Aug 31, 2025 - Politics & Policy

Pope Leo urges end to "pandemic of arms" after Minnesota shooting

Rebecca Falconer

Pope Leo XIV, wearing a white cap and white cassock, speaks into a microphone at an open window with white shutters and draped in a red flag. — Pope Leo XIV addresses the crowd from the window of the apostolic palace overlooking St.Peter's Square during his Sunday Angelus prayer at the Vatican. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images

Pope Leo XIV offered his prayers for the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting victims and called for an end to the "pandemic of arms, large and small" on Sunday.

What he's saying: "Our prayers for the victims of the tragic shooting during a school Mass in the American state of Minnesota," said the first U.S. pontiff during a weekly prayer with crowds in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.

"We hold in our prayers the countless children killed and injured every day around the world," added the Chicago-born pope, who was speaking in English.
"Let us plead God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world."

The big picture: Leo initially avoided weighing into politics in regards to the shooting that killed Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, and injured 18 other worshippers, when he sent a telegram offering "heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness to all those affected."

On Sunday, the pope began his plea by calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war and for both sides to make a "serious commitment to dialogue."
He added, "The voice of weapons must fall silent, and the voice of fraternity and justice must prevail."

Of note: Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis, was a vocal opponent of guns and once denounced weapons manufacturers as "merchants of death."

Go deeper: Pope Leo's tall task: Healing Catholic America's political divide

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Pope Leo urges end to "pandemic of arms" after Minnesota shooting

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