Jolly claims France's patron saint was burned as a heretic for wearing men's clothes
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Thomas Jolly, the director of the blasphemous opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics, has sparked fresh controversy by declaring France's patron saint, Joan of Arc, as "one of the greatest transvestites in our history."
In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, published Saturday, the ceremony's queer director rowed back on his earlier faux apology for offending Christians, arguing that French history contained many examples of "gender fluidity," including St. Joan of Arc.
Jolly admitted that the decision to push an LGBTQ+ agenda at the Paris Olympics was intentional:
To those who were shocked by the opening ceremony in particular, Jolly responded: "Of course it was political, even if I don't proselytize."
Patting himself on the back, Jolly added: "Many people have written to me to tell me that they felt represented and had the feeling of being part of a greater 'we'. Universalism emerges stronger from this dialogue between the common and the singular."
FAUX APOLOGY
After sparking global outrage over a blasphemous parody of the Last Supper at the Paris Olympics, Jolly claimed he had never intended to mock Christianity.
"You will never find in me any desire to mock, or to denigrate anything. I wanted to do a ceremony that repairs, that reconciles, that reaffirms the values of our Republic," Jolly said in comments reported by Le Figaro.
The 37-year-old artistic director maintained that the Last Supper was "not my inspiration," saying: "I think it was quite clear, there is Dionysus who arrives on this table. He is there, why? Because he is the god of the festival… of wine, and father of Sequana, the goddess connected to the river."
"The idea was rather to make a great pagan festival linked to the gods of Olympus," he insisted.
VATICAN SILENCE
After over a week of silence with no condemnation of the event from Pope Francis, the Vatican was forced to issue a mild denunciation of the blasphemous opening ceremony, following pressure from Turkey's Muslim president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Souls and Liberty reported.
The Holy See Press Office issued a brief press statement in French noting that "the Holy See was saddened by certain scenes at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics Games …"
The 90-word statement, which was unsigned and did not carry the name of Pope Francis or the Secretary of State Cdl. Pietro Parolin, said the Vatican "… can only join the voices that have been raised in recent days to deplore the offence caused to many Christians and believers of other religions."
The ambiguously-worded press release did not specify what scenes were offensive nor did it condemn the opening ceremony for blasphemously parodying the depiction of the Holy Eucharist as visualized in Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting of the Last Supper.
"In a prestigious event where the whole world gathers around common values, there should be no allusions that ridicule the religious convictions of many people," the statement noted. "Freedom of expression, which of course is not in question, finds its limit in respect for others."
WHY JOAN WORE MEN'S CLOTHES
Meanwhile, Jolly's provocative words against France's iconic saint and heroine has rekindled a fresh discussion into the life and martyrdom of St. Joan of Arc.
Far from identifying as a transvestite, Joan of Arc often referred to herself as "La Pucelle" (The Maiden), emphasizing the importance of her status as a female virgin.
A number of the tribunal members convicting the saint of heresy admitted she had clung to her male soldiers' outfit as a desperate means of discouraging rape, since the garment had twenty cords by which the long boots and clothing for the legs could both be fastened to the tunic, thereby making it difficult for a rapist to pull off.
"This was an excessively secured version of such male clothing, thereby providing additional confirmation that she was using it for protective purposes," according to the Joan of Arc archive.
Joan of Arc had actually pointed out to her accusers that her actions were perfectly lawful under the rules of the Church. Medieval theology contained exceptions which permitted such necessity-based acts.
In his Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas declared that "this [cross-dressing] may at times be done without sin due to some necessity, either for the purpose of concealing oneself from enemies, or due to a lack of any other clothing, or on account of some other thing of this sort."
Writing in the 12th century, St. Hildegard of Bingen permitted the faithful a similar exemption, noting: "Men and women should not wear each other's clothes except in necessity."
"A man should never put on a feminine dress or a woman use male attire … unless a man's life or a woman's chastity is in danger; in such an hour a man may change his dress for a woman's or a woman's for a man's."
In recent years, woke transgender activists have distorted historical facts to hijack the story of St. Joan to promote their agenda of gender fluidity.
In 2022, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London recast Joan of Arc as a "non-binary" hero with "they/them" pronouns who wore chest bindings.
The woke theater admitted that the play was not meant to be historically accurate and said that while there were many examples of the saint being "portrayed as a woman," the production would offer "the possibility of another point of view."
Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.
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