Reactions in Spain to the Russian attack on a Catholic monastery in Ukraine

Last Tuesday, six days ago, Russia attacked the Bernardine Monastery in Lviv, belonging to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

A Russian attack sets fire to a historic Catholic monastery in Lviv, Ukraine
Russia has attacked nearly 600 Christian churches in Ukraine: what propagandists are keeping quiet about

The attack happened in broad daylight and with numerous witnesses, but we didn't need anyone to tell us: a video recorded the moment an Iranian Shahed drone, a suicide drone used by Russia, crashed onto that 17th-century religious building, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

While Russians spend hundreds of millions a year attempting to convince the world that they are a "Christian nation", churches remain a constant target all across Ukraine.

Today, Russians struck the 17th-century St. Andrew’s Church, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Lviv. pic.twitter.com/POtaauB3EJ

— SPRAVDI — Stratcom Centre (@StratcomCentre) March 24, 2026

The news of this attack was published by Euronews, British media such as BBC, The Times and The Independent and religious news outlets such as Catholic Review and Zenit.org (which cited as its news source the article published by Contando Estrelas, in which I cited official and direct sources from Ukraine). The Associated Press agency published these two photos of the fire caused by the Russian attack:

In Spain, apart from this blog, the news of that attack did not receive much attention. Despite this, it was published by media outlets such as El Debate, Abc, 20 Minutos and Europa Press and Religión Digital. This fact may be surprising, but this attack was not reported in any other religious news outlet. COPE, the radio station of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, didn't even publish a news item about it on its website.

As for the reactions, Pedro Sánchez and his government issued no message of condemnation or rejection of this attack. None. They didn't even mention it. In fact, in the four years of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sánchez's government has said nothing about the nearly 600 Russian attacks on churches in Ukraine, a figure published a year ago by the Ukrainian government.

Furthermore, no political party with representation in Congress and the Senate said anything about this attack, neither to condemn it nor even to comment on it. Not one.

Similarly, no Catholic association has said anything about it. None. Nor have there been any comments from associations and platforms that usually defend Catholics from attacks both inside and outside of Spain.

Furthermore, after much searching, I haven't found a single message from any Spanish bishop condemning that attack. Not one. Some bishops do comment on Israel, but almost none mention the Russian attacks on religious buildings, which now number in the hundreds, all documented by the Ukrainian government.

A few days ago, when I saw this almost total absence of reactions, I thought that perhaps it was because the attack occurred in another country, specifically in a city almost 2,400 km from Madrid. However, yesterday's incident between the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Israeli Police, an incident in which there was no violence, has generated a great deal of reaction in Spain among people who never say anything about Russian attacks on churches in Ukraine, including Sánchez and his government, but also many Catholics who seem to have their eyes wide open to anything Israel does and very closed to anything Russia does.

Jerusalem is almost 3,600 km from Madrid, but apparently, a misunderstanding in Israel has far more repercussions in Spain than a Russian attack on a Catholic monastery in Ukraine. An attack that isn't even an isolated incident: I repeat, there have been hundreds of attacks like it. This should give us pause for thought about what's happening in this country. A country where many people are hypersensitive to anything that mentions Israel, coincidentally the only Jewish state in the world. People who then remain silent about the atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine, including its frequent attacks on churches—crimes that haven't warranted a single protest in Spain in four years, apart from those organized by associations of Ukrainians residing in our country.

---

Photos: AP.