The Vatican recently addressed the controversial opening ceremony to the 2024 Paris Olympics, which many have criticized for its seeming mockery of the Christian faith. The statement released by the Catholic authority expressed that Pope Francis was “saddened” by some of the depictions that viewers were met with.
One scene in particular appeared to be a recreation of “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci which depicted a crucial moment in the Christian faith when Jesus Christ shared a final meal with his disciples before being crucified and resurrected. However, the performance in question had a woman seemingly in the place of Jesus, who was surrounded by drag queens.
“The Holy See was saddened by certain scenes during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games and can only join the voices that have been raised in recent days to deplore the offence caused to many Christians and believers of other religions,” according to the statement.
The message continued, “At a prestigious event where the whole world comes together to share common values, there should be no allusions ridiculing the religious convictions of many people. The freedom of expression, which is clearly not called into question here, is limited by respect for others.”
The Christian Tribune also reported on commentary about the opening ceremony from Catholic Bishop Robert Barron who called on Christians not to be “weak” in the aftermath of the incident, urging followers of Christ to defend their faith.
The bishop blasted the “gross mockery” that he saw during the broadcast of the opening ceremony. “And it’s in Paris, France, a city I love. I spent three years as a doctoral student there. What do I see But this gross mockery of the Last Supper, and I won’t describe it any further, just go online. It’s gone viral. You can see it,” he added.
The prominent Catholic figure also asked a rhetorical question as to whether the Olympics would have mocked the Muslim faith in a similar manner, stating, “You know, a question I would pose, we all know the answer to it. Would they ever have dared mock Islam in a similar way? Would they ever dreamed of mocking in this, in this gross, you know, public way, a scene from the from the Quran.”
Barron called on Christians to be strong. “As I say, we all know the answer. I think folks, what’s interesting here is this deeply secularist, postmodern society knows who its enemy is. They’re naming it, and we should believe them. They’re they’re telling us who they are. We should believe them. But furthermore, we Christians, we Catholics, should not be sheepish. We should resist. We should make our voices heard,” he said.
Newly converted Christian Russell Brand also addressed the controversy, stating, “I’m pretty down with inclusivity and diversity. I think people should be able to be who they want to be, whether you’ve got a traditional or progressive lifestyle. In a decentralized culture, where you’re not continually being cajoled and bludgeoned by a powerful state backed by commercial interests, you might choose to be a traditional Christian or a Muslim or a Jew or an atheist. And you might want to be a drag queen or whatever. It’s actually no one else’s business,” he said.
Watch Brand below:
Featured image credit: Casa Rosada (Argentina Presidency of the Nation), CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pope_Francis_in_March_2013.jpg