Some Catholic groups and French bishops have condemned scenes during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, but a video shared globally does not show Christians staging a protest over the show. The footage shows a “March for Jesus” in the French capital two months before the Olympics kicked off.
“Demonstrations erupted in Paris over the mockery of Christianity at the Olympic Games opening ceremony,” read a simplified Chinese Weibo post that shared the video on July 29, 2024.
The footage shows a crowd gathered in a square near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. One person is seen holding a sign that says “Jesus Loves You” in French.
Some Catholic groups and French bishops have condemned what they saw as “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity” in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics choreographed by theatre director Thomas Jolly (archived link).
Criticism has focused on a scene involving dancers, drag queens and a DJ in poses that recalled depictions of the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus is said to have taken with his apostles according to the Bible.
Jolly denied taking inspiration from the Last Supper in his nearly four-hour production, which took place in driving rain along the River Seine.
Organisers said they were “really sorry” if any offence was caused by their daring and quirky opening ceremony while denying any intention to “disrespect” religion.
The video made the rounds on social media around the world, racking up thousands of shares in posts in French, English, Thai and German.
However, the clip shows an annual event in France that is unrelated to the Olympics opening ceremony.
‘March for Jesus’
The video shows the handle of Instagram account “jeanluctrachsel.ministries”.
A search on the account found the video posted on May 25, 2024 — two months before the Olympics opening ceremony (archived link).
The post’s caption read: “Right now in Paris at the Eiffel Tower bringing Jesus to this city. Worshipping Him and preaching Jesus to the crowd.”
Below are screenshot comparisons of the video shared in a false Weibo post (left) and published on Instagram (right):
The Instagram post tagged an account called “Marche Pour Jésus Paris” — which translates as “March for Jesus Paris” — which shared a clip of the crowd from another angle (archived link).
The March for Jesus is an annual event to “proclaim Jesus’s love”, according to its website (archived link).
The 2024 edition took place on May 25 in cities across France, including Paris, Nantes and Strasbourg.
Furthermore, a closer look at the video revealed the Eiffel Tower had not yet been decorated with Olympic rings at the time.
Below is a screenshot comparison showing the Eiffel Tower in the video (left) and a photo of the iconic landmark taken by an AFP photographer on July 29, 2024 following the Olympics opening ceremony (right):
AFP previously fact-checked a different video falsely shared as Christians protesting the Olympics opening ceremony.
