Pope Francis said that his heart was broken by the attack and the killing of at least 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Texas.
“My heart is broken for the massacre at the elementary school in Texas. I am praying for the children and the adults killed and their families, ” the Holy Father was speaking to his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on 25 May.
“It is time to say enough to the indiscriminate trafficking of weapons. Let us all work hard so that such tragedies can never happen again.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that officers were believed to have killed the shooter, a local 18-year-old identified as Salvador Ramos.
U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Joe Donnelly said on 25 May: “We are witnessing sickness and the face of evil. We continue to pray for these blessed children and other wonderful people who were killed and their families. We are crushed by this loss.”
Ambassador Chiara Porro, the Australian ambassador to the Holy See, responded: “Australia grieves with you. Our heartfelt condolences to all those affected by the horrific shootings.”
”The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said on May 24 that the country was facing an “epidemic of evil and violence.”
“There have been too many school shootings, too much killing of the innocent,” said the USCCB’s public affairs director Chieko Noguchi in a statement.
“Our Catholic faith calls us to pray for those who have died and to bind the wounds of others, and we join our prayers along with the community in Uvalde and Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller.”