With apparently less noise than actress Silvia Abril's comments about the Church made to Cinemanía, actors such as Jaime Lorente (La Casa de Papel), Patxi Bronchalo in El Debate, Bishop José Ignacio Munilla and some influencers, have reacted with respect, after the first insulting reactions to Silvia Abril's words about the Church and youth.
The controversy arose when Silvia Abril was asked about the film ‘.‘Sundays’, winner of 5 Goya awards, in which a 17-year-old girl announces her desire to enter a cloistered convent, the Catalan actress and humorist said the following to Cinemanía:
“Look at that Sirat it cracked me up and turned my head inside out...And Sundays too, but I'll stick with Deaf because I think it is more necessary. I refuse to accept that the youth who are coming up have that pull towards the Christian... I was going to say the mystical, but it is not the mystical... I feel sorry for them that they need to believe in something and that they cling to the Christian faith. I'm sorry for the Church, what a racket you have set up! It's over, it's over”.
Insulting statements for Silvia Abril
Following her comments, as seen on social networks and in media such as La Vanguardia, some criticized the comedian harshly. The title of the Catalan newspaper was: “Ultra-Catholic organizations lash out against Silvia Abril for her words about Christianity on the red carpet of the Goya Awards”.
However, the same social networks and other media have been gathering another profile of reactions that try to open the eyes about the true Church and the way of doing of Catholic people. Here are some of them.
1. Jaime Lorente: “the amount of hate in networks has blown my mind» (Instagram).
Several media outlets have echoed the reaction of actor Jaime Lorente (La casa de Papel), largely collected from his words on Instagram, through his profile @jaimelorentelo
Under the title “I share that I am a Christian without fear that people will hate me,» the Cinemania The company has said that Jaime Lorente is about to get “into a new garden”, with these words:
“There has been a lot of controversy with a comment made by a colleague (alluding to Silvia Abril) on the carpet about the Catholic religion that has awakened an amount of hate in networks that has left me hallucinated and has made me turn my head.”.
Abril's opinion is “super respectable”.”, Lorente assures. “Another thing is the ways of communicating his opinion, which I'm not even going to go into, because it seems to me a trifle,” he continues. “Sometimes you are in a place where you have twenty-five thousand questions, you can be caught in a good or bad moment, you can be more or less right. But that's no reason to condemn anyone.”.
“Let people ‘assassinate’ you over networks.”
"What cannot happen, adds Jaime Lorente, “is that for giving your opinion, people ‘assassinate’ you through networks”.”, protests the actor. In the name of his religion, he recalls, “a lot of hatred and violence has been exercised in certain ways: it's another thing how you profess it, and I refuse to profess it in that way”.
On the other hand, according to the same film magazine, owned by Henneo, Jaime Lorente affirms the positive effects of his faith (“It makes me love better, love better and respect better, feel better and make others feel better. “But there are people who don't.” “And the person who makes that comment you don't know what relationship he may have had with that religion, what life he might have had, how he might have felt... You have to be able to understand that he has that opinion.”.
2. Francisco Javier tells of his priestly work in Leganés
Patxi Bronchalo writes in today's ‘El Debate’ a “Letter from a neighborhood priest to Silvia Abril”.”. Francisco Javier, as the priest is called, works in Leganés, and tells actress Silvia Abril what he does in his work as a priest.
“In my day-to-day life there are no spotlights or make-up; here life is very authentic. I dedicate myself to be with people who suffer a lot, to listen to those who do not sleep because of the anxiety of the problems, to comfort those who have lost someone dear to them and to give hope to those who no longer see a way out. Like my colleagues, I try to help anyone who asks for help.
The local priest: no VIP lounges or evening gowns here
The priest elaborates further: “Do you know something? In this neighborhood where I am, there are no red carpets or galas. There are no VIP rooms or evening gowns. Yes, there are immigrant waiters, but here they usually serve coffee at the tables, they are not with trays carrying cocktails and gourmet appetizers at parties. I am happy here, I love this neighborhood. I invite you to come, Silvia”.
