The ceremony, which took place on July 26, featured drag queens portraying apostles and a lesbian DJ depicted as Jesus.

The display seemingly mocked Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper.

The Holy See issued a statement on Saturday expressing its sorrow over the event. The statement aligns with other Catholic and global leaders who denounced the scene.

The Vatican stated it "was saddened by certain scenes at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games and cannot but join the voices raised in recent days to deplore the offence done to many Christians and believers of other religions.

"In a prestigious event where the whole world comes together around common values, there should not be 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."

Peace is the most important thing

Faith leaders and Paris 2024 Olympics officials gathered on Sunday at Notre Dame Cathedral to try to ease tensions. Despite the controversy, they celebrated the harmony between faith and sport.

Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, highlighted the complementary nature of faith and sport, aiming to showcase peace and unity.

Catholic Bishop Emmanuel Gobilliard echoed this sentiment, stating "We wanted to show that the most important thing is peace".

Meanwhile, representatives from major religions have set up a shared space for spiritual support in a tent-like structure at the athletes' village.

This initiative involves Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism, providing a peaceful haven for athletes and their staff.

The Olympic organising committee allocated 50 square meters to each religion, ensuring compliance with France's secularism laws. The spaces reflect dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect, with open doors symbolising unity between the different faith areas.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

AP News

CathNews New Zealand

As part of the grand, self-aggrandising spectacle on the banks of the Seine, a troupe of drag queens staged a re-enactment of Leonardo da Vinci's celebrated painting The Last Supper.

An ersatz, plump, drag Jesus stood behind a sound mixer in an ultramarine, sequined dress making a heart symbol with his/her/their hands.

A bizarrely blue Bacchus, already likened to a Smurf, emerged from a great silver platter decorated with rainbow flowers.

It made for an incongruous, ill-thought through silhouette that surely lacked the sophistication or execution to be considered effective satire.

Christian community upset

Diverse Christian groups have taken umbrage about all this over the past few days.

It was called "an insult", "blasphemy", "an abomination". Some described it as "Satanic" or "pagan". Others decried, "They wouldn't do this to Islam!"

Olympic bosses have subsequently apologised, although the director, Thomas Jolly, remains defiant.

The outspokenness of the response from some Christian commentators has been predictable, but is also, in my view, dismaying.

For one thing, it distracts from reasonable and rather more damning criticism of the sheer tedium of the whole performance, which was less high art than it was bad taste.

As Gareth Roberts noted in a jaded review for Britain's The Spectator, "has it finished yet?"

The whole thing probably worked better as a subversive send-up of the extremes of identitarian politics and discourse than it did of Christianity.

It was counterproductive, especially with the world watching. "A smug spectacle of wokeness", as Spiked Online put it.

The Last Supper

We may well have arrived at a moment when the particular constellation of beliefs associated with such banal identity intersectionalism collapses under the weight of its own internal contradictions, as well as the sheer conformism of those who seek to enforce its marginal agendas.

As a gay man, that worries me, because it risks undoing much of the progress for LGBTIQ+ rights around the world over the past six decades.

Nevertheless, that is not the point of this article.

What I argue here is that the speed with which certain elements of the Christian community are embracing politicised victimhood is an unwelcoming development for Christianity's place in the public sphere in Western societies.

It represents a marked departure from the attitude that previous generations of Christian martyrs — real victims, if you will — glorified at a time Christianity truly was imperilled.

To put it bluntly: Christians should be more wary about joining the self-pity parade.

A short history of Christian victimhood

Christianity is a religion born of sanctifying the victim. Jesus became one when he died on the cross for our sins. Early Christian martyrs, too, revelled in their victim statuses.

Peter Brown famously argued that the cult of saints and their relics in Late Antiquity self-consciously inverted categories of triumph and defeat precisely in order to celebrate persecution.

Moreover, pagan Romans buried dead bodies only outside city walls so that their polluting miasma was kept away from the living. By contrast, Christians reclaimed and embraced death — especially ignominious death — as precious.

