Catholic bishops around the world demand IOC formal apology for ‘blasphemous’ Olympic opening

The Olympic flag flutters during a practice session at Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris on July 24, 2024, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. / Credit: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Aug 2, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

In a strongly worded open letter, Catholic cardinals and bishops from around the world are calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to “repudiate” and “apologize” for the “intentionally hateful mockery” of the Last Supper during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

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

The letter was signed by three cardinals and 24 bishops as of Friday, Aug. 2, and states: “With shock, the world watched as the Summer Olympics in Paris opened with a grotesque and blasphemous depiction of the Last Supper.”

“It is hard to understand how the faith of over 2 billion people can be so casually and intentionally blasphemed,” say the prelates, who include Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke; Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, OFM; and Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, CM.

While 15 of the 24 signatories are from the U.S. — including Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver; Archbishop Emeritus Charles Chaput, OFM Cap, of Philadelphia; Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco; Archbishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska; and Archbishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota — bishops from Argentina, France, Ghana, Lebanon, Nigeria, Peru, and the United Kingdom also signed the letter.

The prelates demand that the IOC “repudiate this blasphemous action and apologize to all people of faith,” warning that the display “threatens people of all faiths and of none, as it opens the door to those with power doing whatever they wish to people they do not like.”

The letter’s organizers provided an email address — [email protected] — that other bishops can use to add their names to the document.

‘Condescending’ response

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

The controversy escalated to such an extent that one U.S. mobile phone and internet company decided to pull its advertising from the Olympics.

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

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

One day later, Olympics spokesperson Anne Descamps said, according to Reuters: “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance. … If people have taken any offense we are really sorry.”

At least one prominent Catholic leader rejected this response — as have, in no uncertain terms, others.

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

“Christians were offended because it was offensive and it was intended to be offensive,” Barron said. “So please don’t patronize us with this condescending remark about, well, if you had any, you know, bad feelings, we’re awfully sorry about that.”

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

Day of prayer and fasting

In addition to their commitment to a day of prayer and fasting, the letter’s signatories “will offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection are made present to us by our obedience to the commandment 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 harmed, will imitate his self-sacrificial love so that peace, decency, and mutual respect may be restored in the world,” the letter states.

Click here for the full text of the letter.