Cardinal Burke condemns Paris Olympics opening appearing to parody Last Supper: 'Theater of Satan'
A Catholic leader scorched a widely condemned display at the Paris Olympics as "debased and blasphemous."
Cardinal Raymond Burke of the Roman Catholic Church is the latest public figure to condemn the 2024 Paris Olympic Games' opening ceremony for allegedly parodying the Christian faith with a performance that many interpreted as mocking the iconic Leonardo da Vinci painting of Jesus and his disciples during The Last Supper.
The display featured a group of drag queens and flamboyant performers all lined up along one side of a long table, with one in a halo crown posing in the center. According to news outlet France 24, the scene’s choreographer, Thomas Jolly, has denied the allegations that he was mocking Christianity and was instead trying to show "a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus," but many art and religious experts remain unconvinced.
CatholicVote reported on Wednesday that Cardinal Burke had mentioned the Opening Ceremony scene in his homily for a Mass celebrating the 16th anniversary of the dedication of the church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on July 31.
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Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke attends the Consistory for the creation of new Cardinals led by Pope Francis at the St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, Vatican. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
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"On this past Friday, we witnessed an unbelievable manifestation of the darkness and sin in our world: the abominable mockery of the Holy Eucharist at its Institution for the opening of the Summer Olympics in Paris," the Cardinal said. "It is difficult to imagine anything more debased and blasphemous."
He went on to declare, "That such an event could take place shows us, in a most painful way, how what was once a Christian culture has become the theater of Satan and those who cooperate with his thoroughly evil plans, the plans of ‘a murderer from the beginning’ who ‘has nothing to do with the truth,’ the plans of ‘a liar and the father of lies.’"
Delegations arrive at the Trocadero as spectators watch French singer Philippe Katerine performing on a giant screen, in Paris, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024 in Paris. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP)
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He argued that such a display remains those of the faith that there is an ongoing conflict over morality being waged in our civilization.
"Our disgust and anger about what happened at the Summer Olympics awakens anew our consciousness of so many other manifestations of the open rebellion against God and His plan for our salvation in the world in which we live: attacks on human life and its cradle in the family created by the marriage of a man and a woman, and attacks on religion itself and its free exercise."
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Fox News' Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
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