Martyr graves and sites of executions became Christianity's "sacred sites" where shrines and churches were built.

By exalting humility and forbearance, the early Christians created the conditions for peaceable coexistence with outsiders, for mutual respect and understanding, and for developing a sense of proportion in difficult interactions.

This strand in Christian thinking has never been truly dominant within Christian societies — though it has acted as a powerful moderating influence on more dogmatic and utopian impulses in Christian societies' political thought and moral teachings.

Christianity has rarely prospered when its adherents have strayed far from it.

The problem, however, is that such humbleness in the face of adversity is hard — the more so in an age of perpetual outrage. '

Some Christians observe how other minority groups, including the LGBTIQ+ community, gain advantage from taking offence.

It can seem only too rational to join them in order to reap the same rewards.

They do not see what is less visible: the unease, even resentment, that builds up in a wider population when intolerant groups demand blasphemy laws or other categories of special treatment.

"Do to others what you would have them do to you", as Jesus put it. Is perpetual conflict with liberals what Christians really want?
Church versus state

Last year, I wrote about an apparently similar case when the comedian Reuben Kaye told an off-colour joke about Jesus live on The Project.

The parallel with that case and the Olympic controversy is the inept attempt at satire which fell flat because it lacked the requisite intellectual brio to sound fresh and relevant.

It is worth pointing out a major difference, however. Kaye's joke was the work of one man — even his fellow participants in The Project seemed rather uncomfortable with it.

The "attack" on Christianity — or, more specifically, Catholicism — at the Olympics was, on the other hand, sanctioned by the French state.

This is entirely clear from the fact that it took place in the context of the Olympic opening ceremony.

Now, the French state has long had an uneasy relationship with Christianity. The 1789 Revolution notoriously confiscated vast quantities of church assets and martyred many clergy, including Pope Pius VI.

It also instigated the Deist Cult of the Supreme Being.

The violent Paris Commune of 1871 was no better, leading to the murder of the Archbishop Georges Darboy.

And France's 1905 Law on the Separation of Church and State, which enforced laïcité (secularism) as a grounding principle of the French Third Republic, only led to a further generation of trouble, conflict, rancour and tensions.

French Catholics may well have reasonable cause to look at the way their governments have treated their faith over a long period. They might contrast it with privileges perceived to have been extended to other groups.

Of course, the historical context of the French church's role in upholding the ancién régime needs to be factored into any such appraisal: secularists have always argued that this was simply too insidious to be allowed to go uncorrected.

And yet, the spectacle of one's own state — the society which claims you as an inalienable member — crassly making fun of your most intimate and cherished beliefs about the meaning of your life would likely be difficult for many of us to countenance.

The incident last week affords the French government an opportunity to rethink how freedom of speech relates to freedom of religion, as well as to what enforcing laïcité actually means in a modern, pluralistic society.

If France can have some difficult conversations about what the state's role is in protecting freedoms, then some good will have come of this situation.

Personally, I am not hopeful.

The French elite, beset with myriad other crises, lacks the bandwidth to achieve anything so felicitous there.

Nevertheless, the Australian state is better placed and it is a question we should also be asking, especially in the light of our own current conflicts around religious discrimination.

Who gets to decide where the boundary between free speech and religious freedom lies? Those who are not proactive about debating this issue — and reinforcing tolerance — risk letting others decide on their behalf.

How to be tolerant of criticism

A further point in defence of the (apparently) indefensible: you lose the moral high ground when you complain gratuitously and cynically or demand respect rather than seeking to win it from others by your example.

Invocations of blasphemy or the "inappropriateness" of such a spectacle taking place in front of children ignore a difficult point.

It cannot be for just one group in society — or one part of the global audience watching on television — to become self-appointed arbiters of limits to socially sanctioned sexual expression or of legitimate religious satire.

Christians ought to recognise that they will get as good as they have given.

