Friday, August 2, 2024

Catholic bishops around the world demand IOC formal apology for blasphemous Olympic opening

Olympic Last Supper parody

The bigotry toward Christians and the blasphemy of Jesus Christ, God’s Divine Son on display at the Olympics is a new low for our human community. Shame on those who produced this mockery, shame on the Olympic Committee and the nation of France for allowing it. This tarnishes what should be the noble celebration of sport and competition.

I urge the athletes not to run for the fading crown of worldly acclaim, instead run for the crown that does not fade, eternal life in Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God.

CNA Newsroom, Aug 2, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

In a strongly worded open letter, Catholic cardinals and bishops from around the world are calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to “repudiate” and “apologize” for the “intentionally hateful mockery” of the Last Supper during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

In addition, “the undersigned commit to a day of prayer and fasting in reparation for this blasphemy.”

The letter was signed by three cardinals and 24 bishops as of Friday, Aug. 2, and states: “With shock, the world watched as the Summer Olympics in Paris opened with a grotesque and blasphemous depiction of the Last Supper.”

“It is hard to understand how the faith of over 2 billion people can be so casually and intentionally blasphemed,” say the prelates, who include Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke; Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, OFM; and Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, CM.

While 15 of the 24 signatories are from the U.S. — including Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver; Archbishop Emeritus Charles Chaput, OFM Cap, of Philadelphia; Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco; Archbishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska; and Archbishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota — bishops from Argentina, France, Ghana, Lebanon, Nigeria, Peru, and the United Kingdom also signed the letter.

The prelates demand that the IOC “repudiate this blasphemous action and apologize to all people of faith,” warning that the display “threatens people of all faiths and of none, as it opens the door to those with power doing whatever they wish to people they do not like.”

The letter’s organizers provided an email address — episcopimundi2022@gmail.com — that other bishops can use to add their names to the document.

‘Condescending’ response

The Olympic opening ceremony in the French capital on July 26 triggered global outrage over scenes that included cavorting drag queens in what many decried as a mockery of the Last Supper.

The controversy escalated to such an extent that one U.S. mobile phone and internet company decided to pull its advertising from the Olympics.

In a first response to the scandal one day after the ceremony, the artistic director responsible for the ceremony, Thomas Jolly, told local broadcaster BFMTV the scene was inspired by a pagan feast, not the Last Supper.

“You will never find in my work a desire to denigrate anyone or anything,” Jolly said, according to Reuters.

One day later, Olympics spokesperson Anne Descamps said, according to Reuters: “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance. … If people have taken any offense we are really sorry.”

At least one prominent Catholic leader rejected this response — as have, in no uncertain terms, others.

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, called the Parisian reaction “a masterpiece of woke duplicity” in a video posted to social media platform X on July 29.

“Christians were offended because it was offensive and it was intended to be offensive,” Barron said. “So please don’t patronize us with this condescending remark about, well, if you had any, you know, bad feelings, we’re awfully sorry about that.”

”A real apology would be something like: This was a mistake. It should never have been done, and we’re sorry for it,” he said, adding: “I don’t think Christians should be mollified; I think we should keep raising our voices.”

Day of prayer and fasting

In addition to their commitment to a day of prayer and fasting, the letter’s signatories “will offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection are made present to us by our obedience to the commandment he gave at the Last Supper: ‘Do this in memory of me.’”

“We pray that those who seek to harm others with their power, and those harmed, will imitate his self-sacrificial love so that peace, decency, and mutual respect may be restored in the world,” the letter states.

Click here for the full text of the letter.

Msgr. Carlo Maria Viganò

Statement

following the sacrileges and scandals
of the Paris Olympic Games

Erdoğan Calls on Mute Francis to Defend Christ

"It will always be praiseworthy if a man patiently endures injuries and mortifications of daily life and does not react like a beast to them. On the contrary, it will be of the utmost impiety to patiently tolerate injuries and offenses against God." Saint John Chrysostom (Antioch, 347 - Comana Pontica, September 14, 407).

St. Thomas Cajetan, O.P. (1469-1534)

Theologian and Cardinal

He points out that the famous axiom "Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia" (Where the Pope is, there is also the Church) holds true only when he acts and behaves as the Pope, because Peter "is subject to the duties of the Office" otherwise," neither is the Church in him, nor is he in the Church."

Let your voice be heard:

By phone (international): 011 41 21 621 61 11

E-mail: pressoffice@olympic.org

Contact them through their website: www.olympics.com/ioc/contact-us

Write to them at:

Maison Olympique

Rte de Vidy 9

1007 Lausanne

Switzerland

Cardinal Müller condemns ‘sacrilegious and vulgar’ Olympic opening in Paris

Catholic bishops in Holy Land back ecumenical statement condemning Olympic opening ceremony - LifeSite (lifesitenews.com)

Male drag ‘artist’ dances for kids at Vatican’s World Children’s Day - LifeSite (lifesitenews.com)

Cardinal Burke slams Olympic ceremony as ‘unbelievable manifestation of darkness and sin’

Tech firm pulls Olympics advertising after blasphemous anti-Christian opening ceremony

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We will recognize them by their fruits.

