The Catholic Church in the United States is uniting in grief and prayer after the devastating attack at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, where two children were killed and seventeen others wounded during Mass before the school day began.
Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, conveyed the Vatican’s deep sorrow in a telegram to Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Minneapolis. According to Vatican News, Cardinal de Mendonça offered “heartfelt condolences” and promised “fervent prayers for the victims and their families” along with “spiritual closeness to the entire community affected.” He also reminded the faithful that this tragedy underscores the need for Catholic education to renew its mission of peace and fraternity: “to continue building a culture of fraternity, founded on a peace that is both unarmed and disarming” (Vatican News).
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Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, emphasized both prayer and urgent responsibility. In his statement, he prayed “that those injured in body and spirit will heal and that the murdered children will be received into heaven,” but also insisted that the Church must “cry out for action to prevent even one more such tragedy” (Vatican News). Noting that the attack took place while children prayed at the start of a school year, he reflected, “If any place should have been safe, it should have been there. If any time should have been safe, it should have been then. Tragically, we know no place or time when Americans – even children – are safe from the curse of gun violence.”
Cardinal Cupich urged prayers not only for the victims, but also for lawmakers: “for those who hold the power to make the safety of our people a national priority, and for God to give them the courage to take the steps they know will alleviate if not eliminate the fear parents must feel sending their children off to school” (Vatican News).
From Newark, Cardinal Joseph Tobin joined in solidarity with the grieving parish and school community. He lamented that “what should have been a joyful beginning to a new academic year was instead shattered by senseless violence,” adding that “no child should ever face fear in a place of learning and worship, and no parent should endure the loss of a child to violence” (Vatican News). He concluded with a prayer: “May Christ our Redeemer bring comfort to the grieving and peace to all who mourn.”
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York expressed his sadness online, describing the tragedy as “another senseless shooting, this time all the more disturbing because it happened at a Catholic church and school, which should always be sanctuaries of peace” (Vatican News). He assured the faithful that “we mourn the two innocent children whose lives were cut short by this dreadful tragedy and hold in our intentions the seventeen wounded.” His message also offered solidarity: “We join in compassionate solidarity with the countless families of the city of Minneapolis, Annunciation Catholic school, and beyond who have been touched by an unthinkable grief caused by mindnumbing gun violence which has become all too common. We pray for an end to all violence in our hearts, in our communities, and in our world.”
As Catholics across the United States absorb the weight of this tragedy, the voices of these shepherds are calling the faithful to unite in prayer, to stand with the grieving, and to work for a society where schools and churches are truly sanctuaries of peace.
