Pope denounces ‘pandemic of arms’ as he prays for victims of US school shooting

Pope Leo addressed worshippers in St Peter’s Square (Andrew Medichini/AP)

Pope Leo has denounced the “pandemic of arms, large and small”, as he prayed publicly for the victims of the shooting during a Catholic school Mass in the United States.

History’s first American Pope spoke in English as he condemned the attack and the “logic of weapons” fuelling wars around the world, during his Sunday noon blessing from his studio overlooking St Peter’s Square.