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The French Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church has blasted the Olympic Games’ opening ceremony for its excesses and provocations which sought to make a mockery of Christianity.

The French bishops expressed their thoughts “to Christians worldwide who were hurt by the excess, and provocation of certain scenes.” As we detailed previously, it included at least ten men in drag performing a reenactment of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” – along with many other sexualized scenes that included a man with his testicles exposed and hanging out of his outfit.

“The opening ceremony… included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deeply deplore,” the statement continued.

“We think of all Christians worldwide who were hurt by the excess and provocation of certain scenes,” the French bishops continued. “We hope they understand that the Olympic celebration extends far beyond the ideological biases of a few artists.”

Still, The Associated Press and other mainstream outlets hailed the segment as an “unprecedented display of inclusivity” despite an overwhelmingly negative reaction which come even from secular quarters. 

Several X accounts that posted videos and/or screenshots about the absurdities of the Olympics’ opening ceremonies have been hit with Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaints. Additionally the Opening Ceremony highlights has been removed from the Olympics’ official YouTube page, as we detailed earlier. 

This was extremely disrespectful to Christians

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 26, 2024

Even elements of the European Left condemned it, including far-left French politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

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The following is a translation of and commentary on Mélenchon’s words by Arnaud Bertrand…

Mélenchon on the Olympics opening ceremony, which really goes to show that the criticisms of it aren’t “far-right” as many are arguing, they’re just common sense:

“I didn’t appreciate the mockery of the Christian Last Supper, the final meal of Christ and his disciples, which is foundational to Sunday worship. Of course, I’m not getting into the criticism of ‘blasphemy.’ That doesn’t concern everyone.

But I ask: what’s the point of risking offending believers? Even when one is anticlerical! We were speaking to the world that evening. Among the billion Christians in the world, how many good and honest people are there for whom faith provides help in living and knowing how to participate in everyone’s life, without bothering anyone?”

It’s the exact same point I was making yesterday: the whole point of the Olympics is to bring the world together, and this was perhaps the most needlessly divisive opening ceremony in history, because so shocking and tasteless to so many.

🇫🇷 FLASH | Jean-Luc Mélenchon à propos de la cérémonie d’ouverture des JO de #Paris2024:

« Je n’ai pas aimé la moquerie sur la Cène chrétienne, dernier repas du Christ et de ses disciples, fondatrice du culte dominical. Je n’entre pas bien sûr dans la critique du « blasphème ».… pic.twitter.com/ERbJ8U5SJK

— Cerfia (@CerfiaFR) July 27, 2024

It spoke to an extremely tiny group of people. I actually think many even in the LGBT community found it completely ridiculous. Being secular doesn’t mean hating on religion. It means a separation of state and religion but it doesn’t imply insult of religion and their believers… In fact many profoundly secular states ban insults to religion…

I admit that France does have a history of being irreverent to religion, but it is unwise to sacralize this as a core part of our identity as this show attempted to do, especially in the context of an event meant to bring the world together. These types of provocations belong in fringe publications like Charlie-Hebdo, not a ceremony like this.