Vatican slams ‘ridiculous’ Paris Olympics opening ceremony that mocke

The Vatican on Saturday (Aug 3) slammed the Paris Olympics organisers for the opening ceremony that allegedly parodied Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting.  

A week after the ceremony, the Vatican said it “deplored the offence” caused to Christians by the ceremony that featured drag queens and transgenders who posed like Jesus and his Twelve Apostles from the famous painting.

“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 offence done to many Christians and believers of other religions,” read the statement issued in French. 

“At a prestigious event where the whole world comes together to share common values, there should be no ridiculous allusions to religion,” it added.

While criticism poured from across the globe, Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony defended the production by calling it a symbol of ‘inclusion’. According to Jolly, the ceremony did not mock the Christian painting, albeit celebrated the Greek god of wine Dionysus.

“Our subject was not to be subversive. We never wanted to be subversive. We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together,” Jolly said.

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Jolly, a French native from Normandy, who works as a theatre artist added that France was a free country and that it was artistic freedom on display during the ceremony. 

“We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that. In France, we have freedom of creation, artistic freedom. We are lucky in France to live in a free country. I didn’t have any specific messages that I wanted to deliver,” said Jolly. 

“In France, we are a republic, we have the right to love whom we want, we have the right not to be worshippers, we have a lot of rights in France, and this is what I wanted to convey,” he added. 

While Jolly defended the ceremony, Paris 2024 organisers apologised to Catholics and other Christian groups angered. 

“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 offence we are really sorry.”

(With inputs from agencies)