Poland: Priest dies in knife attack at Benedictine convent

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Priest dies in knife attack at Benedictine convent
A 31-year-old Ukrainian stabbed five people, including three priests and two laypeople, at the Benedictine foundation this morning.

Sep 24, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — A priest died in the wake of a knife attack at a Benedictine convent in southeastern Poland.

According to Polish Catholic outlet Polonia Christiana, a 31-year-old Ukrainian stabbed five people, including three priests and two members of the laity, a man and a woman, at the monastic foundation in Jarosław (pronounced ‘Yar-o-swaf’) this morning.

Fr. Stanisław Zbojnowicz died from his wounds.

“Today around 9:30 AM (local time), police received a call that, on the premises of the Jarosław abbey, which is on Benedictine Street in Jarosław, a Ukrainian citizen had attacked a man with a knife,” said Anna Długosz from the district police headquarters.
Polonia Christiana reported that all of the wounded were taken to the hospital. Reports differed over how many priests had died. The earliest reports said that one had succumbed to his injuries, but at 2 p.m. local time, Rzeszów Cathedral announced over Facebook that two priests had died.

However, Polish media later reported that one priest is dead. Two others are in serious condition.

Rzeszów Cathedral apologized for its mistake “and for the pain it may have caused.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed that the killer is Ukrainian and in the hands of Polish police.

“He will be punished to the full extent of the Polish law,” Tusk wrote. “I join with the loved ones of the victims of this brutal attack in their suffering.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also condemned the attack.

The knifings follow increasing tension in Poland regarding the presence of the millions of Ukrainians who fled from the nearby war with Russia. Jarosław is located about 25 miles from the Ukrainian border. However, the UK’s Sky News reported that the alleged killer, Ihor M., entered Poland earlier today from Germany.

According to the Hungarian Conservative, the suspect “first entered a kitchen inside the abbey complex, where he took a knife.” He then stabbed a priest in “the adjoining café area” before entering the church. Confessions were being heard, and the church was filling with the congregation for the 10 a.m. Mass. Here, the suspect stabbed two more priests, as those gathered tried to stop him.

A motive for the attack has not yet been revealed.