was in office when the structure at Muan airport was renovated, was found dead in his home yesterday of an apparent suicide.

Mr Son was not under investigation over the plane crash and had not been summoned for questioning over it, a police official said.