Old video shared as 'Christian worship service' in Paris after Olympics opening ceremony

What's the claim?

Posts on Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter) are sharing short videos ranging between 20 to 41 seconds of a Christian prayer meeting in Paris near the Eiffel Tower.

People can be heard singing songs and holding posters expressing their love for Christ and Christianity. The accompanying text in these posts claims that it shows a "Christian worship service" held in Paris after the Olympics opening ceremony on July 26, 2024. Archived links to the posts are here, here, and here. 

Posts sharing a video with the claim it is a worship service held in protest against the Olympic Games opening ceremony. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

The 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony sparked anger from some Christians over a drag performance tableau that many alleged resembled Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper painting, which represents a scene from the Bible. The organizers apologized, adding that they had not intended to parody the biblical scene. 

However, we found the worship service video to be old and that it predated the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris.

What did we find?

A reverse image search of keyframes in the video led us to the same video (archived here), posted by an Instagram account (archived here) called Jean Luc Trachsel Ministries on Instagram on May 25, 2024. The caption indicates that the event was held in Paris on the same date. Further, the Eiffel Tower, visible in the backdrop, proves that the event was in the French capital. The page is registered as a non-profit organization working for the unity of Christians.

The post also tagged Instagram accounts named "Marche Pour Jesus Paris" (March for Jesus Paris) and "Marche Pour Jesus France" (March for Jesus France).

The original video shows that it was shared before the 2024 Paris Olympics began. (Source: Instagram/Modified by Logically Facts)

The Paris and France accounts tagged had posts (archived here and here), giving the date as May 25, 2024. This is before the opening ceremony, which took place on July 26, 2024.  

"March For Jesus" is an event in which Christians of all denominations march through cities to profess their love for Christ. It was first held in 1987 in London; in 1994, the first World March for Jesus was organized, bringing together more than 10 million Christians in 150 countries.

Further, we found that the Instagram page for 'March For Jesus Paris 2024' (archived here) has uploaded several videos and photos similar to the viral video.

March for Jesus France has also uploaded videos (archived here) with similar visuals to the one in the viral claim, indicating that it is the same event.  

Screenshot of March for Jesus Paris and France posts that posted similar visuals of the event to that of Jean Luc Trachsel Ministries. (Source: Instagram/Modified by Logically Facts)

We also found reports by Christian websites that this event was held on May 25, 2024, well before the Olympic Games opening ceremony on July 26, 2024.

The Jean Luc Trachsel Ministries Instagram page also re-uploaded the video on the platform on July 30, 2024 (archived here), with a caption noting that the video is now being used to claim that it is a reaction to the Olympic Games opening ceremony. It also clarified that the video was taken on May 25 this year. 

Logically Facts has previously fact-checked a similar claim related to the Paris Olympics opening ceremony that claimed an unrelated video as "protests" against the "demonic" opening ceremony.

The verdict

This is an old video of a "March For Jesus" event held in Paris on May 25, 2024, unrelated to the Olympic Games or its opening ceremony, which was held more than two months later on July 26, 2024. Social media users have been sharing the video with misleading claims.