As the United States celebrated its Labor Day weekend this year (Aug. 30–Sept. 1), the flags flew at half-staff in mourning for yet another school shooting.

Just one month previously, Pope Leo XIV had concluded the Jubilee for Youth weekend with the words “You are a sign that a different world is possible.”

Christians all over the world were inspired by the commitment and enthusiasm demonstrated by both the Pope and the 1 million young people attending that final Mass.

But on Aug. 27, 2025, a lone shooter attacked Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

It was full of school children who attended the parish school next door, celebrating Mass for the beginning of the school year.

Two children were killed, and 17 others wounded, including two adults.

This makes 47 school shootings this year so far in the United States.

While the United States might lead the world in school shootings, many other countries have also suffered from this kind of violence against children, especially since 2000.

The United Nations reports that attacks on schools and children worldwide rose by 44% in 2024.

Reactions

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey reacted vehemently, stating “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying.”

Later that day, the school principal, Matthew DeBoer, called for both prayer and action by citing an African proverb: “‘When you pray, you move your feet’…never again can we let this happen.”

These thoughts were echoed by the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Bernard Hebda, addressing the community as “men and women of hope…[who] through prayer…and action… can indeed make a difference.”

Pope Leo XIV also addressed this shooting, blaming “the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world.”

Taking action

Christians must add action to their prayers. But what action?

It is vital to work with secular authorities on local, regional, and national levels in implementing stricter regulations on the purchase and ownership of guns.

On the international level, efforts to obtain cease-fires for military conflicts must also continue.

It is also important to address the motivations for these shootings at every level.

Better mental health outreach might address the emotional problems that some shooters, adults, adolescents, or children experience, leading to desperate, warped decision-making.

Popular forms of entertainment, especially for young viewers, should avoid violent imagery or themes.

Social media sites, online games, and television programs could stay away from or limit programming involving armed warfare, violent crime, and murders.

Why is gun violence presented as popular escapist fantasy? In reality, it is a horrific source of sorrow, panic, and long-lasting trauma.

It is exactly through all three, thought, prayer and action that Christians can put an end to school shootings, other gun violence against children, and the “pandemic of arms” in general.

Only these changes can support Pope Leo’s hope for “a different world” in the future; unchanged, the future looks bleak indeed.