Pope Leo pleads for end to ‘pandemic of arms’ after Minnesota school shooting
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Pope Leo prays for the victims of the mass shooting on Aug 27 at a Minnesota Catholic school.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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VATICAN CITY - Pope Leo, the first US-born leader of the global Catholic Church, prayed on Aug 31 that God would “stop the pandemic of arms” after a mass shooting days earlier at a Minnesota Catholic school that killed two children.
“Our prayers (go) for the victims of the tragic (Aug 27) shooting during a school Mass in the American state of Minnesota,” the Pope, speaking in English, said in a weekly prayer with crowds in St Peter’s Square.
“Let us plead God to stop the pandemic of arms large and small, which infects our world,” he said.
Pope Leo was elected by the world’s cardinals in May after the death of the late Pope Francis.
He has shown a different style to his predecessor, rarely speaking off the cuff and usually preferring a more cautious tone in his public appeals.
The appeal on Aug 31 was also a rare instance of the Pope addressing a world event in his native English.
Pope Leo usually prefers to use Italian, the language of the papacy. REUTERS
