This viral video of a prayer session in Paris is not in response to the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony but from an event held in May 2024.

In the Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony, a performance featuring drag queens was seen as a parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s biblical depiction of “The Last Supper.” Religious figures and politicians around the world have criticized the scene. Following this, Olympics organizers apologised to Catholics and Christian groups. The artistic director of the ceremony said it had instead been inspired by a pagan feast to the gods of Olympus. Against this backdrop, a video showing a religious gathering in Paris near the Eiffel Tower is going viral on social media, claiming that it shows a demonstration in Paris from Christian groups. People can be heard singing songs and holding posters expressing their love for Christ and Christianity.

The caption of the post states, “Following Satanic exhibition at the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics, a Jesus worship service broke out in the streets praising God. GOD WINS ALWAYS”

Let’s check the truth.

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Fact Check-

We started our investigation by running a relevant keyword and reverse image search on Google and the results led us to the same video shared by an Instagram account named Jean Luc Trachsel Ministries on 25 May, 2024. The caption confirms that the event took place in Paris on the same day. Furthermore, the Eiffel Tower visible in the background indicates that the event took place in France's capital city. The page is registered as a non-profit organization that promotes Christian harmony.

The post was uploaded more than two months before the opening ceremony and the post makes no mention of the Olympics.

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In a recent Instagram post the owner of the account acknowledged that the video had been miscaptioned after the Olympics and said the footage dates back to a “March for Jesus” gathering in May.

The video was filmed in May at the March for Jesus 2024, it is an event in which Christians of all denominations march through cities to profess their love for Christ. Further, we found that the Instagram page for March For Jesus Paris 2024 has uploaded several videos and photos similar to the viral video.

Upon further search, we also found reports by Christian websites that this event was held on 25 May, 2024, months before the Olympics, not after the opening ceremony on 26 July, 2024.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found that the claim made along with the post to be False. This viral video of a prayer session in Paris is not in response to the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony but from an event held in May 2024.

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Title:Old video of religious gathering shared as a Jesus worship service in Paris following the Olympics opening ceremony

Fact Check By: Usha Manoj

Result: False