The French Embassy released a statement, yesterday, which is unusual given that foreign states are rarely dragged into our politics. So far I have counted only one protest letter written by Archbichop Charles Scicluna, and it was only the one that he sent to the French Embassy.
Talk about priorities when organised criminals drag your country to the pits.
Note, I haven’t checked what’s going on in French politics about this, but I’m pretty sure that President Macron is milking all of this this to his own political benefit as he compels the far-right to expose themselves, and once again send the message to the population saying, “Is this what you really want?”
The Catholics in the countryside voting for the far-right weren’t going to change their mind, anyway.
STATEMENT BY THE FRENCH EMBASSY IN MALTA – 29.07.2024
Your Excellency
Dear Maltese friends,
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. 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.
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.
Following the verse of Saint John, ยJudge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgmentย, I 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 Festivitรฉs”. 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!
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Historian and Publisher
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