Former president Donald J. Trump’s decisive Electoral College win was achieved in part by a strong show of support from white Catholic voters, a demographic that his campaign specifically targeted. Following Mr. Trump’s victory, a number of Catholic leaders called for prayer, and some offered the president-elect congratulations.
NBC News released exit polling conducted in 10 states and found that Mr. Trump handily carried the Catholic vote, 56 percent to 41 percent. Among white Catholics, the former president fared even better, capturing 60 percent of the vote. National exit polls from CNN found almost identical results.
In 2020, CNN reported, Mr. Biden won 52 percent of the Catholic vote, though Mr. Trump carried 56 percent of the white Catholic vote.
According to the Fox News Voter Analysis, which includes polling taken the week before Election Day, Black and Hispanic Catholic voters broke big for Ms. Harris, with 58 percent of Latino Catholics and 81 percent of Black Catholics voting for the vice president. (Exit polling at Fox News from 2020 only reported on the breakdown between white Catholics and Catholics overall, and showed Mr. Trump beating out Mr. Biden by one point.)
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Mr. Trump improved from 2020 with Latino male voters. He carried a majority of Latino men, according to CNN, 54 percent to 44 percent. (Mr. Biden won Latino men in 2020, 59 percent to 36 percent.)
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, congratulated Mr. Trump in a statement.
“The Catholic Church is not aligned with any political party, and neither is the bishops’ conference,” said the archbishop. “As Christians, and as Americans, we have the duty to treat each other with charity, respect, and civility, even if we may disagree on how to carry out matters of public policy.”
The archbishop, who heads the Archdiocese for Military Services USA, concluded with a prayer: “Let us ask for the intercession of our Blessed Mother, the patroness of our nation, that she guide to uphold the common good of all and promote the dignity of the human person, especially the most vulnerable among us, including the unborn, the poor, the stranger, the elderly and infirm, and migrants.”
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, called for people of good will to work together to address the nation’s challenges.
“Today, as our nation prepares to take a new direction in governance, it is vitally important for each of us to remember that, as people of faith and goodwill, we are called to work together to seek truth, justice, and peace in our homes, in our communities, and in our nation,” said Cardinal Gregory.
But he also acknowledged the trepidation some people are experiencing following Mr. Trump’s re-election.
“Some people today are breathing a sigh of relief at the outcome of our national, state and local elections, even as others are experiencing anxiety about our future,” he continued. “Our path forward lies in our respect for one another and in the God-given dignity we share, offered freely with prayer, patience, kindness, and hope.”
Catholic Vote, a political advocacy organization that supported Mr. Trump, regularly highlighted the former president’s overtures to Catholic voters in the weeks leading up to the election and helped amplify a message that Ms. Harris was hostile to Catholicism. The group homed in on the controversial remarks Ms. Harris made about the Knights of Columbus when she was a senator and produced an ad that tried to tie Ms. Harris to a radical protest group, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
“Catholics proved again to be a critical voting bloc that cannot be ignored,” the group said in a statement on Wednesday. “Catholics are increasingly attracted by the agenda of the new right, popularized by Trump, which combines family-first social policies with America-first economic priorities.”
Meanwhile, Catholic Democrats, an advocacy group that had supported Ms. Harris, posted on X a call for Catholics to pray for the nation and especially for those experiencing “feelings of fear, anxiety, profound disappointment and a range of other challenging negative emotions.”
Reaction from Catholic leaders and nonprofit groups was rolling in slowly on Wednesday.
Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, a former president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, posted on X, urging Catholics to pray.
“This is a good time for us to pray for our country and reflect on our duties as citizens and believers,” Archbishop Gomez posted on Wednesday morning. “The Acts of the Apostles should be our blueprint for us to be disciples in our world.”
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, regularly posts on X a selection of Scripture and a prayer. On Wednesday, he posted a prayer for migrants.
“Mary, Solace of Migrants, intercede for families who are fleeing from persecution, famine or pestilence in search of a better life for themselves and their families,” he posted. “Fill our hearts with compassion and inspire us to share generously with all our sisters and brothers in need.”
Jesuit Refugee Service USA released a statement on Wednesday calling on the incoming administration “to honor the United States’ historic role as a proud nation of immigrants” and urged the new Congress to enact immigration reform.
“We call upon the incoming administration to continue the U.S.’s long global leadership in providing lifesaving humanitarian aid to those in need of assistance around the world,” the statement read.
In the days leading up to the election, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops used social media to post prayers and reflections as part of its “Novena for Faithful Citizenship” campaign. The reflection right before the election was dedicated to issues of life, including abortion. The reflection for that day began, “How do I defend the right to life, especially of the unborn and those near death?”
The Trump campaign used social media, television interviews and in-person rallies to reach Catholic voters, who played a pivotal role in some swing states. Mr. Trump posted Catholic imagery and prayers on social media, including art depicting Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Prayer of St. Michael. Unlike Ms. Harris, Mr. Trump attended the Al Smith Dinner, hosted by the Archdiocese of New York as a yearly fundraiser for various Catholic charities, and afterward sat for an interview with Raymond Arroyo of EWTN, a Catholic television network. Mr. Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, joined the Catholic Church in 2019.
Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to crack down on immigration and to deport anyone living in the United States illegally. Some of his rallies included signs that read, “Mass deportations now” and the former president pledged that deportations would begin on “Day One.”
This article has been updated.
