No, this video doesn’t show Christians praying after the Paris Olympics opening ceremony

A portion of the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony drew outrage from some Christians who criticized the show as mocking a sacred scene depicted in Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, "The Last Supper." Whether the ceremony aimed to offend is a matter of debate. Nevertheless, some social media users shared a video that they claimed showed thousands gathering in France to pray in response.

"Breaking: Thousands of Christians in France gathered to pray after Olympics opening mocked Jesus Christ," read text across a video shared in a July 29 Instagram post. The clip showed a large crowd of people holding candles and singing "Ave Maria." 

Other Instagram users shared the same video. These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The same video also circulated on X.

(Screengrabs from Instagram and X)

Although this video does show thousands of people praying in France, the gathering predates this year’s Olympics.

Featured Fact-check

Facebook posts

stated on August 2, 2024 in a Facebook post

Says Simone Biles “announces retirement” and “reveals she is ‘expecting a baby.’”

A reverse-image search using Google Images found that the video was taken in 2022 at the Sanctuary of Our Lady Lourdes in Lourdes, France.

On Aug. 14, 2022, the sanctuary shared the video on X with the caption, "Beautiful and happy Feast of the Assumption to all. In union of prayer with all Catholics of the world. May the Virgin Mary shine in your hearts." (The caption was translated from French using Google Translate.)

This video was also shared Aug. 18, 2022, on Facebook. The Feast of the Assumption is a religious gathering that commemorates the belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus, ascended to heaven after she died.

Some X users shared a different video and claimed it, too, showed people gathered in Paris for a "worship service" in response to the Olympics opening ceremony.

But this video also predates the Summer Olympics. A watermark on the video names the Instagram account @jeanluctrachsel.ministries, which originally posted the video May 25. The video shows a crowd gathered for the March for Jesus, held the same day in Paris.

Some Christian religious leaders have spoken out against the Olympics opening ceremony performance that included drag queens and other performers. But we found no credible news reports that thousands of people in France gathered to pray in response to the ceremony.

We rate the claim that a video shows "thousands of Christians in France gathered to pray after (the) Olympics opening mocked Jesus Christ" False.