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Louise Thomas
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The Vatican has joined the chorus of critics condemning the Paris 2024 Olympics for featuring a sketch in its opening ceremony that has been interpreted as parodying The Last Supper.
During the prestigious event held along the Seine River on July 26, a scene was featured showing drag queens, a transgender model, a naked singer dressed up as the Greek god of wine Dionysus, and a child together at a long dining table.
The moment has drawn backlash from the Catholic Church and others, including Full House star Candace Cameron Bure who accused it of being a “disgusting” and “blasphemous” recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of Jesus Christ and his apostles sharing a final meal before his crucifixion.
Despite the Olympics artistic director Thomas Jolly affirming that he was inspired by Jan van Bijlert’s Feast of Dionysus painting, the Vatican has now joined the voices deploring the “offense.”
“The Holy See 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 offense done to many Christians and believers of other religions,” it said in a press release shared on Saturday, August 3.
“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.”
Following the outcry from various figures and viewers, Olympic organizers explained that the decision to include the sketch was motivated by a desire to achieve “community tolerance.”
“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. (The opening ceremony) tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps told a press conference. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”
Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet also said: “We imagined a ceremony to show our values and our principles so we gave a very committed message. The idea was to really trigger a reflection. We wanted to have a message as strong as possible.
“Naturally, we had to take into account the international community. Having said that – it is a French ceremony for the French Games – so we trusted our artistic director. We have freedom of expression in France and we wanted to protect it.”
