Ambassador reacts to Archbishop’s outrage on Paris Olympics, ‘Judge not according to the appearance’

Malta’s archbishop Charles Scicluna was issued with a polite rebuff from France’s ambassador after the senior cleric demanded an apology over the alleged representation of the Last Supper during the Olympics’ opening ceremony.

Scicluna took offence, claiming a scene of the Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ had been used during a part of the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony, joining the outrage from the Catholic Church and conservative politicians who deemed the recreation of the biblical scene as offensive.

The scene was performed by drag queens, a transgender model and a naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine Dionysus.

But instead of an apology, Scicluna was quoted the good book by ambassador Agnès Von Der Mühll, who insisted that the ceremony’s artist director had declared the Last Supper was not the inspiration, but the Greek god of celebration Dionysus.

“We are sorry that Christians felt offended by the dinner scene where some believed they detected a parody of the Last Supper. Following the verse of Saint John, ‘Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment’, I wanted to wait for the explanation given by the artistic director of this ceremony,” Von Der Mühll said.

According to the Paris Olympic’s artistic director Thomas Jolly, the tableau “Les Festivités’ features Dionysius as the god of wine, which is an important symbol in France, and the father of Sequana, the goddess linked to the river Seine: “You will never find in me any desire to mock or denigrate. I wanted to organise a ceremony that would repair and reconcile, and that would reaffirm the values of our Republic: liberty, equality and fraternity.”

Von Der Mühll said in a statement also published to Facebook that France was a country of “free thought, secularism, the freedom to believe and the freedom not to believe. As such, she cherishes the freedom of creation, the freedom that guided the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which enchanted the world and will mark History.”

Von Der Mühll said France was also proud of its heritage and patrimony, having watched in horror when the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris burned down.

In a social media post, Archbishop Scicluna had said he had sent two messages to the French ambassador to Malta expressing his distress and disappointment of many Christians at the “gratuitous insult to the Eucharist” during the opening ceremony.

He urged others to follow his lead and relay their objection to the ambassador. 

The Catholic church in France also issued a statement, claiming the tableau vivant was a scene of derision and mockery of Christianity.

Italian far-right leader Matteo Salvini said: “Opening the Olympics by insulting billions of Christians in the world was really a very bad start, dear French. Sleazy.”