Bishops demand apology from the IOC for blasphemy of the Last Supper at the Olympic Games

In a forceful open letter, Catholic cardinals and bishops from around the world have asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to “repudiate” and “apologize” for the “intentionally hateful mockery” of the Last Scene during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Furthermore, “the undersigned commit to a day of prayer and fasting in reparation for this blasphemy.”

The letter was signed by 3 cardinals and 24 bishops as of Friday, August 2, and states: “In amazement, the world watched as the Summer Olympics in Paris began with a grotesque and blasphemous depiction of the Last Supper.”

“It is difficult to understand how the faith of more than 2 billion people can be so casually and intentionally blasphemed,” said the prelates, including Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, OFM, and Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, CM

While 15 of the 24 signatories are from the United States, bishops from Argentina, France, Ghana, Lebanon, Nigeria, Peru and the United Kingdom also signed the letter.

The prelates demanded that the IOC “repudiate this blasphemous action and apologize to all people of faith,” warning that the exhibition “threatens people of all religions and none, as it opens the door for those in power to do what that they want with people they don’t like.”

The organizers of the letter provided an email address — episcopimundi2022@gmail.com — that other bishops can use to add their names to the document.

“Condescending” response

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in the French capital on July 26 sparked global outrage over scenes that included drag queens frolicking in what many denounced as a mockery of the Last Supper.

The controversy escalated so much that an American mobile phone and internet company decided to withdraw its advertising of the Olympic Games.

In a first response to the scandal a day after the ceremony, the artistic director responsible for the ceremony, Thomas Jolly, told local media BFMTV that the scene was inspired by a pagan festival, not the Last Supper.

“You will never find in my work a desire to denigrate anyone or anything,” Jolly said, according to Reuters.

A day later, Olympic Games spokesperson Anne Descamps said, according to Reuters: “Clearly there was never any intention to show disrespect to any religious group. (The opening ceremony) tried to celebrate community tolerance. (…) If anyone has felt offended, we are truly sorry.”

At least one prominent Catholic leader rejected this response, as did many others in unequivocal way.

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, called the Parisian reaction “a masterpiece of woke duplicity” in a video published on social network X on July 29.

“Christians were offended because it was offensive and it was meant to be offensive,” Barron noted. “So please don’t patronize us with this remark about, well, if you had any negative feelings, we’re very sorry.”

“A real apology would be something like: This was a mistake. It should never have been done, and we regret it,” he said, adding, “I don’t think Christians should be placated; “I think we should continue raising our voices.”

Day of prayer and fasting

In addition to their commitment to a day of prayer and fasting, the signatories of the letter “will offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which the Passion, death and resurrection of Christ are made present to us through our obedience to the command he gave at the Last Supper: ‘Do this in memory of me.'”

“We pray that those who seek to harm others with their power, and those who have been harmed, will imitate his self-sacrificial love, so that peace, decency and mutual respect may be restored to the world,” the letter states.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.