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.”
