Anything that rocks the foundations of understanding is liable to destabilize an individual that never developped the tools to confront their inner void (for lack of a better word).

This is especially true if that said knowledge is set through faith or habit whereas things are just accepted as they are instead of building these truth claims through establishing a succession of supporting tenets.

While humans are good at piece-wize learning, they are not so well equipped for rehaulings whole fields of knowledge at once. While most people often survive what can be called an epistemic trauma, some individuals lead such a devout or difficult life that if the only thing they clinged to (to give them hope) is put down, they would almost instantly develop suicidal ideations instead of confronting the void.

I'm assuming that the news will reveal that some religious institutions where not completely honest or true. That would qualify as traumatic for a religious person.