FILE PHOTO: Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Pope Francis in a call on Thursday that the "immoral" Olympics opening ceremony had made a mockery of sacred values and called for a common stand to be taken against it, his office said.
Some Christian groups and conservative politicians have said they were angered by a segment of the opening ceremony in Paris showing a kitsch scene which appeared to parody Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" painting of Jesus Christ and his disciples.
Paris 2024 organisers have apologised to Catholics and other Christian groups upset by the tableau and said there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group but rather to celebrate tolerance.
Thomas Jolly, the artistic director behind the opening ceremony, said the scene had not been inspired by "The Last Supper" and depicted a pagan feast linked to the gods of Olympus.
Erdogan had said on Tuesday he would call Pope Francis over what he called the "disgusting" attack on humanity's sacred values during the Olympics ceremony, saying it was an insult to the Christian world and an imposition of the "LGBT lobby".
In a statement, the Turkish presidency said on Thursday Erdogan told the pope that the "immoral shows" during the ceremony had caused an uproar, adding that the disrespect to religious values marked an "alarm bell for the moral breakdown the world is being dragged into".
Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AKP have toughened their stance towards the LGBTQ community, particularly while campaigning for last year's elections. Erdogan has previously called the LGBTQ community a "perverse" trend that he does not recognise.
Homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey, but hostility to it is widespread, and police crackdowns on Pride parades have become tougher over the years.
"President Erdogan said human dignity was being trampled on under the guise of freedom of expression and tolerance, that religious and moral values are being mocked, and that this offends Muslims as much as the Christian world," the presidency said on X.
"(Erdogan) believes that it is necessary to raise our voices together and take a common stand against these," it added.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
