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The inaugural ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics took place on July 26, 2024. The event drew backlash from world leaders due to a performance by drag queens which reportedly resembled Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’. The event’s video was removed from all digital platforms as it is said to have hurt the sentiments of Christians.
In the above context, a video is being widely shared on social media in which a crowd is seen holding candles and singing in an open area.
The video is shared with a caption that Christians are holding demonstrations on the streets of Paris against the controversial Olympic ceremony.
A social media user shared the video with the caption, “Thousands of Christians in France gathered to pray after Olympic opening mocked Jesus.”
SouthCheck found that the claim was false. The video is from 2022 and shows the Catholic ceremony in Lourdes, France.
On doing a Google reverse image search, we found the same video on a Facebook page uploaded on August 18, 2022, with a caption suggesting that Catholics were singing Ave Maria at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
We further found the video on a news website that had shared a screenshot of the viral video.
The report associated with the image suggested that thousands of people took part in the candlelight procession for the glory of the Virgin Mary at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption.
We found that the official Twitter handle of Notre Dame de Lourdes also shared the video on August 15, 2022, mentioning that it shows the celebration on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral video is old and unrelated to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
