In April 2026, a claim (archived) circulated online that while delivering a sermon in March 2026, an Irish priest said, "We pray for Donald Trump, the Lord will take him."
The claim came from a video that appeared to show a church sermon. During that sermon, seen below on YouTube, a priest said, "We pray for peace. We pray for Donald Trump, the Lord will take him."
The video also circulated on X (archived), Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and Threads (archived). Snopes readers searched our site to find out more about the sermon.
The Very Rev. Christoper Ginnelly P.P. confirmed to Snopes via phone on April 28, 2026, that the video was authentic and showed a prayer he delivered at the Church of the Holy Family in Ballycroy, Ireland. He said that the line about Trump was a "genuine mistake" and that he had apologized both during the prayer and after.
Longer versions of the video supported Ginnelly's account that he misspoke when he appeared to pray the Lord would "take" Trump. The videos showed that after the congregation laughed, the priest raised a hand to his face and added, "...that he will take away his pain."
Ginnelly told Snopes he meant to pray for the Lord to take away Trump's anger, not Trump as a person. He added that the church stopped broadcasting its sermons on Facebook after the video went viral.
Given the above, we find social media users correctly attributed the statement to Ginnelly, who said he misspoke and apologized.
According to the Diocese of Killala's website and the church's Facebook page (archived), Ginnelly serves the congregation in Ballycroy.
A schedule for the week starting on March 16, 2026, showed there was a service at the church in Ballycroy at 8:15 p.m. on March 21 (a Saturday) when one post said the video that showed Ginnelly was recorded.
That same schedule said the church intended to broadcast its March 21 service on Facebook. It did not appear the page saved that livestream after it ended. Because of this, Snopes could not independently view the whole livestream of Ginnelly's remarks.
The Church of the Holy Family in Ballycroy is a Cathcolic church. The religion's Ten Commandments generally teach that followers shall not kill. According to the Catechism (summary of religious doctrine) of the Catholic Church, "Hatred of the neighbor is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil. Hatred of the neighbor is a grave sin when one deliberately desires him grave harm."
The same section of the Catechism calls for Catholics to safeguard peace.
Trump is reportedly a nondenominational Christian. Vice President JD Vance reportedly converted to Catholicism in 2019 and has previously referred to himself as a "baby Catholic."