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The French Bishop Conference has described some scenes from the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics as “mockery and derision of Christianity”.

The Correspondent of RECOWACERAO NEWS AGENCY, RECONA, NGUESSAN Esther, sent to Paris, the capital of France to cover the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics which officially began in Paris on Friday with an opening ceremony on the River Seine reported a piece of sad news. On a soft note, the ceremony included a litany of creative displays as boats ferried participating countries in parades over the body of water. The event had musical performances and artistic expressions from various acts.

A particular segment entitled “Festivity” had a group of dancers and drag queens sitting in poses that reimagined the depictions of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the biblical Last Supper, the final meal of Jesus with his apostles. The scene stirred negative reactions from Christians from all over the world on social media.

Adding its voice in a statement on Saturday, the French Bishop Conference says Christians around the world were “hurt” by these scenes. The group then urged believers “to understand that the Olympic celebration goes far beyond the ideological biases of a few artists”. The body also thanked people of other religions for expressing their solidarity.

From the African continent, one outstanding bishop of the area who is also a frontline member of RECOWA-CERAO reminded the Director of Media and Communication of this same organization that the religious depictions of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting with contemporary ideological figures that are offensive to Christianity at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2024 in France is, to say the least, shocking and disrespectful. He noted that it is a perpetration of deliberate ongoing attempts in Europe and America to “repurpose” and cheapen Christian themes without regard for peace-loving Christians who practice and profess their religion in peace. That this decadent caricature of one of the most cherished events of Christianity is publicized in France, a country with a rich and old Christian heritage, and at the Olympic games detracts from the status of the Olympics and belies all claims to enduring civility and respect for freedom of religion in the West. He added that Christians should exercise their right of outrage and boycott to the extent that the damage caused can be mitigated and redressed and future occurrences prevented. He therefore opined that the Governing bodies and organizations should take full responsibility for accommodating such insulting, tasteless art and expressions that can potentially cause further hurt and division in our already hurting and fractured world. This fiery bishop of the continent gave huge thanks to all who correctly expressed outrage on the subject well ahead of this. He concluded by saying, “Regardless of what we go through as Africans, we must never disrespect or thrash religious symbols and sentiments which touch people at their deepest levels of their being. To do this is to throw our humanizing and spiritual values and ideals to the dogs.  Africa must never follow the West down that obscure path”. Bishop Emmanuel Badejo, Oyo Diocese, Nigeria concluded.

Let us not forget in a haste the French bishops unanimously added “In the run-up to the Paris Games, the Holy Games project, inspired by the Roman Catholic Church, has been mobilizing a large number of Catholics for almost three years, to share the sporting and popular fervor surrounding the Paris Games, this magnificent event organized by our country,” they continued, “Last week, we were delighted to host the opening mass of the Olympic truce, in the presence of numerous religious, political and sporting figures.

“We believe that the values and principles expressed and disseminated by sport and Olympism contribute to the need for unity and fraternity that our world so desperately needs while respecting everyone’s convictions, around the sport that brings us together and promotes peace among nations and hearts.

“Sport is a wonderful human activity that deeply delights the hearts of athletes and spectators alike. Olympism is a movement at the service of this reality of human unity and fraternity. Now it’s time to take to the field, and may it bring truth, consolation and joy to all!” they concluded.

Rev. Fr. George Nwachukwu
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