'People are going to try and kill him': Catholic priest who gave rally benediction recalls assassination attempt on Trump

The man entrusted with giving the invocation at former President Donald Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, recalled his experience that fateful day both before and after Trump was nearly assassinated.

A few days before the event, members of Trump's team contacted Fr. Jason Charron — a Ukrainian Catholic pastor in charge of churches in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, and Wheeling, West Virginia — to see whether he would be willing to lead rally attendees in prayer. Charron agreed.

'We are called to a bloody faith,' Charron claimed. 'Christ calls us to get dirty and to have a nail go through the hand sometimes and a crown of thorns through the temple.'

So on Saturday evening, Charron stood before the podium on the rally stage and asked God to send His Holy Spirit to help make America and the world "great again in God's sight."

"Through Christ, Our Lord, amen," his prayer closed to thunderous applause from the crowd, which Trump estimated to be some 55,000 people.

Charron had to leave the rally shortly thereafter, but before departing the main area, he instructed a small group of a couple dozen people to pray for God's protection over President Trump. "The reason I said that is because people are going to try and kill him," he said. "They're going to try and shoot him."

His words were remarkably prescient.

By the time Charron reached his car just a few minutes after the benediction, he heard reports of gunshots and then witnessed an eruption of chaos. "That's how the devil works," the good father explained. "He loves chaos."

Charron then left the rally and soon after sat down for an interview with popular Catholic YouTube channel "Pints with Aquinas." In fact, the interview began so soon afterward that Charron learned from the host about the death of beloved father, husband, and former fire chief Corey Comperatore and the injuries to two other individuals.

When asked about a priest's role during such horrific tragedies, Charron resolutely insisted that suffering is a necessary part of the Christian experience, pointing to Christ's suffering on the cross as the example all Christians must follow.

"We are called to a bloody faith," Charron claimed. "Christ calls us to get dirty and to have a nail go through the hand sometimes and a crown of thorns through the temple."

Regardless of circumstances, Charron continued, all Catholics — and Catholic priests in particular — must stand firm in their faith "without apology."

"It's important that we Catholics and particularly me, as a priest, that I be present to advocate for the gospel of Christ in the public square without apology," he said.

When some raised objections to Charron appearing at a Trump rally despite Trump's quibbling about abortion — an act that the Catholic Church calls a "moral evil" — Charron claimed that far too many people fall for "the fallacy of perfection," which convinces them not to vote for any candidate who is not "absolutely perfect."

Even though Charron unequivocally opposes abortion and "the anti-life culture in general," he expressed admiration for Trump — whom Charron believes to be a "baptized Christian" — and his work appointing pro-life justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.

Though grateful for the ending of Roe, Charron takes issue with some of Trump's beliefs regarding abortion. In fact, Charron views abortion as the source of almost all the violence plaguing America today.

"We have raised generations of of children with the understanding that it is okay to butcher and dispose of precious human life in the most sacred place, the womb of a mother," Charron explained with conviction. "And if that sacred gift is disposable in that sacred place, then we are all up for extinction."

But abortion, Charron insisted, is not the only pro-life issue. As a man of Ukrainian descent, he also sees the war in Ukraine as an important component of it, and he admires Trump for sending "defensive weapons" to Ukraine while in office in contravention to policies established under Barack Obama.

During a brief meeting with Trump just before the rally, Charron had the opportunity to thank the former president for his work on behalf of the Ukrainian people. "I said, 'Thank you,' and he was very grateful and he said, 'You know, it's heartbreaking to see what's happening in Ukraine with all these young men dying, and it's because weakness was projected,'" Charron recalled of their conversation.

In addition to his pitch for grace for Trump, Charron also encouraged Americans to offer forgiveness to the shooter, whom Charron characterized as "a madman."

"There are only two responses in the face of such evil like this. ... One is you become the evil, and the other is you forgive it," Charron claimed. "And the sooner we can go through that valley and come out on the other side, the better it is for us and for the lost souls in this world."

Charron suggested on "Pints with Aquinas" that Trump forgive the shooter and share this forgiveness with the public, citing Christ's forgiveness of his executioners and Pope John Paul II's forgiveness of his would-be assailant as models of Christian forgiveness properly understood.

"I think if President Trump is going to win over his enemies, then the greatest opportunity to win over the undecided and the hostile will be found the day when he can forgive his would-be assassin."

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