Their religion has been pretty intolerant of LGBTIQ+ people for a thousand years (or longer) so they can scarcely be astonished when LGBTIQ+ activists attempt to hit back, however crassly.

Self-confident churches build bridges with their enemies and competitors, turning them into allies.

One of Pope Francis's key achievements has arguably been his promulgation of carefully calibrated statements about different minority groups on the Catholic Church's margins.

He tests opinion, stresses solidarity, and tries to identify points of consensus.

We all ought to be more wary of joining in races to be the most offended, for being able to bear suffering and public mockery earns more respect and is more consistent with living out worthwhile ideals.

What a pity if the sentiments, and approaches, which Pope Francis himself champions are crowded out by more sinister agendas — the domination of public discourse through coercion and the dismantling of pluralism.

Catholics, and other Christians, who advocate for these things are no better than their opponents on the other side of the divide.

• First published by ABC. Republished with author's permission.
• Miles Pattenden is a medieval historian and researcher at Deakin University.

Thomas Jolly, the 42-year-old mastermind of the ceremony, addressed the controversy surrounding one of the most debated scenes which featured a nearly nude performer.

He firmly denied that this tableau was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper", a piece of Christian iconography.

"The concept was to create a grand pagan celebration connected to the gods of Olympus" Jolly explained to BFMTV.

"I aimed for a ceremony that unites people, that reconciles while also affirming our Republican values of liberty, equality and fraternity."

The scene, which depicted drag queens in a manner reminiscent of "The Last Supper", sparked widespread criticism for its perceived mockery of a sacred Christian event.

Apology-lite

Representatives of the Paris 2024 Olympics Committee have since apologised to those offended, insisting they intended to foster inclusion and celebrate diversity.

"Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. If people have taken any offence, we are of course really, really sorry" Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said during an International Olympic Committee news conference.

However, the apology has not quelled the controversy.

Bishop Barron's 'both barrels'

Bishop Robert Barron, a prominent Catholic commentator, called on Christians to "keep raising our voices" against the Paris Olympics.

Barron condemned the depiction as a "gross mockery of the Last Supper" and criticised the committee's apology as disingenuous.

"Give me a break" Barron said.

"We have a group of drag queens cavorting in a sexually provocative way, clearly in imitation of Da Vinci's Last Supper, and no disrespect was meant? You think anyone takes that seriously?"

Wider criticism

The controversy has extended beyond Christian circles, with top government officials in the US, Iran and Turkey also speaking out against the performance.

Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump said on Monday he thought it was "a disgrace".

"I'm very open-minded" the former president told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, "but I thought what they did was a disgrace."

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned the "insults" against Jesus Christ, noting that Jesus is a respected figure in Islam.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his intention to discuss the matter with Pope Francis, saying "The disgraceful scene in Paris offended not only the Catholic world, not only the Christian world, but also us as much as them."

Performer takes legal action

Meanwhile, French DJ and women's rights activist Barbara Butch has filed a formal complaint with authorities following a wave of online harassment stemming from her appearance at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

Butch, who performed in a segment that critics likened to Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper", says she has faced a barrage of discriminatory messages and threats since the event last Friday.

The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed receipt of Butch's complaint and has assigned a specialised hate crimes unit to investigate.

According to officials, the probe will focus on "discriminatory messages based on religion or sexual orientation that were sent to her or posted online".

Sources

• rfi
• Daily Wire
• USA News
• CNA

During the Olympic ceremonies, 18 performers re-created the scene, a depiction of Jesus Christ's final meal with his disciples before his crucifixion.

The scene featured some half-naked performers, one in the middle with a halo atop her head, behind a long table. A man who was painted blue, and with only vines covering his genitals, sat in the middle of the table and was surrounded by flowers.

Church reacts

Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta sent two messages to the French ambassador to Malta expressing his distress and the disappointment of many Christians at the display.

Scicluna stated "Such performances, especially on a global stage, should respect the beliefs and traditions of all faiths. This portrayal was a blatant disregard for what many hold sacred".

