Minnesota Bishop Robert Barron said the statement made by Paris 2024 Olympic organizers apologizing for an LGBTQ parody of “The Last Supper” during the opening ceremony was “far from an apology.”
in video In a post on X, Baron criticized the Olympic organizers’ apology for an LGBTQ-inspired parody of “The Last Supper,” which featured DJ, producer, and LGBTQ activist Barbara Bucci at the center, flanked by drag queens and transgender performers. Baron said the Olympic organizers’ “so-called apology” was “condescending” and “suave” to Christians and did not apologize for the actual offenses committed against Christians.
The bishop’s video comes after he previously posted a video on X criticizing the drag queen parody of “The Last Supper” as a “grossly flippant mockery” of the faith of Christians around the world.
“I saw the so-called apology from the organizing committee and I thought, ‘This is far from an apology,'” Baron said in the video. “In fact, this is like a masterpiece of woke duplicity.”
That’s not enough for the Paris Olympic organizing committee. #Olympic events #Olympics2024Paris @Olympic pic.twitter.com/p8urrYLhA0
— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) July 28, 2024
Barron added that he had “a few things to say” about the apology, and that if organizers thought an apology would “assuage Christian anger,” they “should think again.”
“Here’s what they said,” Baron continued, quoting the Olympic organizing committee’s statement, “‘It is clear that no disrespect was intended towards any religious group in any way’ – no joke. I mean, a group of drag queens prancing around in a sexually provocative manner, clearly a parody of Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper.'”
Anne Descamps, a spokeswoman for the Paris 2024 Olympics, said in a statement that “there was no intention of showing any disrespect to any religious group” and that “we sought to celebrate the community’s tolerance.”
“Clearly there was no intention to show any disrespect towards any religious group,” Dekan said in a statement. “On the contrary, [with] “Thomas Jolly, we really wanted to celebrate the generosity of our community, and looking at the vote results we shared, we believe this ambition has been achieved. We are, of course, truly sorry if anyone felt offended.”
Baron continued to criticize the apology: “I love this line: ‘I was trying to celebrate the tolerance of the community.’ Tolerance. Everyone is welcome, everyone is tolerated, except for those pesky 2.6 billion Christians on Earth. This wonderful diversity will only last as long as there are those 2.6 billion people who don’t agree with my ideology. So don’t tell me about tolerance or diversity.”
“And then: ‘We believe this ambition of celebrating tolerance has been achieved,'” Baron added. “You wonder what planet they live on if they think harmony and peace and all of that has been achieved by this obvious insult to Christians. And then at the end, the usual patronising words: ‘We are very sorry if anyone was offended.’ So, if you are simple-minded and stupid enough to be offended by this wonderful expression of French culture, you see, we are sorry about that.”
The bishop added that Christians were offended by the display because they found it “unpleasant.”
“Please don’t degrade us with condescending statements like, ‘We’re very sorry if this caused you any offense,'” Barron added.
Barron urged Christians to keep speaking out and not give up. “A real apology would be, ‘This was a mistake, this is something I should never have done, and I’m sorry,'” he said, adding that Christians should not be appeased but should “keep speaking out.”
