THE World Council of Churches (WCC) has demanded an “urgent explanation” from the organisers of the Paris Olympics, after allegations that parts of the opening ceremony on Friday mocked Christianity.
The opening ceremony “angered many Christians who are disgusted and appalled by the mockery of the Christian faith, as depicted in what is considered to be a portrayal of the Lord’s Last Supper”, the WCC’s general secretary, the Revd Professor Jerry Pillay, wrote in a letter on Monday to the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach
“The Last Supper is essential to Christian beliefs and practice, and any form of misguided message is clearly unacceptable, and, worst still, any expressions of mockery of what Christians hold sacred and deeply theological shows the highest form of disrespect and insensitivity.”
Professor Pillay said that he was aware that the scene was said to depict a scene from Greek mythology rather than parody Leonardo da Vinci’s painting The Last Supper. It was “unthinkable”, however, that organisers had not considered its “similarities to the Last Supper and the controversy it was bound to raise among Christians and other people of faith”, he wrote.
The scene was branded a “blasphemous mockery of one of the holiest moments of Christianity” by the President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia; and a violation of the Olympic Charter by the Roman Catholic Church’s official representative at the Games, the Bishop of Digne, the Rt Revd Emmanuel Gobilliard.
“The Olympics opening should promote a spirit of unity, brotherhood, community, and peace — the controversy that arose after this parody certainly didn’t serve this purpose,” Bishop Gobilliard told France’s Catholic daily La Croix. He said that he had taken calls from athletes who complained that their mental preparation had been disturbed.
“People felt they were watching a programme with a very strong ideological orientation, which sought to impose a uniform way of thinking against which it is very difficult to express opposition.”
The opening ceremony, featuring boats carrying national teams along a four-mile route, from the Pont d’Austerlitz to Trocadero, was watched by 23 million French TV viewers, and millions more worldwide.
The “Festivity” scene, one of 12 celebrating French culture and history, depicted a party on a river footbridge, featuring drag queens and transgender models, and was widely taken as parodying the Italian Leonardo’s late-15th-century mural masterpiece.
A caped and hooded horseman was also depicted riding along the river and through a passageway formed by national flags, and was linked by some commentators to images from Revelation.
Responding to criticisms, the President of Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet, said that the ceremony had been designed to “trigger reflection” while delivering a “very committed message” about “values and principles”.
A spokesperson for the Games, Anne Descamps, told a press conference that the organisers had not intended “disrespect to any religious group”, and were sorry “if people have taken any offence”.
The ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, told the Associated Press that he had been surprised by “negative reactions to the show”. The “Festivity” scene had depicted a pagan feast linked to the gods of Mount Olympus, in a bid to “celebrate diversity” and “pay tribute to feasting and French gastronomy”, he said.
A Dutch art historian, Walther Schoonenberg, said in a weekend post on X that he believed that the scene had been based on The Feast of the Gods, painted in the 1640s by Jan van Bijlert, depicting Dionysus, Apollo, Poseidon, Minerva, and other Ancient Greek divinities. This painting is held in the collection of the Musée Magnin, in Dijon, which also posted the image on X, with the comment “This tableau reminds you of something?” and added a winking emoji.
At least two actors confirmed in media comments, however, that the scene had been intended to imitate The Last Supper, while counter-claims by Olympic officials were rejected as “condescending and patronising” by a prominent American RC bishop, the Rt Revd Robert Barron.
Among other reactions, the International Association of Exorcists said on Sunday that the ceremony had taken place against the backdrop of the city’s “wounded and humiliated” Notre-Dame Cathedral, still under reconstruction after a devastating fire in 2019 (News, 18 April 2019) .
It said that the “nauseating parody” of Leonardo’s work, in which “the Apostles are replaced by drag queen characters” and “the Blood of Christ is represented by Bacchus”, had resembled “a circus where the clowns are not funny”.
The 33rd modern Olympic Games, under preparation since 2017 at an estimated cost of €9 billion, were opened by President Macron, and will run until 11 August in Paris and 16 other French towns and cities, bringing together 10,500 sportspeople from 206 National Committees.
In a weekend statement, the French Bishops’ Conference said that the RC Church had spent three years mobilising members to share in the “sporting and popular fervour” of a “magnificent event”, and had been delighted to host the “opening mass of the Olympic truce”.
It said that the Church believed the “values and principles” expressed by Olympic sport could contribute to “unity and fraternity” desperately needed by the world, and “deeply regretted” that the opening had included “scenes of mockery and derision of Christianity”.
“We are thinking of all the Christians on every continent who have been hurt by the outrageousness and provocation of certain scenes,” the French bishops said. “We want them to understand that the Olympic celebration goes far beyond the ideological biases of a few artists.”
Statements of condemnation have also come from church leaders in Italy, Poland, Spain, and Germany, where the RC Church’s lead bishop for sports, the Rt Revd Stefan Oster, said on Monday that the depiction of a “queer Last Supper” had marked a “low point” in the otherwise impressive opening ceremony.
Among Anglican reactions, the Bishop of Worcester, Dr John Inge, condemned the “Festivity” scene as “unnecessary and highly offensive”, adding in a post on X that “the secular elite would not dream of mocking other faiths in this dreadful manner.”
In a follow-up post, however, Dr Inge accepted the explanation that the scene had been “supposed to represent a Greek bacchanal”, and said that he had been “a bit hasty in joining in the outrage”.
The United Christian Churches of Korea joined the global protests, however, expressing “anger and disappointment” at the “attack on Christianity”.
“The opening ceremony insulted the Olympic spirit by causing dispute through its attacks on religions and ideologies,” the association, grouping most Protestant denominations, said on Monday. “The art director of the ceremony claimed it was a performance supposed to promote an inclusive world. But it rather exposed today’s vulgarism and precariousness promoted by liberals in France, by violating the spirit of tolerance”.
In a statement on Monday, France’s Orthodox bishops said that elements of the opening ceremony had “offended the sensitivity of Christians in France and beyond”, and urged respect for “the values and beliefs of all components of French society, without invective or provocation”.
They said that they were fully committed “to freedom of expression and artistic creation”, in line with “the spirit of republican secularism”, but rejected “the imposition of standards” questioning their country’s “foundations of faith”.
“The state is a guarantor of this, especially when it involves artistic performances presented on behalf of France and involving the Republic,” the Orthodox bishops said. “What requires corrective action by the authorities is the excess, provocation, and subversion that certain representations induce, which continue to arouse indignation and controversy.”
The Ecumenical Patriarchate said that the Olympics attracted the interest of “millions from every corner of the planet”, and offered the host country an opportunity to transmit “positive messages on a universal level”.
The opening ceremony scenes, it said, would offend “every civilised person who recognises the right to faith and respects religious symbols”.
In his letter this week, Professor Pillay said that the Geneva-based WCC would continue praying “for a safe, peaceful, and successful Olympics”, and called for an urgent explanation of the opening ceremony’s controversial content, which, he said, had “deeply angered” Christian Churches.
“The WCC is represented by 352 member Churches, with over 600 million Christians in the world,” he told Mr Bach.
“As the largest ecumenical fellowship in the world, we have a responsibility to respond to the concerns of Christians raised about the perceived mockery of the Christian faith in the Last Supper scene, and thus request your immediate response.”
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