"I am spiritually close to the victims of the episodes of violence that these days have bloodied Texas, California and Ohio, in the United States, affecting defenseless people," Pope Francis said.

The Catholic dioceses of El Paso, Texas, and neighboring Las Cruces, New Mexico, have joined in prayer after an August 3 mass shooting in a mall left several dead and many injured.

The irony of finding himself at a mass shooting event on his home soil after his military career had ended is not lost on Father Hendrickson. “I left the service in 2012, and I thought I was done with that kind of stuff; I thought that was the end of that.”

Again, the bullet. Again, the agony. We are repeating the day over and over, writes Matt Malone, S.J.

In the past, a gun massacre would set off a necessary—though intractable—debate over gun control. This time, our collective feeling seemed to be: At least it was not children.

Catholic leaders are calling for prayer and action in response to the May 7 school shooting inside a charter school near Denver. One teenager died and eight other students were wounded.