Pope Francis released a statement calling for an end to "the indiscriminate trafficking of arms" following the mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school on Tuesday, a clip from EWTN Vatican revealed.

The pope also sent prayers to the 19 children and two adults killed during the attack and their families.

"My heart is broken for the massacre at the elementary school in Texas," Pope Francis said on Wednesday.

"Let us all commit ourselves so that such tragedies can never happen again," he added.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops also released a statement shortly after Tuesday's attack, calling school shootings an "epidemic of evil and violence" and imploring elected officials to "help us take action."

"There have been too many school shootings, too much killing of the innocent," wrote Chieko Noguchi, the USCCB director of public affairs. "Our Catholic faith calls us to pray for those who have died and to bind the wounds of others, and we join our prayers along with the community in Uvalde and Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller."

U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Joe Donnelly, a former Democratic senator from Indiana, commented on the tragedy through Twitter. The diplomatic channel offered their "deep sadness and closeness" to Uvalde.

"We are witnessing a sickness, and the face of evil. We continue to pray for these blessed children and other wonderful people who were killed and their families. We are crushed by this loss," the ambassador wrote.

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