Cardinal Mcelroy, Helen Prejean, Mgr Alvarez… These American religious personalities who will count in 2025

Washington Cardinal against Trump

Cardinal Robert MCELROY (United States), Archbishop of Washington DC, 70 years old

Cardinal Robert Mcelroy was not the first choice. His name had even been dismissed from the Short List. But the election of Donald Trump rebatted the cards and Pope Francis decided in early January to appoint him to be a Catholic counterweight in the federal capital, facing the tenant of the White House.

Known for his positions in favor of immigrants and LGBT people, Cardinal Mcelroy, herald of “Integral inclusion”, has already been very critical of the President of the United States, more particularly on the project to build the wall on the Mexican border. His first year at “DC”, which coincides with that of Donald Trump, will be particularly scrutinized.

The pebble in the shoe of Donald Trump

Mariann Budde (United States), episcopalian bishop of Washington DC, 65 years old

It is the first and especially the most viral of “scratch hair” to have slipped into the second term of Donald Trump, started on January 20. The day after the inauguration ceremony of the 47th President of the United States, the episcopalian bishop called him to the ” mercy “ towards LGBT+ people and migrants.

In 2011, she became the first episcopal woman woman named to Washington DC, a traditionally liberal land. With other figures such as the Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Robert Mcelroy, Mariann Budde is one of those Christian officials who should be part of the dissident votes to the Trump administration.

The Hollywood face of Christ

Jonathan Roumie (United States), actor, 50 years old

Since 2017 with the release of the first season of The Chosen, The American actor Jonathan Roumie has become the face of Jesus for the 200 million viewers of the series, which aims to tell in seven seasons the history of the public life of Christ. Himself Catholic, in 2023 he became one of Hallow’s voices, a very popular prayer application in the United States.

The Chosen, Carried out by Dallas Jenkins and very followed in the United States and internationally, should take a new flight in 2025. Season 5, which will be released in France in April, will endeavor to tell Holy Week, before season 6 does not look at the passion of Christ. A new challenge for the actor who also lives his role as a spiritual experience.

An activist for the abolition of the death penalty

SR Helen Prejean (United States), American nun, 85 years old

His spiritual accompaniment to a death sentence had been the subject of a book and then a film adaptation in Hollywood, with the actors Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn (The last step, 1995). Sister Helen Prejean, of the Institut des sisters de Saint-Joseph, is one of the most influential faces of the fight against the death penalty.

Based in New Orleans (Louisiana), this American is at the head of several NGOs who work for the abolition of capital punishment and the reform of the prison system, denouncing in particular the faults of the American criminal system which perpetuates discrimination. While the Pope renewed, during the mass of January 1, his call for total abolition of the death penalty, a figure like Helen Prejean could mark 2025.

The Orthodox Rabbi iconoclast in the service of Trump

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (United States), 58 years old

“The most famous rabbi in America. »» This is how newspapers across the Atlantic present Shmuley Boteach, rabbi of the influential orthodox movement Chabad-Loubavitch, prized for the media and successful author-his Kosher Sex (1999) is a bestseller-, also father of nine children. Sent as a young rabbi to Oxford in 1988, he founded there what will become the second largest student organization ever created in the English university.

Iconoclast, a time close to Michael Jackson, he appeared in 2012 in the legislative elections under the banner of the Republicans. This convinced Zionist, who qualified in 2019 Donald Trump as “The most pro-Israel president in history”, is now expected to become his future “special envoy to anti -Semitism”.

Missionary among the poor

Heidi Baker (United States), missionary in Mozambique, 65 years old

2025 will mark the thirty years of the presence of Heidi Baker in Mozambique. This evangelical American converted to Christ at the age of sixteen and marked by the figure of Mother Teresa, forms with her husband Rolland a couple entirely devoted to the mission. After ten years in Asia and London, they put on foot and developed an orphanage in this country plagued by poverty, political instability and Islamic terrorism, surmounting many difficulties and oppositions. But their mission does not stop there: they founded Iris Global, an NGO which helps the poorest, based on worship, evangelization, support for families, education, development and Arts.

A Catholic figure of the resistance to Nicaragua

Bishop Rolando Alvarez (Nicaragua), bishop of Matagalpa in Nicaragua, 58 years old

“Do not be afraid, and keep the energy necessary to transform the world into a better place for everyone. »» It is a very spiritual message that Mgr Rolando Alvarez, bishop of Matagalpa, in Nicaragua, chose at dawn of 2025. Visit Albacete to priests of his diocese in exile, this long -standing opponent of The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega was speaking, in the Spanish press, for the first time since he found refuge in Rome in January 2024. sentenced to twenty-six years in prison by the regime in early 2023, he had been released to the end of a year thanks to the intervention of the Vatican. He continues to embody from Rome a form of resistance both peaceful and inflexible to the regime which has particularly targeted the Christian community.

A craftsman of the unity of Christians

Larry Miller (United States), pastor and theologian Mennonite, 78 years old

Pasteur of the Mennonite church, an evangelical current born in the Netherlands in the 16th century, the American Larry Miller is very committed to the ecumenical movement. He was secretary of the World Christian Forum, which gives a large place to evangelical and Pentecostalists in dialogue with the older and more structured Christian churches, united in the ecumenical council of churches.

Spokesperson for “receptive ecumenism” which values ​​differences and their riches, and the role of “experience” in the dialogue between Christians, he is an actor of change in the understanding of unity. A voice that could count at the next World Conference of Faith and Constitution, in October 2025 in Alexandria (Egypt).

“The angel” of migrants

SR Norma Pimentel (United States), nun of the missionaries of Jesus, 71 years old

In 2020, it had among the 100 most influential people in the world, according to the magazine Time. Born in Texas from Mexican parents, Sister Norma Pimentel began to work for refugees in 1980. In 2004, in 2004 she became director of a Catholic charitable organization which welcomed migrants on the American Rio Grande bank. Catholic Charities RGV provides in several cities assistance, shelter, hot meal for people experienced by the crossing, before they hit the road. The action of the nun and her organization, who helped around 100,000 people were distinguished by Pope Francis, from which she would be “The favorite nun” according to Time. Donald Trump’s return at the head of the United States will undoubtedly further strengthen the weight of his commitment and his influence.