Pope Francis condemns Orlando shooting: It's 'homicidal folly' and 'senseless hatred'

Pope Francis has condemned the Orlando shooting on Sunday, June 12 at the Pulse nightclub that targeted homosexuals, calling it a "homicidal folly" and a "senseless hatred."

According to a statement published by the Vatican the day after the Orlando massacre, spokesperson Fr. Frederico Lombardi conveyed the Pope's message denouncing the incident.

"The terrible massacre that has taken place in Orlando, with its dreadfully high number of innocent victims, has caused in Pope Francis, and in all of us, the deepest feelings of horror and condemnation, of pain and turmoil before this new manifestation of homicidal folly and senseless hatred," delivered Lombardi.

The Orlando massacre is considered the worst mass shooting in American history with 49 people dead and 53 injured. The gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, sieged the nightclub for about three hours until he was gunned down by the SWAT team that stormed inside with an armored vehicle.

Mateen made a call to 911 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group and also mentioned the Boston marathon bombers, the Tsarnaev brothers. However, authorities say there's no indication that Mateen had ties with the terrorist group. Mateen's father claims his son was enraged in an incident where he saw two men kissing each other.

Prominent voices of the Christian community were also quick to express their sympathy for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, urged Christians to demonstrate Jesus' love for the gay community.

"We don't have to agree on the meaning of marriage and sexuality to love one another and to see the murderous sin of terrorism," Moore wrote on his blog.

Meanwhile, the Benham brothers, Jason and David, claimed in a Facebook video, "We would have placed our lives in front of those."

"Look, these are our gay brothers and sisters, and we need to stand up for them now. That's our Christian response," the brothers said.

They added that although they believe homosexuality is wrong, they've been attending gay pride marches just to bring Jesus' love.