The difference between one Catholic church in Gaza and nearly 600 churches in Ukraine

I am a Catholic Christian and a Spanish citizen, and I wonder how many Christians in Ukraine feel right now.

Russia has attacked nearly 600 Christian churches in Ukraine: what propagandists are keeping quiet about
Russia's cruelty against the churches in Ukraine and its care with the mosques

Gaza's only Catholic church damaged by Israeli shell

Yesterday, the Holy Family Church in Gaza, the only Catholic church in the territory, was damaged in an Israeli attack. In the evening, Roni Kaplan, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), noted: "An initial investigation into reports of injuries at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City suggests that fragments of a projectile fired during an operation in the area mistakenly hit the Church. The cause of the incident is under investigation."

Some media outlets and social media users were quick to claim that Israel "bombed" the church and even destroyed it. In reality, the church itself is still standing, with some damage to its facade. Certainly, the IDF must be required to exercise extreme caution when operating in areas with civilians present, although I personally rule out any intention by Israel to attack a Catholic church. It should also be remembered that Hamas continues to use residential areas to carry out military operations, using civilians as human shields, which is a war crime. A crime that many systematically ignore when discussing this war.

There's one thing that particularly caught my attention about this incident. Some religious media outlets have given extensive attention to what happened in Gaza, which I think is very good, although I would appreciate it if they were consistent and also covered the attacks on churches elsewhere.

Russian attacks on nearly 600 Christian churches in Ukraine

In March, I noted here that Russia has attacked almost 600 Christian churches in Ukraine (in total, the invaders have attacked 642 religious buildings, 53 of which were completely destroyed). Most of the attacked churches were Orthodox, but there were also 24 attacks on Catholic buildings. Details of these attacks can be found in a report (see PDF) published by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture in February and on the website Religion on Fire.

On that website, you can see images of Catholic churches attacked by Russians. The most serious of the attacks was the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kyselivka, in Mykolayiv Oblast, a church of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine. The cathedral was attacked with cannon fire by a Russian tank, which fired on its tower to knock down the cross, managing to bring it down with the fifth shot, in March 2022. Finally, that cathedral was destroyed by the Russians with artillery fire and cluster bombs on May 2, 2022. Here you can see the result of those attacks:

The silence of some Christians in the face of these Russian attacks

The Roman Catholic Church of Ukraine reported on that attack on July 27, 2022 on its official website, in a report on Catholic buildings attacked by the Russians. The religious media outlets I have consulted in the last few hours (including two Spanish Catholic media outlets) that did report on the damage to the church in Gaza, published nothing about the destruction of that cathedral in Kyselivka by the Russians. In fact, those two Spanish Catholic media outlets have published absolutely nothing about Russian attacks on Christian temples in three years.

The same can be said about some influential Christian social media accounts: they have raised a fuss about the damage to that church in Gaza, but have remained completely silent about the systematic Russian attacks on churches, including the complete destruction of the aforementioned Catholic cathedral and other Christian temples.

Israel regrets the damage to the church and opens an investigation: Russia never apologizes

There is a notable difference between the two cases, by the way. Israel officially expressed its regret for the damage to the church in Gaza yesterday in a statement released by the Prime Minister's office, which noted that it has opened an investigation into what happened. By contrast, Russia has attacked hundreds of Christian churches without a single apology, without opening any kind of investigation and constantly denying all evidence of these attacks.

This difference is no coincidence. Israel is a democratic country, and its armed forces do everything possible to minimize civilian casualties, including sending evacuation messages through various channels to areas affected by military operations. However, Russia is a dictatorship, and its army systematically attacks civilian targets in a strategy of terror that seeks to undermine the Ukrainian people's morale by murdering civilians in residential buildings, schools, hospitals, and even churches.

The difference between that Ukrainian cathedral and the church in Gaza

Finally, the photos you see above in this article show the destruction of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kyselivka by the Russians. They were published by the Ukrainian site Religion on Fire and by the Roman Catholic Church of Ukraine. Some of you will probably be seeing them for the first time because, as I pointed out, some media outlets showed no interest in publishing them. In this photo from Palestine International Broadcast we can see the damage to the Catholic Church in Gaza, which some say was "destroyed":

It's curious to see a worldwide outcry over the damage to the facade of that church and a general silence over the destruction of the Catholic Cathedral of Kyselivka, in addition to hundreds of other Ukrainian Christian churches attacked by the Russians. I repeat: I wonder how many Ukrainian Christians feel right now, seeing how little attention other Christians pay to them.