Vatican City, Aug 31, 2025 / 07:10 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday prayed for the victims of a shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis, and deplored a worldwide “pandemic of arms” which has left many children dead or injured.
“Our prayers for the victims of the tragic shooting during a school Mass in the American state of Minnesota,” the pontiff said in English on Aug. 31, after leading the weekly Angelus prayer from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
“We include in our prayers,” he added, “the countless children killed and injured every day around the world. Let us plead to God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world.”
An Aug. 27 shooting at a school Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis left two children dead and 17 others wounded.
Leo turned to Mary, the Queen of Peace, to ask for her intercession “to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.’”
In his other appeals after the Angelus, delivered in Italian, Pope Leo repeated his calls for an immediate ceasefire and “a serious commitment to dialogue” in the Middle East, and for prayer and concrete gestures for the victims of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“The voice of arms must be silenced, while the voice of brotherhood and justice must be raised,” he said.
The pope said his heart is also wounded for those who have died or are missing after a boat carrying migrants from Africa to the Canary Islands capsized off the coast of Mauritania. According to the BBC, at least 69 people have died and many others are missing.
“This mortal tragedy repeats every day everywhere in the world,” Leo said. “Let us pray that the Lord teaches us, as individuals and as a society, to put fully into practice his word: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’”
“We entrust all our missing, injured, and dead everywhere to our Savior’s loving embrace,” the pontiff said both in English and in Italian.
In his spiritual message before the Angelus prayer, Pope Leo spoke about encounter, which requires openness of heart and humility.
“Humility is really freedom from ourselves,” he emphasized. “It is born when the Kingdom of God and its righteousness become our real concern and we allow ourselves to lift up our eyes and look ahead: not down at our feet, but at what lies ahead!”
Leo said people who put themselves before others, tend to think they are more interesting than anything else, “yet deep down, they are quite insecure.”
“Whereas,” he continued, “those who know that they are precious in God’s eyes, who know they are God’s children, have greater things to be worried about; they possess a sublime dignity all their own.”
The pope reflected on Jesus’ example of how to be a good guest, as described in the day’s Gospel reading; Jesus “acts with respect and sincerity, avoiding merely polite formalities that preclude authentic encounter,” Leo explained.
To extend an invitation to another person, also shows “a sign of openness of heart,” he added.
The pontiff encouraged everyone to invite Jesus to be their guest at Mass, so that he can tell them how it is he sees them.
“It is very important that we see ourselves through his eyes: to see how frequently we reduce life to a competition, how anxious we become to obtain some sort of recognition, and how pointlessly we compare ourselves to others,” he said.
We experience the freedom Jesus wants for us, he added, when we stop to reflect and let ourselves “be taken aback by a word that challenges our hearts’ priorities.”
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Pope Leo xiv worries about a pandemic of arms instead of ending the homosexual/pedophilia epidemic running rampant within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and what about the entire transgender issue which has caused the real reason for the mental health problem in the US in which he is loudly silent. If you compete flick, then start doing it.
Too true Mel. Means versus Motivation.
There are the “firearm means” on the one hand, and the “LGBTQetc motivation” on the other. It would be equally absurd to decry the slaughter of innocent Catholics in Africa, and ignore the declared Islamic Unholy War. And yet this blinkered cowardice – was not Pius XII criticised for not denouncing Nazism directly – is nothing new.
The argument used to defend Pius XII was that he feared reprisals against innocents for his denouncing the Motivation. We can only conclude that ppLeoXIV is afraid of LGBTQetc Madmen Jihad activists?
“Thoughts and prayers” would have sufficed.
Sigh. The Holy Father might have noticed with horror the satanism that pervades Westman’s manifesto. He could have lamented the evil “trans gender” butchery Westman had done on himself (with plenty of help from medical professionals and eventual acceptance from his family) and his marijuana use. Even the twisted killer bitterly regretted indulging in both vices. The HF might also have observed that the murderer’s parents divorced when he was young and pointed out the harmful and far-reaching consequences of broken families. Finally, he could have squarely faced up to the reality that this was, in an important respect, an “inside” attack. Westman came from a Catholic family and graduated from the Catholic school he attacked so viciously years later. Instead, we get a USCCB talking point on the evils of guns. Sadly predictable.
Tony W: You are so very right in all that youveso eloquently said. The fact is we have a woke hierarchy in the Catholic Church. I call them woke rather than apostate.
But does Pope Leo lament the epidemic of transgenderism and homosexuality in society? Of course not. And the lies, half-truths and obfuscations continue.
Sad but true. I just read this morning that Leo had a private meeting with James Martin, SCH. Somehow I don’t think the new pope called him to repentance. Some things never change.
Follow up on your comment Athanasius:
“VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV met Monday with one of the most prominent advocates for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church and encouraged his ministry, just days before a planned Holy Year pilgrimage of LGBTQ+ Catholics to the Vatican in a sign of continued welcome.
The Rev. James Martin, a New York-based Jesuit author and editor, said Leo told him he intended to continue Pope Francis’ policy of LGBTQ+ acceptance in the church and encouraged him to keep up his advocacy.
‘I heard the same message from Pope Leo that I heard from Pope Francis, which is the desire to welcome all people, including LGBTQ people,’ Martin told The Associated Press after the audience. ‘It was wonderful. It was very consoling and very encouraging and frankly a lot of fun'” (Nicole Winfield for ABC7 News).
