This week the whole world has been commenting on the drag queens’ performance at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The reference to the Last Supper of Jesus with the apostles was evident and the protagonist Barbara Butch herself had claimed this comparison on her Instagram profile. Faced with controversy and protests, director Thomas Jolly was forced to apologize, claiming however that he was inspired by Dionysus. Words that did not convince the Christians (and not only) who remained scandalized for the provocation. The scenes of the ceremony on Friday, July 26 also provoked a harsh reaction from an important part of the world’s Catholic episcopate.
The rejection of the French bishops
The performance did not please the bishops of the house who released a statement in which they spoke of “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deplore deeply”. The episcopate of the Alps wanted to thank “the representatives of other religious faiths who have expressed their solidarity with us”. In the uncomfortable position of bishops of the country promoting the controversial ceremony, the transalpine prelates have addressed a thought “to all Christians on all continents who have been hurt by the excess and provocation of certain scenes. We want them to understand that the Olympic celebration is right beyond prejudices ideological of some artists”.
The first reactions
Among the first to react to the images of the ceremony was Monsignor Charles SciclunaMetropolitan Archbishop of Malta and Adjunct Secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, who wrote a message to the French ambassador on the Mediterranean island to express his “suffering and great disappointment at the insult made to us Christians during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.” Scicluna, who is also president of the Maltese Bishops’ Conference, invited his followers to do the same in a message on X. Another bishop among the first to react was Monsignor Robert Barronhead of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester and an expert communicator, who condemned the scene in a video, wondering whether the organizers “would they ever have dared make fun of Islam in a similar way?” and adding that “this deeply secularist and postmodern society knows who its enemy is – they are naming him – and we should believe them.” Barron also said that “we should resist, we should make our voices heard.”
The letter to the International Olympic Committee
In these hours, a group of bishops including three cardinals have decided to sign a letter of protest for the opening ceremony and to address it to the International Olympic CommitteeThe letter reads: “The world has watched with shock as the Paris Summer Olympics opened with a grotesque and blasphemous representation of the Last Supper. It is difficult to understand how the faith of over 2 billion people can be so casually and intentionally blasphemous“. Therefore, none of the 27 bishops who signed believed the director’s backtracking, who claimed not to have been inspired by the Last Supper.We, Catholic bishops of the world, on behalf of Christians throughout the world, ask the Olympic Committee to repudiate this blasphemous act and to apologize to all people of faith,” is stated in the letter. Among the signatories are three cardinals: the American Raymond Leo Burkethe South African Wilfrid Fox Napier and the Ethiopian Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel. In addition to them, 24 other bishops and archbishops, mostly Americans, have signed. Among them is Monsignor Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, Metropolitan Archbishop of San Francisco.
The intervention of the Holy See
After a week of silence, the Holy See too took a stand public on the representation of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024.
The Press Office issued a note yesterday afternoon in French in which it states that “The Holy See was saddened by some scenes of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris and cannot but join the voices that have been raised in recent days to deplore the offence inflicted on so many Christians and believers of other religions“.
The statement also addresses the issue of freedom of expression and says: “At a prestigious event where the whole world gathers around common values, there should be no allusions that ridicule the religious beliefs of many people. Freedom of expression, which, of course, it is not questionedfinds its limit in respecting others”