SIGNIS Africa , the Continental Branch of SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication, has as members, Catholic clergy, religious, laymen and women who are engaged in the work of media and communication. As professionals who apply their talents in the use of communication to promote cultural harmony, we are conscious of the fact that images can be deployed mischievously to promote cultural and religious disdain. It is in this regard that we totally align with the statement issued by His Excellency, Bishop Emmanuel A. Badejo, Bishop of Oyo, Nigeria and President of the Pan African Episcopal Commission for Social Communications, (CEPACS) with regard to the insulting depiction of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper.

His Statement reads:

The religious depictions of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting with contemporary ideological figures that are clearly offensive to Christianity at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2024 in France is to say the least shocking and disrespectful. Sadly, it is a perpetration of deliberate ongoing attempts in Europe and America to repurpose and cheapen Christian themes without regard for peace loving Christians who practice and profess their religion in peace. That this decadent caricature of one of the most cherished events of Christianity is publicized in France, a country with a rich and old Christian heritage, and at the Olympic games, detracts from the status of the Olympics and belies all claims to enduring civility and respect for freedom of religion in the West.

Christians should exercise their right of outrage and boycott to the extent that the damage already caused can be mitigated and redressed and future occurrences prevented. Governing bodies and organizations should take full responsibility for accommodating such insulting, tasteless art and expressions that can potentially cause further hurt and division in our already hurting and fractured world. Huge thanks to all who correctly expressed outrage on the subject well ahead of this. Regardless of what we go through as Africans, we must never disrespect or thrash religious symbols and sentiments which touch people at their deepest levels of their being. To do this is to throw our humanizing and spiritual values and ideals to the dogs

+Bishop Badejo

The Board of SIGNIS Africa urges all our members to publicize the statement of Bishop Badejo across the continent as a way of registering our displeasure with the organizers of the Paris Olympics for the outrageous and insulting depiction of the Last Supper.

Rev. Fr. Walter C. Ihejirika, Ph.D.
President