Vatican City, Aug 31, 2025 / 07:10 am

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday prayed for the victims of a shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis, and deplored a worldwide “pandemic of arms” which has left many children dead or injured.

“Our prayers for the victims of the tragic shooting during a school Mass in the American state of Minnesota,” the pontiff said in English on Aug. 31, after leading the weekly Angelus prayer from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

“We include in our prayers,” he added, “the countless children killed and injured every day around the world. Let us plead to God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world.”

An Aug. 27 shooting at a school Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis left two children dead and 17 others wounded.

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