By Christopher Wells

Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver says he was “deeply saddened” by news of the attack on a demonstration calling for Hamas to release Israeli hostages, “especially as it seems our Jewish brothers and sisters were targeted.”

The attack took place at a “Run for Their Lives” rally aimed at remembering hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza. On Sunday, a 45-year-old Egyptian man yelling “Free Palestine” threw makeshift firebombs into a crowd of people who had gathered in downtown Boulder, Colorado.

Twelve people were injured in the attack, including six who had to be hospitalized; four of those were subsequently released.

The suspect had planned the attack for more than a year, specifically targeting what he described as a “Zionist group.”

“When interviewed about the attack, he said he wanted them all to die, he had no regrets, and he would go back and do it again,” Acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado said during a news conference Monday.

Authorities filed charges against the suspect, including attempted murder, assault, and a federal hate crime. More charges are expected.

‘This type of violence must come to an end’

In his statement on Monday, Archbishop Aquila said, “This type of violence must come to an end, as it only fuels hatred.”

He invited prayers “for everyone affected by this horrific attack,” saying, “We ask the Lord to bring comfort, healing, and peace in the face of such hatred. May we listen to the voice of God who calls us to love one another!”

Archbishop Aquila’s statement follows the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, which stated, “In her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews, and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel’s spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.”

Nostra aetate, the Council’s document on the Church and non-Christian religions, adds, “The Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against men or harassment of them because of their race, colour, condition of life, or religion.”