A group of Catholics gathered outside the French Consulate on West Parliament Square in Edinburgh to pray the Rosary in “reparation for the sins committed" during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
Another similar prayer meeting is organised for Friday 2 August outside the French Embassy in London.
Sam U Ho, 30, and his wife Joanna, 27, set about organising the meeting in Edinburgh at short notice on the morning of 29 July, following shock around the world at a drag queen-themed parody of the Last Supper that occurred during the opening ceremony to the Olympic Games on 26 July. <br><br>The next day, on 30 July, some 20 Catholics of disparate backgrounds took to their knees outside the Consulate building on Edinburgh’s West Parliament Square to offer reparation for blasphemy against Jesus Christ, the Eucharist and the Apostles in the Olympics’ mocking and hyper-sexualised, transgender-themed Last Supper scene.
Despite claims the scene was not intended to parody the sacred Christian moment, which with the Crucifixion is recalled and featured centrally at every Mass, these have been <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/drag-queen-confirms-it-was-a-parody-of-last-supper/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">contradicted</mark></a> by one of the drag queens who took part.
Similarly, Jewish-born lesbian DJ Barbara Butch, who occupied the position Jesus would otherwise occupy in the traditional composition, posted a screenshot image of the parody performance alongside an image of Da Vinci’s original <em>Last Supper </em>to her Instagram account, attended by the comment: “Oh yes! Oh yes! The new gay testament!” The post was deleted shortly thereafter.
Mr Ho, the Edinburgh event’s organiser, told the <em>Herald</em> that the group received support and thumbs-up gestures from passersby, as tourists visiting the Edinburgh Fringe Festival passed them praying the Rosary on the street.
No staff members from the Consulate came outside to engage with the group. The Catholics concluded their gathering by singing the <em>Parce Domine</em> – a traditionally popular antiphon for use in times of penance such as Lent or before executions. The antiphon implores God’s mercy and the turning away of divine wrath.
“Our Lord was mocked at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony…with drag queens and pagan symbols,” Mr Ho says. “This is blasphemy – a direct violation of the First Commandment. There was also a glorification of the French Revolution which was vehemently anti-Catholic. My wife and I were horrified when watching the ceremony live.”
“As St Thomas Aquinas quoted in <em>his Summa Theologiae</em>, 'In comparison with blasphemy, every sin in slight'.”
In response to their horror at what had transpired during the opening ceremony, Mr Ho and his wife “started messaging Catholics we know in Edinburgh and <em>Sancta Familia</em>”.
They managed to assemble around 20-plus Catholics who prayed 15 decades of the rosary outside the French consulate.
The organisers of the London meeting, scheduled for this Friday at 6 p.m., hope that the increased preparation time will enable more people to attend – and inspire other similar spontaneous events among lay Catholics around the world.
<strong>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/?p=795785"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Have you got what it takes to compete in the ‘Rosary Olympics’?</mark></a></strong><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/?p=795785"><br></a><br><em>Photo: Catholics gathered outside the French Consulate on West Parliament Square in Edinburgh to pray the Rosary; image courtesy Sam U Ho.</em>
