Pope given copy of US Senate bill on Minnesota shooting by co-sponsor Klobuchar

By Joshua McElwee

Pope Leo was presented on Friday with a copy of a U.S. Senate resolution commemorating the victims of a shooting in August at a Minnesota Catholic Church and school, given to him by Senator Amy Klobuchar, one of the bill's co-sponsors.

Leo, the first U.S. pope, is seen holding the resolution in a Vatican handout photo while standing next to Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota who was part of a papal event on Friday.

Two children were killed and 18 teachers and children were wounded on August 27 when a gunman fired through stained-glass windows at Annunciation Catholic School.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Argentina says Brazil downgraded diplomatic ties after presidents' feud

The horrific attack renewed debate in the U.S. about gun control, while days after the event Leo made an unusual intervention at a weekly Sunday prayer gathering to ask that God "stop the pandemic of arms, large and small".

The Senate resolution, a non-legislative statement co-sponsored by fellow Minnesota Democrat Tina Smith, passed the Senate by unanimous consent in September.

Klobuchar was taking part on Friday in a meeting at the Vatican between Leo and Ukrainian children who were rescued from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.

The delegation thanked Leo for the meeting in a statement, and said it had delivered a letter to him from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealing for the Vatican to take on a formal role in helping return children from Russia.