The creative director of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, the engagingly named Thomas Jolly, made clear at the outset that it was intended to be a "celebration of cultural, linguistic, religious and sexual diversity in France".
Unfortunately, the one discernibly Catholic element of the ceremony turned out to be a <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/bishop-barron-slams-gross-mockery-of-last-supper-and-christian-faith-during-olympic-games-opening-ceremony/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">calculatedly offensive parody of the Last Supper</mark></a> in which drag queens playing the Apostles – with the fat Christ figure crowned – were ranged at a table that doubled as a catwalk.
It was not at all difficult to establish what image was being subverted, nor what religion was the butt of this exercise.
If this is a projection of the French state – and the government was very much invested in the ceremony – it is one in which the Catholic Faith is mocked and belittled, certainly not celebrated.
There has always been an element of anti-clericalism in French politics since the Revolution, but it is notable that Islam was for some reason immune from this impulse to offend.
Indeed, the purpose of the tableau was plainly to be offensive; very well, it worked.
Catholics are offended; the <em>Catholic Herald</em> is offended and the French Olympics organisers and indeed ministers are wholly unperturbed by the fact.
Was there no other way to include drag than by quasi-blasphemy? It says a good deal about the insouciance with which the French political class regards Catholic sensibilities.
But this calculated offence has been noted elsewhere. Elon Musk has said that the performance was “extremely disrespectful to Christians” and that “Christianity has become toothless”.
Harrison Butker, the Kansas City sportsman who has <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/editorial-harrison-butkers-courage-highlights-a-reality-of-the-catholic-church-in-the-us-today/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">encountered criticism in another context</mark></a> for his views, said bluntly that “<a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/god-is-not-mocked-harrison-butker-weighs-in-on-last-supper-controversy-at-olympics-ceremony/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">God is not mocked</mark></a>”.
Nor is He. We simply observe that the meticulously planned, occasionally manic, wildly extravagant spectacle did not quite go off as planned. There was a torrential downpour which dampened the spirits of participants and observers.<br><br><em>Photo: The Olympic Rings illuminated on the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2024, Paris, France, 26 July 2024. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.)</em>
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
