CNA Staff, Jul 30, 2024 / 16:22 pm (CNA).
Top government officials in Iran and Turkey, along with other Muslim religious figures, are speaking out against the drag-queen-led parody of the Last Supper at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony that shocked Christians and others across the world.
The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned the “insults” against Jesus Christ, noting that Jesus is a respected figure in Islam.
“Respect for #JesusChrist … is an indisputable, definite matter for Muslims,” Khamenei said in a post on X. “We condemn these insults directed at the holy figures of divine religions, including Jesus Christ,” added the supreme leader of Iran since 1989.
Turkish President Recep Tayyi Erdoğan also spoke out against the ceremony, saying he intended to call Pope Francis at the earliest opportunity to discuss the “immorality committed against the Christian world.”
The “disgraceful scene in Paris offended not only the Catholic world, not only the Christian world, but also us as much as them,” Erdoğan said during an address in the country’s capital of Ankara.
“Immorality displayed at the opening of the Paris Olympics once again highlighted the scale of the threat we face,” he added.
Muslims do not recognize the divinity of Jesus but do reverence him as a prophet.
The top institution of the Sunni branch of Islam in Egypt also issued a statement condemning the Olympic ceremony portrayal.
“The scenes portray Jesus Christ,” the Al-Azhar statement read, “in an offensive image that involves disrespect to his person.”
“Al-Azhar, and nearly 2 billion Muslims behind it, believe that Jesus … is the Messenger of Allah. The Quran reads, Jesus is Allah’s ‘Word through Mary and a spirit from him.’”
The Muslim Council of Elders, under the chairmanship of Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, also issued a denunciation of the opening ceremony.
“This disgraceful act showed a complete lack of respect for the beliefs of religious people and the high moral values they hold dear,” the statement read. “The council unequivocally rejects all attempts to demean religious symbols, beliefs, and sacred figures.”
Christian as well as other leaders worldwide have spoken out against Friday’s opening ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The world’s wealthiest individual, Elon Musk, called the scene “extremely disrespectful to Christians.”
The controversial show, part of the 1.5-billion-euro (about $1.62 billion) spectacle to kick off the Olympic Games, featured drag queens portraying the apostles and an overweight DJ as Jesus in what appeared to be a part of a fashion show apparently mocking Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of the Last Supper.
Anne Descamps, spokesperson for the Paris Olympics, defended the opening ceremonies, saying “there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group.”
She said the goal of the opening ceremony was to “celebrate community tolerance.”
“We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are really sorry,” Descamps added.
Bishop Robert Barron panned Descamps’ statement as “anything but an apology.”
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The so-called apology was a load of horse manure. And lies from top to bottom. Do they think we’re total idiots?
Kudos to Bishop Barron for calling them out on it.
Whopper (with cheese) of the week – “There was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group.”
Whopper (with pickles and onions) of the week – “If people have taken any offense we are really sorry.”
Take your pick, or – take both.
If they had mocked Islam, Paris would be BURNING NOW!!! The fact that the Muslim population is so big was the reason why for the comments!
Two centuries before Muhammad, St. Augustine also hailed from what is now Muslim territory. And, from Augustine, we see clearly the root of evil, less distinct and not even recognized, in 7th-century Islam, or lately the post-Christian West. The mystery of this primal flaw is original to creatures rather than to the Creator: the original sin…
About this taproot of moral evil, Augustine discovers that the really original sin is not so much any external action—whether a core or “apple” sin, or now exhibitionism on the Seine, or possible denial (in both the West and the East) of the totally gifted and historical Incarnation. But, firstly, the internal betrayal of self and of God. The almost reflexive—and yet chosen—predisposition (!) of original pride over truthful humility.
Distinct from any proposed pluralism of religions—the followers of Islam and the witnesses to Christ, both, and members all religions—have some sense of the inborn “natural law” involving baseline fraternity. The expropriation of the Last Supper, floated into the Olympics opening ceremony, violated this interior, universal, and personal fact. But also, yes, the expressive “beliefs” of all religions. And, surely the “faith” of Christians in the divine self-disclosure of the Triune One in Jesus Christ…
“Some of the most beautiful names in the human language are given to the God of the Koran, but He is ultimately a God outside of the world, a God who is ONLY MAGESTY, NEVER EMMANUEL [italics], God-with-us. ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION OF REDEMPTION. There is no room for the Cross and the Resurrection. Jesus is mentioned, but only as a prophet who prepares for the last prophet, Muhammad. There is also mention of Mary, His Virgin Mother, but the tragedy of redemption is completely absent. For this reason not only the theology but also the anthropology is very distant from Christianity” (St. John Paul II, “Crossing the Threshold of Hope,” Knopf, 1994, pp. 92-3).
Excellent column from Phil Lawler in Catholic Culture, July 30.
Note well, that while Muslim leaders have now condemned the scene, Francis has been silent.
I appreciate their condemnation of the abominations of the Paris Olympics.
May Khameini and Erdogan be rewarded for their righteous act with a trail of graces leading them into the Catholic Church.
Of John Paul II’s “three great religions” only one mocks and outright rejects our Lord.
Perhaps a temporary alliance with the Moslems is a good idea. It might enable us to defeat the immediate and greatest threat to Christianity.
European Muslims have aligned with observant Jews in the past over issues like circumcision and kosher/halal butchers.
It’s a good thing whenever the different branches of the children of Abraham find common ground together.