Olympic Opening Ceremonies: “Saddened by Certain Scenes”

My interest in the Olympics is mild at best.

This year, I’m glad that I lack a deep emotional connection to what’s happening in Paris. Mainly because of the remarkable “Festivité” show.

I don’t think this year’s performance art at Paris 2024’s opening ceremony will affect its popularity. Too many folks get too excited about other folks showing what they can do for that.

And a drag show — that we’re told was not made to look like Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” — apparently doesn’t clash with the Olympic Charter’s high ideals.¹

Even so, I think this communiqué/bulletin from the Vatican makes sense.

“Holy See Communiqué“
Holy See Press Office (August 3, 2024)

“The Holy See was saddened by certain scenes during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games and can only join the voices that have been raised in recent days to deplore the offence caused to many Christians and believers of other religions.

“At a prestigious event where the whole world comes together to share common values, there should be no allusions ridiculing the religious convictions of many people. The freedom of expression, which is clearly not called into question here, is limited by respect for others.”

I might have added “disgusted” to “saddened”. But I’m a very emotional man, and not directly involved with international diplomacy. For which we should all be thankful, and that’s another topic.

Catholic bishops in France seem to have had mixed feelings about this year’s Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

“French Bishops lament ‘scenes mocking Christianity’ at Olympic Ceremony“
VaticanNews.va (July 28, 2024)

“‘The opening ceremony,’ the French Bishops’ Conference acknowledged, ‘offered the world last wonderful moments of beauty, joy, rich emotions, and universal acclaim,’ but ‘included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deeply deplore.’

“At the forefront of the criticism across was a reenactment of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ by ten men in drag….

“…In response to requests for explanations, Michaël Aloïsio, spokesperson for the Paris 2024 Olympic Organizing Committee, responded on Saturday, July 27, on Franceinfo: ‘We stand by our decision to push boundaries.’…

“…The opening ceremony ended on a hopeful note, unanimously appreciated by spectators, with one of the evening’s highlights: Céline Dion concluding Edith Piaf’s ‘Hymn to Love’ from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, letting the last words of the song resonate in the Parisian night: ‘God reunites those who love each other.'”

It’s Okay, Everybody’s Doing It?

Differences of opinion regarding artistic interpretations of the Last Supper happen.

Salvador Dali’s “The Sacrament of the Last Supper”, for example, is “junk” and a “misunderstood masterpiece”: depending on who’s talking.²

I like it. But then, I don’t mind paintings that don’t look like they were done by some Renaissance artist. I’m drifting off-topic again.

Getting back to the Summer Olympics’ starting show.

I gather that it represented “a pagan feast linked to the gods of Olympus”, was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s famous “Last Supper”, and was not inspired by da Vinci’s mural.³

2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
Wikipedia [text from August 4, 2024]

“…The ‘Festivité’ segment contained a scene of drag queens and other artists arranged in a row along a catwalk. A statement from Paris 2024 said that it was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco The Last Supper, which depicts Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, while Thomas Jolly and the Olympic Games’ X account stated that this represented ‘a pagan feast linked to the gods of Olympus’ and an ‘interpretation of the Greek god Dionysus [that] makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings’….

“…In response to the criticism, the Paris 2024 producers stated that ‘Thomas Jolly took inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting to create the setting’, and cited that the painting had already been frequently parodied in popular culture. However, the next day Jolly denied having been inspired by The Last Supper on BFM TV. On 28 July, organisers issued an apology for the performance, stating that ‘there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group’.…”
[emphasis mine]

I’m impressed that event organizers issued an apology for the whatever-it-was.

Particularly since, as the Wikipedia page puts it, da Vinci’s “Last Supper” has been “frequently parodied in popular culture”.

Justifying behavior by citing ‘everybody’s doing it’ — an “appeal to the people” — sounds cooler in Latin: “argumentum ad populum”. But apparently that argument is still recognized as a fallacy in argumentation theory.⁴

Maybe ‘democratic principles’ only go so far. And yeah: that’s yet more topics.

