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Quick Facts

- Several videos circulating on the Internet claiming to show "Christians marching to protest the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics" are actually unrelated to this Olympics. The first video was shot in May this year, showing a religious procession organized by the United Pastors Organization, and the second video was shot on August 15, 2022, during the Catholic "Assumption of the Virgin Mary", and was shot at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.

- The organizers of the Paris Olympics have apologized for the controversial program. The person in charge of the opening ceremony said that the scene in the controversial program was not inspired by "The Last Supper" but "a large pagan feast related to the gods of Olympus."

Background

At 19:30 local time on July 26, 2024, the 33rd Summer Olympic Games opened in Paris, France.

During the opening ceremony of this Olympics, a program in which several actors posed in different shapes in front of a table was accused of being disrespectful to religious beliefs because its style was similar to the world-famous painting "The Last Supper", sparking widespread controversy.

Several videos have been circulating on social media platforms, claiming to show "a large-scale march and rally broke out in Paris after the opening ceremony to protest against the mockery of Christianity at the opening ceremony of the Olympics."

Check

Where does the video originate from?

The first video circulated online has an Instagram tag in the center of the left screen. Keyframe reverse search shows that the video comes from the Instagram account jeanluctrachsel.ministries. The video was posted on May 25, and judging from the time, it has nothing to do with the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

Some religious news websites also reported the content of the above video. According to the evangelicalfocus website, on May 25, more than 20,000 people took to the streets of Paris to participate in the 2024 Jesus Parade (MPJ). A joint pastoral organization initiated the event, which was held in cities such as Lille, Nantes, Metz and Strasbourg in addition to Paris.

Another video appeared in August 2022. It is not difficult to find out by searching the key frames of the video on Google. As early as August 15, 2022, a user had posted the same video on Facebook. Further searching with its title can be traced back to the original video posted on the social platform by the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in France on the same day, with the caption "Happy Assumption of the Virgin Mary to everyone. Pray with all Catholics around the world. May the Virgin Mary illuminate your hearts."

In 2022, a picture taken during the day and released by the Catholic information website Global Sisters Report was basically the same in layout as the picture circulated on the Internet, showing more clearly that the iconic sculptures and buildings correspond one by one to the street scene of Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

Follow-up

On July 28, Anne Descamps, a spokeswoman for the Paris Olympic Games organizers, said at a press conference about the controversial program: "It is clear that we have never had the intention of disrespecting any religious group. (The opening ceremony) tried to celebrate social tolerance... We believe that this goal has been achieved. If anyone is dissatisfied with this, we deeply apologize."

On the same day, the International Olympic Committee issued a statement on its official social media account, saying that "the International Olympic Committee has noted and welcomes the clarification made by the 2024 Paris Olympic Organizing Committee regarding the opening ceremony."

In an interview with BFMTV on the 28th, Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the opening ceremony, said that the scenes in the controversial program were not inspired by "The Last Supper" but "a large pagan feast related to the gods of Olympus."

In summary, the multiple videos circulating on the Internet claiming to show "Christians marching to protest the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics" are actually unrelated to this Olympics. The first video was shot in May this year, showing a religious parade organized by the United Pastors Organization, and the second video was shot on August 15, 2022, during the Catholic "Assumption of the Virgin Mary", at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.

The organizers of the Paris Olympics have apologized for the controversial program. The person in charge of the opening ceremony said that the scene in the controversial program was not inspired by "The Last Supper" but "a large pagan feast related to the gods of Olympus."