“Come to my parish ‘chiringuito’ and spend a morning with me visiting the sick who can no longer go out on the street because they live in buildings without elevators. Listen to the stories of women who are alone because their children never visit them. Hear from men who live with the hurt of having lost children to drugs or alcohol. You can offer them some of that advice they hear on television. Then, in the afternoon, join Caritas volunteers distributing food to immigrant families. We do not have photocall, but you can help hand out boxes of fruit, you can watch them and listen to their stories, and share with them your recipes for faith.
“Or stay with me serving young people who can't get out of an addiction, who are suffering from the breakup of their families or the anguish of not being able to become independent. They will be happy to listen to your solutions. Then I invite you to stay at Mass with us. And I will not charge you anything. In my ‘chiringuito’ does not enter a single cent from those who do not want to give it freely in the income tax return. On the other hand, of the taxes I pay, a part will go to his movies, whether I want it or not”.
The film represented the difficulty of accepting a vocation. The Goya Gala did the live casting...
- Jose Ignacio Munilla (@ObispoMunilla) March 2, 2026
But Christ does not compete for prizes: he keeps knocking at the door of everyone's heart -even the one who rejects him-. And that call is more disconcerting than any... pic.twitter.com/sUDdFxc1N8
3. @BishopMunilla in X: The Call of Christ
Bishop José Ignacio Munilla, active on the continent of social networks, refers in a post on X to ‘Los domingos’, and to those who reject the call of Jesus at the door of the heart.
“The film represented the difficulty of accepting a vocation,” he writes. “The Goya gala did the casting live... But Christ does not compete for prizes: he keeps knocking at the door of everyone's heart -even the one that rejects him-. And that call is more disconcerting than any statuette. #Goya2026 #Goya 1TP5Sundays".
4. Cristina Tárrega: “I prefer my son to come closer to the faith”.”
Another perspective is provided by journalist and presenter Cristina Tárrega. In her opinion, Silvia Abril's words can respond to “two versions. Either she has not thought about it, which is Christian charity. But for those of us who are Catholics and Christians, who are not ultra-Catholics, well, it leaves us as .....
On the other hand, Tárrega adds in OK diario that she prefers that her son attends church: “I prefer that my son, who is 21 years old, comes closer to the faith than to other things, right? If that is going to be positive for him, without him being a fanatic, I think it's great. I don't think it should be labeled as a chiringuito, when the Church is very important and its social action. Either he hasn't thought about it or it's a good marketing strategy if he doesn't know who Silvia Abril is”.
5. @emiliogomez04 on the criticism of the Catholic turn of young people.
To give you a bit of (almost) everything, see another critical commentary, more typical of radio format, journalist of @copepozoblanco, disseminator of the primary sector.
“The actress Silvia Abril criticizes at the Goya Awards the Catholic turn of young people. It makes me sad that they cling to the Christian faith, she says (...) Now you will see the pull of young people in Holy Week. Those of us who believe are for them anachronistic beings, and they have to tell us what we have to eat, what we have to believe, and what we have to spend our money on. For this stupendous woke world, we are anachronistic of faith, of customs, of culture..... A culture that, by the way, was born in the fields. We do not ask why they do not believe, neither if they drink milk or if they like bullfighting, hunting or fishing. Let them leave the world alone and let them go on with their wonderful world”.
In case you want to read what the president of Ábside Media, José Luis Restán, had to say on the subject, here have it.
A friend of this writer heard Silvia Abril's statements and thought: “let's look at what we have done, and what we have not done, for this woman to say this about the Church”. Norwegian Bishop Erik Varden mentioned some of them in the Lenten meditations he preached at the Vatican.
6. @fernando_alhambrista forgives Silvia Abril
@fernando_alhambrista ✨ FE ✨ #silviaApril#religioncatholic#fé ♬ Eternity - Rosario de Cádiz
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