Maybe the Paris 2024 producers had no idea that putting on a drag show that looked like da Vinci’s “Last Supper” might bother at least a few French citizens.

Or maybe they didn’t see the “Last Supper” connection until after it was too late to book another act.

Either way, I’ll give them credit for issuing an apology.

Dealing With Reality

I’d prefer living in a world where my betters would realize that a drag version of “The Last Supper” would go over as well as a blackface performance of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, at least in some quarters.

But forcing others to act as if what I hold dear matters — isn’t an option. It’s not even one I’d want.

I’m just glad that Notre-Dame of Paris is getting repaired, and that the French government allows Catholics to worship there. The situation’s complicated, and that’s — yet again more topics.⁵

The Last Supper: It’s a Big Deal

For Catholics, the Last Supper is more than just a meal.

It’s been some time since I talked about that, partly because explaining Mass and the Eucharist involves discussing ideas that are not part of my native culture.

I’ve been feeling distinctly sub-par, and there’s another topic I’d planned on doing this week. So I’ll say that the Last Supper is when Jesus established the Eucharist, which makes it a very big deal — and leave it at that.

“EUCHARIST: The ritual, sacramental action of thanksgiving to God which constitutes the principal Christian liturgical celebration of and communion in the paschal mystery of Christ. The liturgical action called the Eucharist is also traditionally known as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is one of the seven sacraments of the Church; the Holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation (1322 ff.). The Sunday celebration of the Eucharist is at the heart of the Church’s life (2177). See Mass.”

“MASS: The Eucharist or principal sacramental celebration of the Church, established by Jesus at the Last Supper, in which the mystery of our salvation through participation in the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of Christ is renewed and accomplished. The Mass renews the paschal sacrifice of Christ as the sacrifice offered by the Church. It is called ‘Mass’ (from the Latin missa) because of the ‘mission’ or ‘sending’ with which the liturgical celebration concludes (Latin: ‘Ite, Missa est.’) (1332; cf. 1088, 1382, 2192). See Eucharist; Paschal Mystery/Sacrifice.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, Glossary)

Update (2100 UTC — 4 p.m. here in central Minnesota — August 5, 2024)

Closing with a link to good news from Paris:

• “Five religions gather to celebrate fraternity at Paris Olympics”
  Jean-Benoît Harel, Lisa Zengarini; Vatican News (August 5, 2024)

More-or-less related posts:

• “Fear, Change, a Loving God: and Choices”
  (guest post: Fr. Mark Botzet) (July 8, 2023)
• “Just Who is This Jesus Person, and Who Does He Think He is?”
  (October 8, 2022)
• “Notre-Dame, Paris: History, Two Cults and a Fire”
  (September 25, 2021)
• “Polka Mass and Adoration”
  (December 13, 2019)
• “Trust and Mercy”
  (guest post: Deacon L. N. Kaas) (April 8, 2018)

¹ Background and current events:

• Wikipedia
  • 2024 Summer Olympics (“This article documents a current sporting event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses. Initial news reports, scores, or statistics may be unreliable. The last updates to this article may not reflect the most current information….”)
  • 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
  • Olympic Charter (“This article needs additional citations for verification….”)
  • Olympic_Games
  • Olympiade de la République (1796, 1797, 1798) (French)

² A very quick look at a religious art subject:

• Wikipedia
  • Last Supper in Christian art
  • The Sacrament of the Last Supper

³ There’s art, and there’s art:

• Wikipedia
  • 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
  • Last Supper (Leonardo)

⁴ Sports, art, and a theory:

• Wikipedia
  • 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony (most recently checked August 5, 2024)
  • Argumentum ad populum (“Appeal to the People”)
  • Argumentation theory

⁵ Cultural standards and an old building:

• Wikipedia
  • Blackface
  • Censored Eleven (“This article needs additional citations for verification….”)
  • Stereotypes of African Americans
  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin
  • Notre-Dame de Paris
    • Ownership
  • Notre-Dame fire (April 2019)