By Phil Lawler ( bio – articles – email ) | Aug 05, 2024
What’s wrong with the Vatican statement on the Olympic blasphemy? Nearly everything.
Start with the timing. More than a week passed between the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics and the release of the tepid Vatican response. During that week thousands of people had expressed their shock and anger over a deliberate insult to the Blessed Sacrament—the source and summit of the Catholic faith. So the world naturally turned to Rome for an authoritative response, and for several days heard—nothing at all.
Then when the Vatican did release a short statement, it was vouchsafed to the world on a Saturday afternoon. That is the time usually chosen by publicists who feel obliged to put something on the record, but do not want to capture public attention—the time to “bury” a news story.
A reasonably strong statement, at that point, might have been categorized as “too little, too late.” But this was not a strong statement. “The Holy See was saddened” is began. Saddened? Are we only “saddened” by public mockery of someone we love?
In fact the Vatican (deliberately?) missed the essential point. The statement went on to “deplore the offense caused to many Christians and believers of other religions,” and later referred to “allusions ridiculing the religious convictions of many people.”
The show in question had not included a few “allusions” that mocked religion; it was a sustained attack. More important, the show was not merely an offense against Christians; it was an offense against God. What the Vatican handled as a breach of good manners was in fact a deliberate blasphemy, a violation of God’s first commandment.
To be sure, there were other reasons to be disgusted by the Olympic opening ceremonies. Secular commentators could, and did, deplore the offense against ordinary civility, and on the limits of free speech in a healthy society. But the world expects the Holy See to see events through the eyes of faith. From that perspective the sin of blasphemy is far more serious than the hurt feelings of believers.
Late last week both the president of Turkey and the government of Iran had urged Pope Francis to speak out. The timing of the tardy Vatican statement raises the question: Was the Vatican more concerned about the reaction of Muslim leaders than the outrage among the world’s faithful Catholics?
Even after a direct plea from Turkey’s President Erdogan, Pope Francis still has not issued his own statement. Presumably the unsigned statement from the Holy See could not have been issued without his approval. Still the fact remains that an insult to our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist has been met with silence from his Vicar in Rome.
How can we explain the Pope’s silence on this Paris outrage? Perhaps it is part of a pattern. Bear in mind that Pope Francis has not celebrated Mass in public himself for more than two years now. The Pope often “presides” at Mass, and delivers homilies, but he has not acted as principal celebrant of the Eucharistic liturgy. Is it a question of priorities? If so, what could be more important for the Supreme Pontiff—the “High Priest” of the Catholic Church—than the Eucharist?
Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
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