The Catholic Church in France also criticised the segment, with the French bishops deploring the scenes.

While the ceremony was a "marvellous display of beauty and joy, rich in emotion and universally acclaimed", the French bishops said it "unfortunately included scenes of mockery and derision of Christianity which we deeply regret. We would like to thank the members of other religious denominations who have expressed their solidarity with us" they wrote.

"We are thinking of all the Christians on every continent who have been hurt by the outrageousness and provocation of certain scenes. We want them to understand that the Olympic celebration goes far beyond the ideological biases of a few artists" the bishops stressed.

Extremely disrespectful to Christians

The performance also attracted criticism from high-profile individuals outside the Catholic community.

Elon Musk tweeted his disapproval, saying "This was extremely disrespectful to Christians".

People from around the globe, including lawmakers, took to social media shortly after, questioning why the scene was included in the opening ceremony.

Media personality Piers Morgan posted: "Would they have mocked any other religion like this? Appalling decision".

Showbiz journalist Stephanie Takyi commented: "To be honest, I don't think they would have done that about Islam because they know that they would have gone to the streets, and it would have been a wrap for the Olympics.

"They feel like for Christianity, because we're quite subdued, let's make a mockery of it."

Dutch politician Geert Wilder who runs the Party for Freedom, tweeted: "So mocking Christianity is ok, but when I publish some Muhammad cartoons the left cries blasphemy and radical imams issue fatwas. Double standards of the worst kind."

"The Olympics has basically turned into one long drag show" anti-woke cultural commentator Libs of TikTok wrote. "The Olympics has gone completely woke."

"This is crazy. Opening your event by replacing Jesus and the disciples at the The Last Supper with men in drag" radio host Clint Russell said. "There are 2.4 billion Christians on earth and apparently the Olympics wanted to declare loudly to all of them, right out of the gate, Not Welcome."

About the artwork

Despite the backlash, particularly Archbishop Scicluna's "gratuitous insult" comment, some defended the performance.

Journalist Fraser Myers said the reenactment was "about the artwork" and the organisers weren't trying to offend.

He explained: "I think what the intention was that the theme of the show was actually re-creating paintings.

"The Last Supper is in the Louvre. It's one of the greats, you know. So, I think that's what they were trying to do. I don't think they were trying to cause offence."

Meanwhile, the LGBTQ Out magazine praised "queens everywhere" for "this huge moment for drag performers breaking through the mainstream and showing their talents to the entire world".

Additionally, other acts such as the beheading of Marie Antoinette and Philippe Katerine's portrayal of Dionysus, the god of wine, also sparked debate among divided fans.

Critics argue these performances were disrespectful, while supporters view them as bold artistic expressions meant to challenge traditional norms and celebrate diversity and inclusion on a global stage.

Sources

Newsbook

GB News

FoxNews

National Review

America Magazine

This initiative aims to assist those coping with the pressures and challenges of the Games, particularly those facing disappointment.

Jason Nioka, a former judo champion and deacon, leads some 40 Catholic chaplains. He emphasised the importance of grounding athletes.

Nioka stressed "We'll need to bring them back to earth because it can feel like the end of the world after working on this goal for four or five years".

Chaplains from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism have collaborated for months to establish a shared hall in the Paris Olympics village.

This space will offer worship services, prayers and a supportive, non-judgmental environment for athletes and staff, regardless of their faith.

Several complex challenges

Anne Schweitzer, who is coordinating Protestant chaplains, highlighted the group's mission. "My goal is to have a Christian witness there, people who embody the love and care of Jesus, for the athletes who are under so much pressure."

The demand for chaplaincy services is historically high, with over 8,000 requests during pre-pandemic Games.

This year chaplains are preparing for several complex challenges. These include adherence to France's secularism laws and addressing potential impacts from global conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars.

