Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony Sparks Outrage with Drag Queens Parodying Last Supper

The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris featured a controversial drag queen performance parodying the Last Supper, sparking outrage among Christian leaders and conservatives.

The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris has ignited a firestorm of controversy with its depiction of drag queens parodying the Last Supper, a revered Christian tradition. This audacious display has drawn swift condemnation from prominent Catholic figures, including Bishop Robert Barron, who decried it as a "gross mockery."

Bishop Barron, the head of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota and a renowned Catholic influencer, expressed his dismay in a video posted to X, lamenting the spectacle of drag queens portraying Christ and his apostles. "What do I see but this gross mockery of the Last Supper," he exclaimed, addressing his over 285,000 followers.

Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony Sparks Outrage with Drag Queens Parodying Last Supper

Barron's condemnation reflects the widespread outrage among Christians and conservatives over the performance, which featured a large woman adorned with a halo crown and numerous drag queens. This parody of Leonardo da Vinci's iconic painting of the Last Supper has been met with vehement disapproval online.

"France felt evidently, as it's trying to put its best cultural foot forward, the right thing to do is to mock this very central moment in Christianity, where Jesus at His Last Supper gives His body and blood in anticipation of the cross," Barron lamented.

Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony Sparks Outrage with Drag Queens Parodying Last Supper

The bishop expressed his disappointment that a nation with such a strong Catholic heritage would engage in such a provocative display. "France, which used to be called the eldest daughter of the church, Paris, that gave us – Thomas Aquinas taught there, and Vincent De Paul was there, and King Louis IX – St. Louis. France has sent Catholic missionaries all over the world."

Barron emphasized how this performance contradicted France's Christian history, which has been instrumental in shaping its culture and values. "France, whose culture – and I mean the honoring of the individual, of human rights, of freedom – is grounded very much in Christianity, felt the right thing to do is mock the Christian faith," he asserted.

Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony Sparks Outrage with Drag Queens Parodying Last Supper

According to Barron, the left has become increasingly open about its opposition to Christianity. "I think, folks, what's interesting here is this deeply secularist, postmodern society knows who its enemy is. They're naming it. And we should believe them," he said.

Barron urged Christians and Catholics to resist the anti-Christian bigotry displayed in the opening ceremony. "We Christians, we Catholics should not be sheepish, we should resist, we should make our voices heard," he declared.

The bishop outlined how Christians can combat this antagonism, stating, "Christians should always resist evil, and I think we have indeed become too weak in the face of our cultural antagonists. Jesus' command to turn the other cheek is by no means equivalent to passivity, as is evident in the work of Martin Luther King."

"King used non-violent means to interrupt forms of wickedness that had embedded themselves into our society," Barron explained. "Turning the other cheek and going the extra mile are practical strategies for mirroring a person's injustice back to him so that he might stop what he is doing and repent."

Barron emphasized the power of social media in fighting evil, noting, "I do believe that today the social media give us a means to accomplish all of these ends. This is why I used my own platforms to resist what was going on in Paris – and I think it was pretty effective."

The controversy surrounding the Last Supper parody has ignited a heated debate about the role of religion in society and the limits of artistic expression. The incident has also highlighted the growing tensions between religious groups and the LGBTQ+ community.