FRANCE - The organising committee of Paris 2024 has apologised to Catholics and other Christian groups who were outraged by a scene during the opening ceremony that evoked Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper painting with drag queens, a transgender model and a singer made up as the Greek god of wine. The parody of the biblical scene, performed against the backdrop of the River Seine, was intended to interpret Dionysus and raise awareness “of the absurdity of violence between human beings”, organisers wrote on X. “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” the 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.”
France has a rich Catholic heritage but also has a long tradition of secularism and anti-clericalism. Blasphemy is legal and considered by many to be an essential pillar of freedom of speech. Supporters of the tableau praised its message of inclusivity and tolerance.
An article in Avvenire, the daily Italian newspaper affiliated with the Catholic church, said: “Don’t take us for moralistic bigots, but what’s the point of having to experience every single global event, even a sporting one, as if it were a Gay Pride?”
“Just what is an APOSTLE?”
Today we find the Church of God in a “wilderness of religious confusion!”
The confusion is not merely around the Church – within the religions of the world outside – but WITHIN the very heart of The True Church itself!
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