Prayer to St. Michael

Please protect us, St. Michael the Archangel, against violence, murder, and robbery. In your goodness preserve us today from all the malice of sinful and wicked persons. In your sleepless vigilance watch over the safety and welfare of our homes, and keep guard over our possessions. Ever hold in your special care, most triumphant St. Michael, the forces of public order against the crimes of evil people, and defend all honest citizens in time of peril. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Novena Prayer to St. Michael

(Pray for nine consecutive days)
Saint Michael the Archangel, loyal champion of God and His Catholic people, I turn to thee with confidence and seek thy powerful intercession. For the love of God, Who hast made thee so glorious in grace and power, and for the love of the Mother of Jesus, the Queen of the Angels, be pleased to hear my prayer.
Thou knowest the value of my soul in the eyes of God. May no stain of evil ever disfigure its beauty. Help me to conquer the evil spirit who tempts me. I desire to imitate thy loyalty to God and Holy Mother Church and thy great love for God and men. And since thou art God’s messenger for the care of His people, I entrust to thee this special request: (here mention your request).
Saint Michael, since thou art, by the will of the Creator, the powerful intercessor of Christians, I have great confidence in thy prayers. I earnestly trust that if it is God’s holy will, my petition will be granted.
Pray for me, Saint Michael, and also for those I love. Protect us in all dangers of body and soul. Help us in our daily needs. Through thy powerful intercession, may we live a holy life, die a happy death and reach Heaven where we may praise and love God with thee forever. Amen.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be.
St. Michael, Guardian of souls, Vanquisher of rebel spirits, Pray for us.

St John Chrysostom

Our Lord having reproached the Jews with blindness, they might have said, We are not blind, but we avoid you as a deceiver. Our Lord therefore gives the marks which distinguish a robber and deceiver from a true shepherd. First come those of the deceiver and robber: Verily, verily, I say to you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. There is an allusion here to Antichrist, and to certain false Christs who had been, and were to be. The Scriptures He calls the door. They admit us to the knowledge of God, they protect the sheep, they shut out the wolves, they bar the entrance to heretics. He that uses not the Scriptures, but climbs up some other way, i.e. some self-chosen, some unlawful way, is a thief. Climbs up, He says, not, enters, as if it were a thief getting over a wall, and running all risks. Some other way, may refer too to the commandments and traditions of men which the Scribes taught, to the neglect of the Law. When our Lord further on calls Himself the Door, we need not be surprised. According to the office which He bears, He is in one place the Shepherd, in another the Sheep. In that He introduces us to the Father, He is the Door, in that He takes care of us, He is the Shepherd. (Catena Aurea)

LIBERTAS ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON THE NATURE OF HUMAN LIBERTY
35. And as to tolerance, it is surprising how far removed from the equity and prudence of the Church are those who profess what is called liberalism. For, in allowing that boundless license of which We have spoken, they exceed all limits, and end at last by making no apparent distinction between truth and error, honesty and dishonesty. And because the Church, the pillar and ground of truth, and the unerring teacher of morals, is forced utterly to reprobate and condemn tolerance of such an abandoned and criminal character, they calumniate her as being wanting in patience and gentleness, and thus fail to see that, in so doing, they impute to her as a fault what is in reality a matter for commendation. But, in spite of all this show of tolerance, it very often happens that, while they profess themselves ready to lavish liberty on all in the greatest profusion, they are utterly intolerant toward the Catholic Church, by refusing to allow her the liberty of being herself free.

“If you want to be certain of being in the number of the Elect, strive to be one of the few, not one of the many. And if you would be quite sure of your salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few; that is to say, do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or night, so that they may attain everlasting blessedness.” -Saint Anselm, Father and Doctor of the Church

PRAYER TO SAINT JOSEPH, THE PROTECTOR OF CHRISTIAN FAMILIES Great Saint Joseph, who wast chosen of God to be the head of the holiest and most august of families, deign to cast thy eyes upon us, and take us this day under thy special protection. Holy Patriarch, model of the holiest faith, and of the most perfect virtues, obtain for all the members of this family grace to withstand the dangers and seductions of the world, and to remain stedfastly attached to the LORD. Obtain for us that, always united by the bonds of the most tender charity, and encouraging one another mutually in good works, we may taste under thy auspices the sweetness of that peace which JESUS has promised to His true disciples. But above all, when our last hour shall come, obtain for us that we may find grace before the Sovereign Judge, so that, reunited in heaven at the foot of Thy Throne, we may celebrate everlastingly the glory of GOD and thy praise. Amen.

St. Vincent Ferrer -- Sermon on the Last Judgment: In the same way, in the time of Antichrist, the Sun of justice will be obscured by the interposition of temporal goods and the wealth which Antichrist will bestow on the world, inasmuch as the brightness of faith in Jesus Christ and the glow of good lives will no longer shine among Christians. For, lest they should lose their dominion, temporal rulers, kings and princes will range themselves on the side of Antichrist. In like manner, prelates for fear of losing their dignities, and religious and priests to gain honors and riches, will forsake the Faith of Christ and adhere to Antichrist.

Neither living nor lifeless faith remains in a heretic who disbelieves one article of faith. The reason of this is that the species of every habit depends on the formal aspect of the object, without which the species of the habit cannot remain. Now the formal object of faith is the First Truth, as manifested in Holy Writ and the teaching of the Church, which proceeds from the First Truth. Consequently whoever does not adhere, as to an infallible and Divine rule, to the teaching of the Church, which proceeds from the First Truth manifested in Holy Writ, has not the habit of faith, but holds that which is of faith otherwise than by faith. Even so, it is evident that a man whose mind holds a conclusion without knowing how it is proved, has not scientific knowledge, but merely an opinion about it. Now it is manifest that he who adheres to the teaching of the Church, as to an infallible rule, assents to whatever the Church teaches; otherwise, if, of the things taught by the Church, he holds what he chooses to hold, and rejects what he chooses to reject, he no longer adheres to the teaching of the Church as to an infallible rule, but to his own will. Hence it is evident that a heretic who obstinately disbelieves one article of faith, is not prepared to follow the teaching of the Church in all things; but if he is not obstinate, he is no longer in heresy but only in error. Therefore it is clear that such a heretic with regard to one article has no faith in the other articles, but only a kind of opinion in accordance with his own will. (Saint Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 5, a. 3)