The Greek-Orthodox Metropolis of France, led by Rev. Anton Gelyasov, contributes over two dozen chaplains.

Gelyasov stated their mission is twofold: to protect athletes in their vulnerability and to demonstrate the unity of different religions.

Each faith has been allocated 50 square meters in the Olympic Village's multi-faith centre.

Jewish and Muslim leaders have positioned their spaces adjacent to each other, symbolising coexistence amidst geopolitical tensions. Buddhists and Hindus have donated part of their space to accommodate more Christian chaplains.

A welcoming place

Though discreetly located and signposted, the multi-faith centre aims to be a welcoming place for athletes seeking spiritual support.

Jeanne Le Comte du Colombier, the Paris Olympics committee's project manager, noted that the visibility of religious symbols would be minimal - in line with French secular principles.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of France has initiated the "Holy Games" project. They set up the "Our Lady of Athletes" chapel in La Madeleine church, Paris. This initiative encourages the faithful to light candles with sports-related quotes and submit prayer requests online.

Rabbi Moshe Lewin, a Jewish chaplain, highlighted the spiritual dimension of their mission: "The geopolitical situation will impact athletes but the Olympic Games provide the incredible opportunity of meeting the other [dimension]."

Najat Benali from the Muslim chaplaincy echoed this sentiment. "We do worship, not politics. We will listen and explain we're there to accompany the athletes. We're not good resources to address geopolitics."

Sources

AP News

CathNews New Zealand

According to the Fourvière Foundation, which owns the city's iconic basilica, the chapel was opened to the public on May 2, two days ahead of schedule.

The Notre-Dame des Sportifs (Our Lady of Athletes) chapel will be open to all athletes until September 22, two weeks after the end of the Paralympic Games this summer.

Notre-Dame des Sportifs incorporated decorative elements from various sports. In an image published by the foundation, the sacred edifice was adorned with various markings on the floor resembling a red athletics track or the central circle of a soccer field.

Read More

The cross that crowns the dome of the Hôtel des Invalides has been excluded from the artwork created by French illustrator Ugo Gattoni.

Hôtel des Invalides is a notable 17th-century complex serving as a museum, hospital and home for retired soldiers.

The artwork for the Paris Olympics prominently features iconic French structures like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.

Yet it is the absence of the cross atop Les Invalides that has drawn the most comment.

"They are willing to deny France to the point of distorting reality to erase its history" charged François-Xavier Bellamy.

Bellamy, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and executive vice-president of the Republicans, a liberal-conservative political party, said "How can one understand Les Invalides by erasing the cross that constitutes its profound meaning? How can one claim to love a country when one does everything to destroy its roots?"

Marion Maréchal, the lead MEP candidate for Reconquest! (a far-right French nationalist party) and Gilbert Collard, another party member, echoed similar sentiments accusing the artwork of betraying French heritage.

Creative liberties

"Why erase the cross at the top of the dome of Les Invalides on the official poster of the 2024 Olympics? Why no French flag? What's the point of hosting the Olympic Games in France if it's to hide who we are?"

In response, the Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games defended Gattoni's work as a whimsical reinterpretation of Paris, emphasising that artistic licence allowed for creative liberties.

The committee clarified that the guidelines provided to Gattoni did not mandate the removal of religious symbols but focused on incorporating essential Olympic elements.

"Many elements could be reinterpreted by the artist. It is a representation which is neither exhaustive nor faithful to reality - the Tahiti wave is off the Marseille Marina, the Eiffel Tower is pink, the Metro passes under the Arc de Triomphe - (this) should not be subject to politically motivated interpretations" the committee said.

Gattoni defended his artistic choices, asserting that his aim was not to adhere to reality strictly but to offer a personal interpretation of Parisian landmarks.

This controversy harks back to the 1924 Paris Olympics, where a poster featuring the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur also omitted its cross.

More recently, an advertisement during this year's Superbowl sparked controversy when religious imagery was edited out.

Sources

La Croix International

CathNews New Zealand