Rome: Pope Francis asked the society to work towards stopping school shootings after 19 children and two adults were killed by a gunman in Texas on Tuesday.

“My heart is shattered by the school tragedy in Texas,” Pope Francis said at the end of his Audience on Wednesday. “I pray for the children and adults killed and their families.”

The pontiff also asked for all to “say enough to the indiscriminate arms trade...Let us all commit ourselves so that such tragedies can never happen again” 

The gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School – which teaches children aged seven to 10 – in the city of Uvalde in south Texas before he was killed by law enforcement, officials said. The 18-year-old suspect was armed with several weapons, investigators say.

In a telegram sent to Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio and signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, the Pope assured “those affected by this attack of his spiritual closeness,” and “joins the entire community in commending the souls of those children and teachers who died to Almighty God’s loving mercy,” imploring “the divine gifts of healing and consolation upon the injured and bereaved.”

The message concludes, “with firm faith in the Risen Christ, through whom every evil will be overcome by good (cf. Rom 12:21), he prays that those tempted to violence will choose instead the path of fraternal solidarity and love.” The Pope offered his blessing, “as a pledge of strength and peace in the lord.”