VATICAN CITY.- The Vatican said on Saturday it was “saddened by some scenes” at the inauguration ceremony of the Paris Olympicswhich was an “offense” to Christians due to a sequence that, according to some interpretations, satirized Jesus’ last supper.
At one point during last week’s Friday ceremony, a group of people, including several drag queens, appeared at a long table that many believed evoked depictions of the final meal that the gospels say Jesus shared with his apostles before his crucifixion, something the show’s creators deny.
The Vatican did not name specific parts of the ceremony, but the controversy has centered on that segment, called “Festivity.”
“The Holy See, saddened by some scenes from the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, cannot but join the voices that have been raised in recent days to deplore the offense caused to many Christians and believers of other religions,” the Vatican said in a statement in Spanish published by the Vatican News website.
“At a prestigious event, where the whole world is united around common values, there must be no references that ridicule the religious convictions of many people,” he said, adding that “freedom of expression, which is obviously not questioned, finds its limits in respect for others.”
The organizers claimed that they intended to represent a pagan festival led by one of the Greek deities of Olympus, Dionysus (or Bacchus), god of wine and theater.
The show’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, said his intention was to “send a message of love, a message of inclusion.”
Unforgiven
But the explanations did not mitigate the criticism.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a member of an Islamist party, announced this week his intention to call Pope Francis to denounce the “immorality” of the event.
The scene was also criticised by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and former US President Donald Trump, who called it “shameful”.
Source: AFP