Letter to the Faithful: The Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games

Dear faithful,

Many voices have already been raised around the world to denounce the scandal caused by the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris on Friday 26 July. It is fortunate that after the worldwide broadcast of such a spectacle, protests are being heard from all quarters.

Much more than a simple spectacle of bad taste, this ceremony is the expression of the "wokist" program (as it has come to be known). The inverted values of the City of Darkness were presented to the world as the new fundamental laws of mankind to come: hatred of God and his Church, manifested in the blasphemous representation of the Last Supper; hatred of the Catholic State, expressed in the morbid and sadistic representation of the French Queen Marie-Antoinette, beheaded during the French Revolution; hatred of natural law, exuding from this assembly of beings perverted by debauchery and unnatural vices. And to make sure that nothing was missing, we were told that this programme of rebellious degenerates had to be inculcated in men from the earliest age: at least, that's what we understand from the sight of this little girl in the midst of perverted adults, or from the sight of this boat carrying a group of children under the direction of a sinister man. In both cases, little children, without their parents, taken in hand by the new world order...

"Freedom", they say. But what kind of freedom are they talking about? For 200 years, this magical, lying word has served as a shield for all totalitarian regimes and the worst injustices. This word Freedom is in reality "a veil of wickedness", in the words of Saint Peter (1 Pe 2/16 ), the disguised battle cry of those "who are not pleasing to God and are enemies of men", in the words of Saint Paul (1 Thess 2/15).

Should we be surprised that such impiety has manifested itself in France, a country with a Catholic tradition? Unfortunately not. The current regime in France is the offspring of the French Revolution, which constantly hated the Church of Jesus Christ. In 1905, after several years of vexation and persecution, this regime severed the ties that had bound the State to the Church for centuries, depriving the Church of all its rights. Pope Pius X warned at the time: "That the State should be separated from the Church is an absolutely false thesis, a very pernicious error "[1], because "this thesis is a clear denial of the supernatural order "¹. Recalling that we are created to conquer the happiness of heaven, Saint Pius X specified that "not only must civil power not stand in the way of this conquest, but it must also help us to do so ". 

So, according to Saint Pius X, the "neutral" state without religion commits a first fault by not helping the Church in her mission of salvation, and it commits a second fault when it becomes "an obstacle to this conquest" of heaven by promoting blasphemy and perversion. The scandalous ceremony of the Olympic Games is the manifestation of this twofold fault of the secular state, in that not only does such a spectacle not help the Church in her salvific mission, but it is also a clear rejection of that divine mission.

This double fault of the State without religion, of which the recent Olympic Games ceremony was a striking manifestation, calls the attention of Catholics to this point of doctrine. Is it coherent for a Catholic to protest against the "wokist" ravings, while at the same time congratulating himself on having a "neutral" state without religion? 

The Second Vatican Council championed a neutral state[2], and in doing so it contradicted the Church's social doctrine as taught by the popes up to that point. To see this, re-read the aforementioned encyclical Vehementer nos by Saint Pius X, the encyclical Immortale Dei by his predecessor Leo XIII, on the Christian constitution of States, or the encyclical Quas Primas by Pope Pius XI, on the social kingship of Jesus Christ[3] . Following the Second Vatican Council, popes and bishops have consistently demanded religious 'neutrality' for the State, and common law for all associations for the Church: it was therefore only logical that the Church's divine doctrine should be publicly and officially downgraded to the level of private opinion. How can we be surprised then that the public authorities, promoted by the very fact of being the supreme arbiter of society - the doctrine of the Church being henceforth nothing more than a private opinion - do not end up arrogating to themselves the right to say what is right and wrong, true and false, in the name of "public order", "tolerance", "inclusiveness", "living together" or whatever "fraternity"? Because the reality is that no one, not even the State, can escape moral and religious matters. If the Catholic Church is no longer the benchmark for these matters, then who will be? The State will necessarily find another criterion, and we can clearly see that apostate societies have chosen 'wokism' as their benchmark. There is therefore an implacable logic between the doctrine of a state without religion and the spread of impiety in society, because in reality "neutrality" in moral and religious matters is simply untenable. Not for nothing did Our Lord say: "He who is not with Me is against Me". 

To effectively combat these "wokist" infections that threaten to ruin humanity itself, it is therefore essential that the Church return to its own doctrine, that it recognize once again that Our Lord Jesus Christ has authority over states and societies, by virtue of His divine nature, and that His teaching is not a mere private opinion that States can ignore, discuss or parody at will, according to the demands of the pseudo-rainbow values of the moment. 

Today, when this divine authority of Christ is denied, the words of Pope Pius X, who warned in 1906 that if the Church is separated from the State, "the notion of what is true will be disturbed, and souls will be filled with great anxiety ¹", are fully realized. Some eighty years later, in a letter to Rome [4], Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre denounced the doctrine of a State without religion as a "new direction, contrary to the Church's past, with incalculable consequences in terms of disorientation of minds and anarchy in all areas". The "incalculable consequences" of this new orientation of the Church are right before our eyes. They were presented to the world as a program for society on Friday 26 July in Paris. Will the clergy, the bishops, the cardinals and the Pope draw the necessary conclusions? Will they realize that the destruction of "wokism" will necessarily involve a return to the doctrine of Christ the King? Our Lord is only waiting for this act of faith to bring about the moral and religious recovery of the Church and society.

In the meantime, our reaction must combine prayer with the public manifestation of our faith. Many priests have insisted on the need to protest publicly, and this insistence is very right[5]. Let's remember to tell those around us, and on social networks - for those who use them - that we proclaim our faith in the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and that as such, we denounce the blasphemy expressed on Friday 26 July, at the Paris Olympics.

We will also make reparation by a special devotion to the Holy Mass and the Blessed Sacrament, for it is these divine wonders that have been publicly blasphemed.

Let us console ourselves by remembering the words of the Blessed Virgin to the children of Fatima: "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph".

God bless you !
 

Father Christophe Legrier
Superior of the SSPX African District

[1] Encyclical Vehementer nos, 11 February 1906, on the separation of Church and State.

[2] Declaration Dignitatis humanae of 7 December 1965, on religious freedom.

[3] Quoted by Abbé de Jorna, Superior of the District of France, in his communiqué of 27 July (Porte Latine).

[4] Dubia  presentation on religious freedom, 22 May 1987.

[5] See the homely of Fr Puga, SSPX: Blasphémateur Olympique, 28/07/2024, you tube saint Nicolas du Chardonnet. See too the homely of Fr Chris Alar, 28/07/2024, You Tube: Defend Jesus: whom to contact at the Olympics.