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CHURCH leaders have joined in the condemnation the assassination attempt of the US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who was shot at during an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
The bullet clipped his ear, but he was otherwise unharmed. A spectator was killed in the attack. He has been named as Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old volunteer fire chief who it is reported died trying to protect his family. Two other people were seriously injured.
The gunman, who was immediately shot dead by the Secret Service, has been named as Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Mr Trump told US media on Monday: “The most incredible thing was that I happened to not only turn [my head] but to turn at the exact right time and in just the right amount.”
The outgoing Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church, the Most Revd Michael Curry, said in a short statement on Saturday that political violence was not the way forward.
“The way of love — not the way of violence — is the way we bind up our nation’s wounds. We decry political violence in any form, and our call as followers of Jesus of Nazareth is always to love.
“We pray for the families of those who were killed. We pray for former President Trump and his family and for all who were harmed or impacted by this incident. I pray that we as a nation and a world may see each other as the beloved children of God.”
The president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, said in a statement: “Together with my brother bishops, we condemn political violence, and we offer our prayers for [former] President Trump, and those who were killed or injured. We also pray for our country and for an end to political violence, which is never a solution to political disagreements.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury, posting on social media, also issued prayers: “Today let us pray for the USA, give thanks that [former] President Trump was not seriously hurt, and pray for all those affected by this shocking political violence. Let peace and reconciliation prevail.”
Mr Trump is due to speak at the Republican National Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He had rewritten his speech, he said. “It is a chance to bring the country together.”
His rival in the forthcoming election, President Joe Biden, posted on X: “I’m grateful to hear that he safe and doing well. I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information.”
He continued: “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”