Upset bishops and mixed reviews for Paris Olympics ceremony

The rain-soaked parade on Friday evening had offered “wonderful moments of beauty, joy, rich emotions, and was universally praised,” a statement from the French Bishops’ Conference said on Saturday.

“However, this ceremony unfortunately included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deeply regret,” the bishops said.

While they did not refer to specific parts, they appeared to be referring to a segment entitled “Festivity” which began with a group of dancers and drag queens sat in poses that recalled depictions of the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus is said to have taken with his apostles.

It was set to music by lesbian activist DJ Barbara Butch who sat at the centre with a silver headdress that resembled a halo.

“We think of all Christians across the continents who were hurt by the excesses and provocation of certain scenes,” added the bishops in a statement co-signed by the “Holy Games”, a sports programme funded by the Catholic church.

Conservatives and far-right politicians in France were also left aghast by what they saw as a “woke” spectacle featuring LGBTQ performers and a highly racially diverse cast. 

The artistic rendition also caused uproar among Italy’s far right. 

Deputy Prime Minister and anti-migrant League party leader Matteo Salvini slammed the ceremony in a post on the social media platform X.

“Opening the Olympics by insulting billions of Christians around the world was a really bad start, dear French people,” Salvini wrote. “Sordid.”

Meanwhile, an MEP belonging to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy, Nicola Procaccini, opted for sarcasm: “I really enjoyed the Gay Pride ceremony. Do you know when the Olympic Games will take place?” he wrote on Facebook.

The four-hour ceremony saw athletes sail down a six-kilometre (four-mile) stretch of the river Seine on 85 boats, the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside the main stadium.

Entertainers including Lady Gaga and Franco-Malian R&B star Aya Nakamura performed from river-side locations, while Quebec-born Celine Dion closed the show with a rousing solo from the Eiffel Tower. 

A spokesman for France’s far-right National Rally party, Julien Odoul called the ceremony “a ransacking of French culture”, while conservative US entrepreneur Elon Musk slammed it as “extremely disrespectful to Christians.”

– ‘Message of love’ –

Show artistic director Thomas Jolly, who is gay, had pledged last week that the ceremony would celebrate “diversity” and “otherness.”

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, he said that his intention had not “been to be subversive or to mock, or to shock.”

“Above all I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion, not at all to divide,” he added. 

“In France, you have the right to love as you like, who you like. In France, you can believe (in religion) or not believe. In France, we have lots of rights,” he added.

Foreign conservatives such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who sees himself as a defender of “traditional” values in Europe, railed Saturday against the “weakness and disintegration of the Western world” as illustrated by the opening ceremony. 

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the show a “mockery of a sacred story for Christians” and a “giant gay parade.” 

Russia, which banned so-called “gay propaganda” in 2013, has been excluded from the Paris Olympics over its invasion of Ukraine. 

French President Emmanuel Macron jumped to Jolly’s defence, saying the ceremony had “made our compatriots extremely proud”.

– Bloated? –

Reviews of the music, costumes and new outdoor format were mixed.

French sports newspaper l’Equipe said it had “left memories for a century”, while Le Monde said, “this extraordinary opening ceremony met the challenge that the naysayers thought was impossible.” 

But writing in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, reviewer Arifa Akbar said there were some “thoroughly weird curatorial decisions.”

“Paris is known for its taste but this looked like a motley outfit thrown together,” she said.

Critic Mike Hale writing in The New York Times said the ceremony felt “bloated” and “worked to diminish the athletes”, while being “light on humour and heavy on pretense.” 

Around 300,000 spectators watched from the river banks, often at a cost of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of euros.

Although many remained upbeat despite the rain, others complained about watching screens and a monotonous procession of boats for most of the time, with the singers and dancers stretched out all along the route.

American Olympic legend Michael Johnson endorsed the format, writing on X that “I’m not sure the spectator experience was great, but I think athletes enjoyed this opening ceremony”.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) praised Jolly’s work.

“Every edition (of the Olympics) brings a stone to the edifice,” Christophe Dubi, Olympic Games executive director at the IOC, told reporters. “This has brought a mountain, it’s not a small stone.”