(LifeSiteNews) — An Australian politician recited the St. Michael prayer on national television during a press briefing while giving an update on two police officers who were fatally shot while on duty.
In a somewhat unexpected moment, one of the most widely known Catholic prayers – the prayer to St. Michael – was recited by Minister Mark Ryan on Australian TV last week. Ryan serves as the Minister for Police and Corrective Services and Minister for Fire and Emergency Services in Queensland.
His televised prayer came at the close of a live press briefing December 12, in light of an incident in Wieambilla that led to two young police officers being shot.
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The two officers, 26-year-old Matthew Arnold and 29-year-old Rachel McCrow, were taking part in a search for a missing person, Nathaniel Train. As Arnold and McCrow approached a house while conducting their search, Train – along with his brother and brother’s wife, who had previously been married to Nathaniel – ambushed the officers with what was described as “a hail of bullets.”
According to Ian Leavershe, president of the Queensland police union, the shooters then executed the two officers as they lay on the ground. Two more officers were caught in the crossfire, with one taking a bullet wound but both surviving the attack.
Hours later, the three were shot dead by police officers on the scene.
Joining Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll at a press briefing, Ryan called on the intercession of St. Michael as the patron of police officers before reciting the well-known prayer.
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Ryan explained that while “not many people are religious,” he knew that “some people get consolation in prayer” and that St. Michael is the “patron saint for police.”
After reciting the prayer in full, Ryan closed by repeating his prayer to the archangel: “St. Michael the archangel, pray for us. Pray for all police.”