No, the bishop who urged President Donald Trump to have ‘mercy’ hasn’t been pushed out

The Right Rev. Mariann Budde drew President Donald Trump’s ire during an inaugural prayer service when she used her Washington National Cathedral pulpit to urge him to "have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now," such as LGBTQ+ people and migrants.  

"There are gay, lesbain and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives," Budde said. 

Trump later called Budde a "Radical Left hard line Trump hater," and demanded an apology. 

Claims Budde was subsequently ousted as the Episocopal bishop of Washington started moving online, even though they were made up.

"The Episcopal Archdiocese of Washington has removed Bishop Mariann Budd from the National Cathedral: ‘No place for politics!’" a Jan. 24 Threads post said, misspelling Budde’s last name. 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

This claim is false. Kevin Eckstrom, a Washington National Cathedral spokesperson, told PolitiFact, "I can confirm without hesitation that Bishop Budde very much remains the Episcopal Bishop of Washington." 

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Eckstrom also shared a statement from the Episcopal Church headquarters, which said: "Budde was elected in 2011 by clergy and lay leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington to serve as their 9th bishop. She was ordained in November of that year, and has served as a bishop in good standing since that time. She is a valued and trusted pastor to her diocese and colleague to bishops throughout our church. We stand by Bishop Budde and her appeal for the Christian values of mercy and compassion." 

A Jan. 21 letter from Episcopal Church leaders in response to the Trump administration’s immigration-related executive orders and his planned mass deportation campaign echoed Budde. 

"We read this news with concern and urge our new president and congressional leaders to exercise mercy and compassion, especially toward law-abiding, long-term members of our congregations and communities; parents and children who are under threat of separation in the name of immigration enforcement; and women and children who are vulnerable to abuse in detention and who fear reporting abuse to law enforcement," the letter said.

This Threads post’s claim originated on the Facebook page America - Love It Or Leave It, which is a subsidiary of America’s Last Line of Defense. Christopher Blair created the account and has said his posts are satire intended to mock conservatives. The America - Love It Or Leave It Facebook page says in its intro: "Nothing on this page is real."

Its Jan. 23 post, which similarly misspelled Budde’s name, said: "Bishop Mariann Budd has been removed from the National Cathedral by the Episocal Archdiocese of Washington." 

"Keep politics away from the pulpit," the post said. 

Social media users often miss the words of warning and reshare the stories from Blair’s satire network without any disclaimers.

That seems to be what happened here. We rate claims that the National Cathedral removed Budde False.