Many Catholic bishops in the United States pushed back against the controversial representation at the Olympics. Bishop Robert Barron commented in a social media post on the “gross, flippant mockery” in France, a country once described as “the eldest daughter of the church.”
“We Christians, we Catholics, should not be sheepish, we should resist,” Barron, who leads an influential Catholic communications organization, said in the post.
A number of prominent American evangelicals also reacted with outrage over the scene, including Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who called it “a pornographic corruption of Christianity” on X and said “Paris aspires to be the new Babylon, with a drag queen at the center behind the altar.”
Former Olympian and trans woman Caitlyn Jenner said that “as an Olympian and a Christian,” she was outraged and called the scene “a disgusting display of mockery of one of the most Holy and Sacred images of our Christian faith, by the least tolerant demographic in the world, the Radical Rainbow Mafia! SHAMEFUL!”
The chair of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis urged believers to fast and pray in preparation for the events in Paris.
The organizers of the Paris 2024 games apologized on Sunday, stating that “clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group” and that the goal was instead to “celebrate community tolerance.”
“We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are really sorry,” the statement added.
This article originally appeared here.
 over a scene starring drag performers and French entertainers that many interpreted as a parody of Jesus’ Last Supper.){kind=link}