Monday, September 1, 2025 : "When we speak out about being pro-life from the pulpit, I think gun violence needs to be on the same level as abortion." —Sr. Maria Orlandini

by Brian Fraga for the National Catholic Reporter  Staff Reporter August 31, 2025: 

U.S. Catholic bishops offered the usual and uncontroversial condolences and prayerful solidarity in the wake of the deadly Aug. 27 Minneapolis church shooting that killed two children and wounded 18 others.

The statements were mild compared to comments from Pope Leo XIV on Sunday (Aug. 31) and two archbishops who stood out from most of the U.S. bishops.

"We hold in our prayers the countless children killed and injured every day around the world," Leo said. “Let us plead God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world."

Leo spoke in English, making his first comments on gun control since becoming the first U.S. born pope. Leo's comments follow strong statements from the archbishops of Chicago and Detroit. While echoing the prayers and condolences, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich and Detroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger clearly believed that was not enough.

Cupich and Weisenburger called for new measures to combat gun violence by reducing access to the types of high-velocity rifles and handguns that have repeatedly been used in school shootings across the country. 

"The facts are clear," Cupich said in a prepared statement. "Guns are plentiful and common sense attempts to limit their availability have been largely rejected in the name of a freedom not found in our constitution."

Weisenburger said, "Even as we pray for those whose lives were taken today, I also ask that our prayer be matched by firm endeavors to end the superabundance of handguns and assault weapons in our great nation. We owe it to our families, our neighbors, and our friends. But most of all, we owe it to the children,"

Cupich and Weisenburger were in the minority. Most Catholic diocesan leaders avoided delving into the gun control debate and generally are far more reticent to weigh in on guns than they are on other life issues, such as abortion.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has in the past called for strong gun-control measures, pulled its punches. Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, the conference vice president, issued a tepid three-sentence statement in which he said the church was following the news "with heartbreaking sadness."

The dissonance between previous strong statements about gun safety and the bishops' tepid response to the Aug. 27 fatal shooting did not go unnoticed by Catholics who advocate for gun-control legislation.

"I think the bishops should be more forceful on this issue, and priests too," said St. Francis of Philadelphia Sr. Maria Orlandini, serves as director of advocacy for the Franciscan Action Network. 

Orlandini, whose advocacy work focuses in part on gun violence prevention, told the National Catholic Reporter that the Catholic Church in general does not prioritize addressing gun violence, which she noted is the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States.

"I think we need to make gun violence part of our pro-life program," Orlandini said. "When we speak out about being pro-life from the pulpit, I think gun violence needs to be on the same level as abortion."

The bishops in 2023 affirmed abortion, not gun violence, as the "preeminent priority" for their political guidance to Catholic voters leading up to the 2024 presidential election.

"When we speak out about being pro-life from the pulpit, I think gun violence needs to be on the same level as abortion."

—Sr. Maria Orlandini