Cardinal Raymond Burke has become one of the highest-ranking Catholic
Church officials to address the “abominable mockery” during the opening
ceremony of the Paris Olympics when a parody of the Last Supper was
performed with drag queens and LGBT individuals representing Christ and
the Apostles.
He made his remarks about “an unbelievable manifestation of the darkness and sin in our world” during a homily
given on 31 July to mark the 16th Anniversary of the dedication of the
Church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at La Crosse in Wisconsin.
In addition to addressing the particular incident and manifestation that caused so much shock and consternation throughout the Catholic Church,
he also analysed its place in the wider context of what has become of
France, with a culture “beset with the darkness and sin which is ever
more given place in the world and even in the Church” and which
cooperates with “the father of all lies”.
The cardinal also
highlighted that what occurred in Paris was but one of many other
manifestations permitted in modern secular society “of attacks on human
life and its cradle in the family created by the marriage of a man and a
woman, and attacks on religion itself and its free exercise”.
The section of his homily that dealt with the ceremony was posted to his X social media account and reads as follows:
“On this past Friday, we witnessed an unbelievable manifestation of
the darkness and sin in our world: the abominable mockery of the Holy
Eucharist at its Institution for the opening of the Summer Olympics in
Paris.
“It is difficult to imagine anything more debased and
blasphemous. That such an act could take place shows us, in a most
painful way, how what was once a Christian culture has become the
theatre of Satan and those who cooperate with his thoroughly evil plans,
the plans of ‘a murderer from the beginning’ who ‘has nothing to do
with the truth’, the plans of ‘a liar and the father of lies’ (Jn 8,
44).
“Our disgust and anger about what happened at the Summer Olympics
awakens anew our consciousness of so many other manifestations of the
open rebellion against God and His plan for our salvation in the world
in which we live: attacks on human life and its cradle in the family
created by the marriage of a man and a woman, and attacks on religion
itself and its free exercise.
“In the Church, too, we witness the
deliberate spread of confusion and error regarding the truths of our
faith, the secularisation of the Sacred Liturgy, and the lack of respect
for the irreplaceable foundation of charity in the respect for justice
and the rule of law.
“What are we, sinners yet humble and contrite of heart, to do? We
must turn daily to Our Lord and seek from Him, through His Mother, the
Mother of Divine Grace, the sevenfold gift of the Holy Spirit for the
transformation of our lives and of whatever part of His vineyard Our
Lord has entrusted to our care, beginning with our homes.
“We
must never forget the words of Our Lord as He began His Public Ministry:
‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and
believe in the gospel’ (Mk 1, 15). Christ Who promised to remain with us
in His holy Church until the Last Day speaks the truth to us and gives
us the grace to live the truth.
“Through the unbroken line of the
Apostles and their Successors, Christ is with us to heal and strengthen
us for the battle against darkness and sin, the battle in which, in
Him, we are the victors. It only remains for us, in the words of Saint
Paul, to fight the good fight, to stay the course, and to keep the
Faith. (Cf. 1 Tim 6, 11-19; 2 Tim 4. 1-8).”
In addition to being
the founder of the Marian shrine at La Crosse, Cardinal Burke is
Archbishop Emeritus of St. Louis and a former Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.
German Cardinal Gerhard Müller has also spoken out about the ceremony, notes LifeSiteNews, stating:
“With that sacrilegious and vulgar representation it has managed in one
fell swoop to sully the noble face of the Olympics and to offend
millions of believers around the world.
“This episode is not only a low blow to Christianity, since the show
glorified the woke ideology that goes against the natural moral law.”
Cardinal
Müller has also commented: “The mockery of the Last Supper by
spiritually uprooted and mentally disturbed actors, their instigators
and sponsors was an act of spiritual terrorism that turned against their
authors,” and that the episode was “nothing more than a cover for the
brutal violation of the human right to religious freedom and
conscience”.
Within the Church hierarchy, Cardinal Müller has become an increasingly vocal critic of gender ideology, warning against a mindset within the Church that seeks to appease the LGBT movement and to show that Catholicism does not stand against it through the likes of Fiducia Supplicans and blessings for same-sex couples.