Chicago Archbishop Blasé Cupich is calling for gun control measures in the wake of the Independence Day mass shooting in Highland Park, Ill.

"What should have been a peaceful celebration of our nation’s founding ended in unspeakable tragedy,” Cupich said in a statement. “Please join me in praying for the victims and their loved ones, who never imagined a July 4 celebration could become a killing ground.” 

Highland Park residents were gathered for a Fourth of July parade when a man began firing into the crowd from a rooftop along the parade route, a WLS report said this week. The attack left seven people dead and dozens injured. Robert "Bobby" Crimo III, 22, was identified as a person of interest and was taken into custody in Lake Forest some eight hours later. 

While Cupich stands by the rights so many Americans take for granted, he called upon those rights to not be abused.

“The right to bear arms does not eclipse the right to life, or the right of all Americans to go about their lives free of the fear that they might be shredded by bullets at any moment,” Cupich said in the release. He called gun violence “a life issue” and added, “We must continue to pray that all our officials, elected and unelected alike, will redouble their commitment to keeping safe the people they have sworn to serve.”

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin telegrammed Cupich to express Pope Francis’ thoughts on the matter.

"His Holiness joins the entire community in praying that almighty God will grant eternal rest to the dead and healing and consolation to the injured and bereaved,” the telegram said. “With unwavering faith that the grace of God is able to convert even the hardest of hearts, making it possible to 'depart from evil and do good,' Pope Francis prays that every member of society will reject violence in all of its forms and respect life in all of its stages.” 

Cupich held a Mass of Peace and Healing at Immaculate Conception Church in Highland Park the day after the shooting. 

“We come together this night to find comfort in a moment of shocking tragedy," he said, quoted in an archdiocese release. “Comfort comes in just being together and in the shared faith that God never abandons us. For the God who sent his only Son Jesus into the world to fully share in our life with all of its joys and hopes, its griefs and sorrows, is near us." 

Cupich closed with a plea for peace.

"Let his simple prayer open us to receive the grace of God that comes in simple ways, a grace that liberates us to have the courage to end this scourge of gun violence, and a grace that reminds us that we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave,” he said.