CNA Staff, Aug 27, 2025 / 15:30 pm

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday said he was offering prayers for the victims of the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting, one he described as an “extremely difficult” and “terrible” tragedy.

Two children were killed in a shooting incident at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis on Aug. 27, with the gunman taking his own life after the deadly attack during the parochial school Mass.

Law enforcement were still working to determine a motive to the shooting on Wednesday afternoon. In his telegram to Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda, meanwhile, Leo said he was “profoundly saddened” at the news of the killings.

The pope “sends his heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness” to the victims of the shooting, said the telegram,

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