VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis said on Wednesday he was “in awe” over the shooting at a school in Texas, in which at least 19 children and two teachers were killed, and called for greater control over firearms.
The crowd in St. Peter’s Square for its weekly general audience applauded his appeal, made a day after the worst school shooting in the United States in nearly a decade.
“I am heartbroken over the Texas elementary school massacre. I pray for the children and adults who were killed and for their families,” Francis said of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas.
“It’s time to say ‘enough is enough’ for indiscriminate arms trafficking. Let’s all make a commitment so that tragedies like this can’t happen again,” he said.
Speaking from the White House hours after the shooting and visibly shaken, US President Joe Biden urged Americans to stand up to the politically powerful gun lobby, which he blamed for blocking the enactment of tougher gun laws. firearms safety.
Francis has often criticized the gun industry. In 2015, he said that people who make weapons or invest in the arms industries are hypocrites when they call themselves Christians.
(Reporting by Philip Pullella)
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