Franklin Graham to Deliver Invocation at Trump’s Historic Second Inauguration
Evangelist Franklin Graham has accepted an invitation to deliver an invocation at Donald Trump’s Monday inauguration, calling it an “honor” as he joins other faith leaders on the program. Trump will be sworn into office Monday, becoming the first president since Grover Cleveland in the 1880s and 1890s to serve non-consecutive terms. Under the U.S. Constitution, he becomes president at noon Eastern.
“President Donald J. Trump has asked me to give an invocation at his inauguration on Monday,” said Graham, the president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. “It is an honor to be asked to pray and to call attention to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Forecasters are calling for temperatures in the teens, so if I’m dressed like the Michelin tire man, you’ll know why!”
President @realDonaldTrump has asked me to give an invocation at his inauguration on Monday. It is an honor to be asked to pray and to call attention to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. https://t.co/ZfFKW4cO6B
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) January 16, 2025
The latest forecast predicts mostly sunny skies in D.C. on Monday with a high of 24 degrees.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, also will deliver an invocation. Dolan delivered an invocation during Trump’s first inauguration in 2017.
“The president was kind enough to ask me to do the opening prayer,” Dolan told WPIX. “He had asked me to do the one in 2016 too, so [when] he asked me this time, I said, ‘Well, I did it eight years ago; I hope this one works.’”
Trump is taking his faith more seriously now than in the past, Dolan said.
“I believe that he may have had a bit of a rekindling [of faith],” Dolan said, according to Catholic News Agency. “Alleluia, because I don’t know how anybody can be president of the United States without a deep faith.”
Dolan added that Trump “knows something mystical happened in the two assassination attempts” -- one in Pennsylvania when a bullet whizzed by his ear and another at a golf course in Florida when a gunman fled before firing directly at Trump.
“I reminded [Trump] that when Ronald Reagan visited John Paul II,” Dolan said, “both of them had been victims of vicious assassination attempts and barely escaped alive. And Ronald Reagan said, ‘Holy Father, Mother Teresa told me that God spared my life because he’s got something important for me to accomplish,’ and John Paul II grinned at him and said, ‘Mr. President, Mother Teresa told me the same thing, so why don’t the two of us work together and get something done in the world?’”
Others praying at the inauguration, according to Religion News Service, include Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University; Imam Husham Al-Husainy of the Karbalaa Islamic Center in Dearborn, Mich.; Pastor Lorenzo Sewell of 180 Church in Detroit; and the Rev. Frank Mann of the Diocese of Brooklyn in New York.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Alex Wong/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Listen to Michael's Podcast! He is the host of Crosswalk Talk, a podcast where he talks with Christian movie stars, musicians, directors, and more. Hear how famous Christian figures keep their faith a priority in Hollywood and discover the best Christian movies, books, television, and other entertainment. You can find Crosswalk Talk on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an interview that will be sure to encourage your faith.
Originally published January 17, 2025.