Tony W. above (7:00 p.m.) – Amen.
It’s hard to believe that Leo, as an American, wouldn’t realize what he was getting into with his statement. Sure enough, the so-called mainstream media are running with it.
My hope is that he will get a new speechwriter ASAP.
A pontifical repeat of the Democrat platform.
https://apnews.com/article/pope-leo-james-martin-lgbtq-holy-year-f54bbf057757bdb7230802a8d5d77242
Vatican Communications Man: James Martin, who spread blasphemous images mocking the Blessed Virgin Mary across Internet- is spinning a 30 minute meeting with Pope Leo into a declaration by Pope Leo that he is a supporter of the LGBTQetc Ideology regularly behind mass shootings.
Pope Leo sold out to the LGBTQETC Ideology? The Ideology of the Prince of Lies?
I am SO disappointed. POPE Leo xiv’s image is being removed from my home.
It should be apparent to a Roman pontiff in this historically unique setting in which we are facing multiple issues, sexual disorders, weapons violence, controversy over global warming and corresponding need for environmental care – in the context of apostasy and depredation of religion that circumspect pronouncement to Church and world has not and will not have effect.
Leo XIV can be effective if he spoke directly to the issues, especially in regards to Catholic turned deranged murderer Robert Westman. His sexual disorientation as Robin Westman has to be called out directly and clearly, yes with compassion. Otherwise Church and world will brush off Leo’s marshmallow mellowness, his politically correct schizophrenic focus on guns rather than the moral sickness of the persons who fire the guns.
Don’t like to pile it on but it cannot be prudently ignored as to where an appealing, congenial new pontiff really stands. However far to the right he may seem to some, I cannot better express my personal thoughts than John-Henry Westen:
“This is the nightmare scenario I warned of at the start of Leo’s papacy. As I told Glenn Beck: a less bombastic pope could quietly cement a false new direction. The James Martin approach defies Christ, His Church, Scripture, and 2,000 years of tradition” (John-Henry Westen LifeSiteNews).
A marker was Pope Leo’s selection to replace Archbishop Paglia on family matters with Msgr Renzo Pegoraro, Paglia’s loyal assistant instead of Cdl Willem Eijk, a member of the same Dicastery Pontifical Academy for Life. Simply couldn’t disassociate that from a man who wasn’t doctrinally attuned to Pope Francis.
It’s a darn good thing that my Catholic faith does not in any way depend on the orthodoxy/sanctity/truthfulness of priests, bishops and Popes. If it did, I’d be gone a long time ago.
The Democratic Platform, by denying The Sanctity of the marital act within The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, ipso facto denies God’s intention for respect for the Sanctity of all human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, thus a “pontifical “ repeat of The Democratic Platform would ipso facto separate one from The One Body Of Christ, From The Father, Through, With, And In His Only Begotten Son, Jesus The Christ, In The Unity (Communion)Of The Holy Ghost, The Spirit Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love Between The Father And His Only Begotten Son, Jesus The Christ, Who Proceeds From The Father And His Only Begotten Son, Jesus The Christ, thus denying The Divinity Of The Most Holy Blessed Trinity, which is apostasy.
The counterfeit magisterium that has aligned itself with apostates must be charitably anathema:
At the heart of Liberty Is Christ, “4For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5Have moreover tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come…”, to not believe that Christ’s Sacrifice On The Cross will lead us to Salvation, but we must desire forgiveness for our sins, and accept Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy; believe in The Power And The Glory Of Salvation Love, and rejoice in the fact that No Greater Love Is There Than This, To Desire Salvation For One’s Beloved.
“Hail The Cross, Our Only Hope.”
“Blessed are they who are Called to The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb.”
“For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”
“Behold your Mother.” – Christ On The Cross
“Penance, Penance, Penance.”- The Angel of Fatima
May those whose competence it is Call a Council that will anathema the counterfeit church, from The True Church Of Christ, so that Our Blessed Mother’s Heart Can Triumph and restore Peace to Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, And Apostolic Church, outside of which, there is no Salvation, due to The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque).
And may the error of Vatican II, which by no longer recognizing The Spirit of The Charitable Anathema, Instituted By Christ, Himself, leading to the creation of a counterfeit anti Christ church attempting to subsist within The One Body Of Christ, that is anti Filioque, and thus anti Papacy, which , in denying The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, denies The Word Of God Incarnate, Our Only Savior, Jesus Christ, Who Has Revealed Himself To His Church, Through The Deposit Of Faith, Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, And The Teaching Of The True Magisterium, Grounded In Sacred Tradition And Sacred Scripture, for The Salvation Of Souls, be charitably anathema, by affirming The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque), and thus affirming The Divinity Of The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity.
🙏💕
Woe to those who call evil, good!
It appears the darnel is still being allowed to flourish in the field of otherwise good wheat.
The Catechism clearly teaches 2357 -2359 the truth on a matter which is a trial for many.
Indeed upholding chastity is a challenge for us all.
Catholic Pastoral accompaniment must always respect the Catechism, Principles of non contradiction and not undermine the Deposit of Faith.
Today’s evidence is not encouraging.
Let’s see what the Pontiff may state.