An Olympic-sized faux pas in France
Some reflections on the Opening Ceremony of the XXXIII Olympiad (a.k.a., the 2024 Olympic Games, held this year in Paris).
“The Last Supper,” by Vicente Juan Macip (c. 1555-1562). Not as famous as Da Vinci’s, but to my mind, just as lovely – if not more. The Last Supper: accept no substitutes.
My apologies to one and all for my infrequent updates, of late! Things have been very busy at the parish which I serve as Rector. But this, I thought, demanded a post…
Many, if not most, of us – whether we had planned to watch the 2024 Summer Olympics or not – are aware that the Opening Ceremony in Paris included a "tableau" which bore a striking resemblance to the many artistic representations (most famously that of Leonardo da Vinci) of the Last Supper, when Christ ate with His disciples for the last time before His Crucifixion, and instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, but which in this year's Olympic interpretation featured drag queens and Dionysian reveling.
This vignette was taken by many – myself included, I have to say – as a crude and inappropriate parody, mocking one of the most holy episodes in the Gospels and of our Christian faith. Perhaps surprised at the scope of the uproar caused by this travesty, organizers and other supporters (including some nominal Christians, on the "liberal" or "progressive" end of the spectrum) began to claim that it wasn't intended to be offensive or a parody of the Last Supper; rather, that it was a reenactment of a different artistic work called "the Feast of the Gods," and that it was intended to represent a Bacchanalia.
These after-the-fact claims are unconvincing to many of us, particularly given that the working title of the tableau was apparently "La Cène sur un Scène sur la Seine," the English translation of which is, 'The Last Supper on a Stage on the [River] Seine," and the fact that one of the lead characters in the tableau posted it on social media with the caption "The Gay New Testament." Of course, there is a great deal of denial and obfuscation going on about these reports, as well.
Many of you will be familiar with the term "gaslighting," the basic meaning of which is the act of attempting to convince someone that they are not really seeing, hearing, or experiencing what they are, in fact, seeing, hearing, or experiencing. There is clearly a great deal of that going on, around this incident; but the basics of the situation come down to this:
Either the organizers of the Paris Olympics, who approved this skit for the Opening Ceremony, which would be broadcast and seen around the world, were either so culturally and religiously tone-deaf that they had no idea Christians (and even some intelligent non-Christians) would be offended by it, or – much more likely, especially given the above, and the fact that other elements of the Opening Ceremonies were also clearly intended to stick a thumb in the eye of anything remotely conservative, traditional, or conventional – they knew full well what was likely to happen, and chose to do it anyway. And the grudging and backhanded semi-"apology" offered by the Paris Olympic Committee has done little to amend the matter.
But let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that it was indeed intended to be a Bacchanalia, and not a mean-spirited parody the Last Supper. What, then? Those who are actually familiar with Classical mythology and Greco-Roman paganism would know that a Bacchanal is an orgiastic celebration of drunkenness and sexual license (as indeed seems to have been clearly indicated by other elements of the vignette): indeed, it seems all too likely that the creator intended both elements.
Is that really the kind of imagery that France wanted to be associated with their hosting of the XXXIII modern Olympiad? Games that should be focused on athletic prowess, self-discipline, attainment, and the pursuit of excellence? That are often watched by families, and have historically inspired children and young people to pursue excellence, themselves? And if it is, what does that say about the nation which at one time was known as "the eldest daughter of the Church"? The seeds sown by the French Revolution have borne bitter fruit indeed!
But there are some glimmers of hope, amidst the tawdriness and sleaze. For once, Christians across the world seem to have found our voice, and the courage to stand up against this latest and perhaps most public insult to the faith in recent memory. Yet, unlike the reactions of some world religions to offenses against their beliefs, no one has died due to Christian outrage! Thanks be to God. But outrage there has been, and I believe it has caught the architects of über-wokeness off-guard.
