(Updated Sept. 5, 2025)
Joining religious leaders around the United States and the world, including Pope Leo XIV, the president of the Canadian bishops’ conference has expressed “the profound closeness of the Church in Canada” to those grieving the Aug. 27 deadly shooting at a Minnesota Catholic church.
Two children who attended Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis were killed, and 14 children and three adults were injured in the shooting at Annunciation Church during a Mass celebrated for the adjoining school. The suspect, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, also died. Westman is believed to have committed suicide in the parking lot.
Calgary Bishop William McGrattan, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, sent a letter to Minneapolis–St. Paul Archbishop Bernard Hebda following the shooting, expressing the Canadian Church’s closeness “to the grieving students, families, teachers, and parishioners of Annunciation Parish and School,” as well as the archdiocese’s faithful.
“It is especially heartbreaking that children, their pastor, and teachers were targeted as they gathered joyfully for the new school year for the celebration of the Eucharist,” Bishop McGrattan said in his letter.
Canadian Catholics are asked to pray for the repose of those who died, the recovery of the injured, “and for the comfort and healing for the entire community affected by this senseless act of violence.”
RELATED: “Questions from Minneapolis” – Reflection by Matthew Marquardt, Canadian Catholic News – LINK
Pope Leo XIV joined his brother bishops and fellow Americans in expressing condolences following the shooting. In a telegram to Hebda, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said the pontiff was “profoundly saddened to learn of the loss of life and injuries following the shooting that took place at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, and he sends 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.”
“While commending the souls of the deceased children to the love of Almighty God, His Holiness prays for the wounded as well as the first responders, medical personnel, and clergy who are caring for them and their loved ones,” the telegram said. “At this extremely difficult time, the Holy Father imparts to the Annunciation Catholic School community, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the people of the greater Twin Cities metropolitan area his apostolic blessing as a pledge of peace, fortitude, and consolation in the Lord Jesus.”
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Canadian Catholic News (CCN) is a national news service, with members including Catholic newspapers, organizations, and individuals: CanadianCatholicNews.ca
Pope Leo XIV prays at the conclusion of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican June 11, 2025. After the Angelus prayer on Aug. 31, he prayed for the victims of the school shooting in Minneapolis. (Photo by Lola Gomez CNS)
Pope prays for Minneapolis victims, denounces ‘pandemic’ of gun violence
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
[Vatican City – CNS] – Pope Leo XIV, praying publicly for the victims of the school shooting in Minneapolis Aug. 31, also prayed for an end to the “pandemic” of gun violence.
After reciting the Angelus prayer with visitors in St. Peter’s Square Aug. 31, Pope Leo switched from Italian to English when he led the prayers for the community of Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis where two children were killed during Mass Aug. 27 and 18 other people were injured.
In remembering “the victims of the tragic shooting during a school Mass in the American state of Minnesota,” the pope said, “we include in our prayers the countless children killed and injured every day around the world.”
“Let us plead God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world,” he said. “May our mother, Mary, the Queen of Peace, help us to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.'”
Pope Leo also called again for an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine, decrying renewed attacks on various Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv.
“Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine continues to sow death and destruction,” the pope told thousands of people gathered for the midday prayer.
“I renew my closeness to the Ukrainian people and to all the wounded families,” he said, calling on everyone “not to give in to indifference but to draw near (to the Ukrainian people) through prayer and concrete acts of charity.”
“I strongly reiterate my urgent appeal for an immediate ceasefire and for a serious commitment to dialogue,” he said. “It is time for leaders to abandon the logic of weapons and to take up the path of negotiation and peace, with the support of the international community. The voice of weapons must be silenced, while the voice of fraternity and justice must be raised.”
Pope Leo also prayed for migrants from Africa who drowned Aug. 26 when their boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania as they were trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands.
“Our hearts are also wounded by the more than 50 people who died and around 100 still missing in the shipwreck of a vessel carrying migrants who were attempting the 1,100-kilometer (about 680-mile) journey to the Canary Islands, which capsized off the Atlantic coast of Mauritania,” the pope said.
“This deadly tragedy is repeated every day around the world,” Pope Leo said. “Let us pray that the Lord may teach us, as individuals and as a society, to fully put into practice his word: ‘I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.'”
Speaking in both English and Italian, the pope entrusted all the “injured, missing and dead everywhere to our Savior’s loving embrace.”
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© OSV News / Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. 2025 – from CNS Vatican bureau, used with permission.
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