The French Embassy in Malta has reacted to a complaint filed by Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who felt insulted by what he described as a parody of the Last Supper in a scene during the Olympic Games opening ceremony last Friday.

Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna on Satuday expressed his anger at what he described as a parody of the Last Supper at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, held in Paris yesterday.

In a tweet on X, formerly Twitter, Mgr Scicluna said that he had written to the French Ambassador to Malta, expressing “distress and disappointment” for the “gratuitous insult” to the Eucharist via a parody of the Last Supper.

In response, the embassy said that “a scene from the wonderful opening ceremony caused quite a stir among the Catholic community and we are sorry that Christians felt offended by the dinner scene where some believed they detected a parody of the Last Supper”.

France is proud of its heritage and patrimony: it watched in horror as the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris burned down, and is following with emotion the stages of its reconstruction, the note said. It is delighted that Notre-Dame will be reopened in December 2024, as announced by the President of the Republic.

"France is also the 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," the embassy said.

Following the verse of Saint John, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment”, I (the ambassador, Agnès Von Der Mühll), wanted to wait for the explanation given by the artistic director of this ceremony. I'll defer to his response on Sunday 28 July to the reactions to the dinner, which some people compared to the Last Supper: "So no, it wasn't my inspiration. In fact, I think it was quite clear that Dionysus was coming to the table. Why Dionysus? Because he is first and foremost the god of celebration in Greek mythology, and the painting is called "Les Festivités". He is the god of wine, 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".

And now it's time for the Games, and let's embrace, together, the values of Olympism: friendship, respect, excellence, which forge unity in diversity, the embassy said.

Paris Olympics organizers have apologized to anyone who was offended by a tableau that evoked Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” during the glamorous opening ceremony, but defended the concept behind it.

Da Vinci's painting depicts the moment when Jesus Christ declared that an apostle would betray him. The scene during Friday's ceremony featured DJ and producer Barbara Butch — an LGBTQ+ icon — flanked by drag artists and dancers.

Religious conservatives from around the world decried the segment, with the French Catholic Church’s conference of bishops deploring “scenes of derision” that they said made a mockery of Christianity — a sentiment echoed by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. The Anglican Communion in Egypt expressed its “deep regret” Sunday, saying the ceremony could cause the IOC to “lose its distinctive sporting identity and its humanitarian message.”

The ceremony’s artistic director Thomas Jolly had distanced his scene from any “Last Supper” parallels after the ceremony, saying it was meant to celebrate diversity and pay tribute to feasting and French gastronomy. Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps was asked about the outcry during an International Olympic Committee news conference on Sunday.

“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think (with) Thomas Jolly, we really did try to celebrate community tolerance,” Descamps said. “Looking at the result of the polls that we shared, we believe that this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are, of course, really, really sorry.”

Jolly explained his intentions to The Associated Press after the ceremony.

“My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock,” Jolly said. “Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.”