THE Pope has expressed his “heartfelt condolences” after two schoolchildren were killed and 17 people were injured in a shooting during a mass in Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, on Wednesday morning.
The attacker, named by authorities as Robin Westman, aged 23, opened fire through the windows of the church as children from the Annunciation Catholic School were attending a mass to mark the start of a new school term, at about 8 a.m. local time. The two children who died were aged eight and ten.
Westman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene. The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, wrote on social media that the shooting was being investigated “as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics”.
In a telegram to the RC Archbishop of St Paul & Minneapolis, the Most Revd Bernard Hebda, quoted by Vatican News, Pope Leo XIV expressed his “heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness to all those affected by this terrible tragedy, especially the families now grieving the loss of a child”.
The telegram, signed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said that the Pope commended “the souls of the deceased children to the love of Almighty God”, and “prays for the wounded as well as the first responders, medical personnel and clergy who are caring for them and their loved ones”.
Archbishop Hebda said in a statement on Wednesday that he was grateful “for the many promises of prayers that have been coming in from the Holy Father, Pope Leo, and from so many from all around the globe, all praying for the families of Annunciation Parish and School and for all who were impacted by this morning’s senseless violence”.
He continued: “My heart is broken as I think about students, teachers, clergy and parishioners and the horror they witnessed in a Church, a place where we should feel safe. . . We need an end to gun violence. Our community is rightfully outraged at such horrific acts of violence perpetrated against the vulnerable and innocent. They are far too commonplace.”
Archbishop Hebda spoke at a prayer service at the Academy of Holy Angels High School, two miles from Annunciation Church, on Wednesday evening. A vigil also took place at Lynnhurst Park in the city.
The Vice-President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop William Lori, said in a statement: “As a Church, we are following the tragic news from Annunciation School in Minneapolis with heartbreaking sadness. Whenever one part of the Body of Christ is wounded, we feel the pain as if it were our very own children. Let us all beg the Lord for the protection and healing of the entire Annunciation family.”
The Bishop of Minnesota, the Rt Revd Craig Loya, said in a statement on Wednesday that he had been “devastated” by the news of the shooting.
“The fact that we live in a nation where children are shot and killed while at worship or in school would be unimaginable if it wasn’t so common,” he said. “Over decades, our elected officials have proven unwilling to take even the smallest steps toward addressing the fact that in many parts of our nation, it is easier to purchase a gun that is designed only to kill large numbers of humans than it is to get a license to drive a car. As a nation, we have chosen access to guns over the ability to assemble in our most sacred public spaces without fear. This crushing grief is simply what that collective choice costs.”
He continued: “Our nation has made peace with the kind of carnage that played out in Minneapolis today, but we have not and we will not. It is essential that we continue to flood our elected officials with demands to reverse the grim choice we have made and pass sensible gun control laws that will prevent massive suffering and death. Whether our efforts at change are successful or not, it matters immensely that we as a people continue to point to a better way. We ultimately cannot force the fullness of God’s reign into being, but we must always point to what that reign looks like in every situation we encounter.”
In a message of solidarity on Thursday, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Revd Professor Jerry Pillay, said: “As we stand with the Minneapolis community and churches in their grief and trauma, we will pray God’s strength for you. Violence against anyone — including these innocent people as they gathered to pray — anguishes us all.”