Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sparked backlash from religious groups after attacking those offering ‘prayers’ for the victims of Wednesday’s mass shooting in his city. Minnesota Bishop Robert Barron condemned Frey’s response and branded it ‘completely asinine’ after the tragedy where two children were shot inside a Catholic school church.

‘Catholics don’t think that prayer magically protects them from all suffering. After all, Jesus prayed fervently from the cross on which he was dying,’ Barron told Fox News. Frey divided opinions with his impassioned remarks at a press conference after the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School.

‘Children are dead, there are families that have a deceased child. You cannot put into words the gravity, tragedy or absolute pain of the situation,’ the Democrat mayor said.

‘Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school, they were in a church.’

Barron, who leads the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, argued that critics misunderstand the role of prayer, and said that ‘prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God, which strikes me as altogether appropriate precisely at times of great pain.’ Frey was not alone in angering Christians following the shooting, with former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also attacking prayer in her response.

She wrote on X: ‘Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers does not end school shootings. prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.’ Psaki, now an MSNBC anchor, was criticized by current White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt for the post, which she branded ‘incredibly insensitive.’

‘I saw the comments of my predecessor, Ms. Psaki, and frankly, I think they’re incredibly insensitive and disrespectful to the tens of millions of Americans of faith across this country who believe in the power of prayer,’ Leavitt said. FBI Director Kash Patel said in the aftermath of the tragedy that the bureau is investigating the attack as both an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.

 Barron said that the attack was a brazen targeting of Christians, and told Fox News: ‘In the past seven years in our country, there has been a 700% increase in violent acts against Christians and Christian churches.

‘Worldwide, Christianity is by far the most persecuted religion. That people are even wondering whether the tragedy in Minneapolis is an instance of anti-Catholic violence is puzzling to me.’