To cite just a few examples, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini posted a picture of the drag queens over another picture of the Last Supper, criticizing the act. "Opening the Olympics by insulting billions of Christians around the world was a really bad start, dear French," he wrote. "Seedy." (That's a gentle translation: the actual word used was "squalid.") And Hungary’s ambassador to the Vatican, Eduard Habsburg, made a reference to the beheading of Marie Antoinette, saying, "...because decapitating Habsburgs and ridiculing central Christian events are really the FIRST two things that spring to mind when you think of [the Olympic Games."
Meanwhile, the Catholic church in France said it deplored a ceremony that “included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity,” and a delegate of the bishops of France for the Games said some French athletes had had trouble sleeping because of the fallout from the controversy. Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the highest-ranking Catholic official in Malta and an official for the Vatican’s powerful doctrinal office, said he had contacted France’s ambassador to Valletta to complain about the “gratuitous insult.” And the Italian bishops’ conference said that what should have been a celebration of French culture took an “unexpectedly negative turn, becoming a parade of banal errors, accompanied by trite and predictable ideologies”.
Here at home in the United States, the Biden administration was predictably silent; but (GOP) Speaker of the House Mike Johnson described the scene as “shocking and insulting to Christian people,” adding, “The war on our faith and traditional values knows no bounds today. But we know that truth and virtue will always prevail. ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it’” (John 1:5).
Sadly but predictably silent, also, was Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. I suppose we should be glad he didn’t post some supportive comment! However, the Rt. Rev'd Dr. John Fenwick, Primus of the Free Church of England, which actually has a French congregation, issued a statement in which he sent the following message to the President of the French Republic:
“Mr President, I write to protest in the strongest possible terms about the blasphemous parody of the Last Supper that formed part of the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. France prides itself on the concept of égalité. There was no égalité in the depiction; where was the mockery of Mohammad or Moses? Why was only the Christian faith subject to this attack? When Notre Dame cathedral was almost destroyed by fire, Christians around the world grieved with the people of France. Now France mocks us and blasphemes our faith. As President of the Republic you owe Christians an apology. +John Fenwick”
Bishop Robert Barron of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S., who is not only a prelate but an influential author and social media personality, ironically observed that France, called the eldest daughter of the church, and Paris, the city of saints, “felt evidently… [that] the right thing to do is to mock this very central moment in Christianity where Jesus in his Last Supper gives his body and blood in anticipation of the cross. Would they ever dare mock Islam in a similar way?” Bishop Barron asked, saying, “We all know the answer to that.” (Of course they did, though not on quite the world-wide scale of an Olympic Games, in 2015, and it resulted in a bloodbath...) Bishop Barron stressed that in this “deeply secularist, post-modern society,” Christians should “resist” and “make our voices heard.” I agree.
We live in an age in which outright persecution of Christians is on the rise. As early as 2019, the BBC reported "Christian persecution at near-genocide levels"; a 2022 report by Open Doors USA listed Christianity as "the world's most persecuted religion," and this assessment was echoed this year (2024) by Tristan Azbej, Hungary’s secretary of state for programs to help persecuted Christians at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who commented that in today's world, "there are more than 360 million people who suffer discrimination, oppression, threats by terrorist organizations or genocidal attacks because of their faith in Jesus Christ."
In this environment, especially, I agree with Bishop Barron. Particularly in Western nations, where persecution of Christians is less overtly violent, but also for that reason less obvious, Christians must speak out, or risk being silenced. The outcry over the Olympic Opening Ceremony is at least an indication that this is starting to occur: that Christians are, as I say, beginning to find our voice.
I, for one, find this encouraging. May God bless us, and make us worthy of His blessing; may He protect us, and give us courage to stand boldly for the faith once delivered to the saints.
[A few suggested sources for prayerful pondering: Galatians 6, especially 6:7; Ephesians 5, especially 5:3-5 and 11; and Hymn 562: "Stand up, stand up for Jesus."]