WASHINGTON – A day after a much-criticized photo op at the <strong><a href="https://www.ny-greeks.com/?p=4616">fire-damaged St. John Episcopal Church</a> </strong>near the White House, President Trump and first lady Melania, visited today the Saint John Paul II National Shrine. A visit that drew swift condemnation from a top church official. The shrine is a place of prayer for Catholics but welcomes people of all faiths.

The Presidential visit took place a day after he walked next to the White House and across Lafayette Park and posed for cameras outside <a href="https://www.ny-greeks.com/?p=4616"><strong>St. John's Episcopal Church, which was damaged by fire  late Sunday night </strong></a><a href="https://www.ny-greeks.com/?p=4616"><strong>by protesters.</strong></a>

President Trump and the first lady posed for photos in front of a statue of Pope John Paul II outside the shrine, and stood silently for a few minutes, hands clasped in front of them.

<img class=" wp-image-4676 alignleft" src="https://www.ny-greeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Arch.jpg" alt="" width="164" height="219" />Washington Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory (Photo Left) slammed the presidential visit in a statement shortly before the president's arrival.

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory said in a statement:
<p class="gnt_ar_b_p" style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>“I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree,”</strong></em></p>
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