A video showing a large gathering at a Catholic pilgrimage site in France is circulating with a false claim that it shows a protest against organisers of the Paris Olympics in the country for desecrating 'The Last Supper' during its opening ceremony.
BOOM found the video predates Paris 2024 Olympics. It shows a crowd gathered on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption at the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de Lourdes in France in 2022.
The organisers of the Paris 2024 Olympics found themselves embroiled in controversy after the opening ceremony, where a performance tableau was criticised for allegedly mocking 'The Last Supper'. The Vatican also issued a statement expressing offence over the tableau which replicated the biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his apostles eating the last meal before crucifixion. The tableau featured drag queens, a transgender model and a naked singer. Reuters on July 28, 2024, reported that the Paris 2024 organisers apologised to Catholics and other Christian groups over the controversy, while artistic director Thomas Jolly said that the scene had not been inspired by 'The Last Supper'.
In the 22-second video, a large crowd can be seen gathering on a street, holding lights in their hands.
The video is being shared with a caption, "Tens of thousands of Christians gathered in France to demonstrate and pray after the organizers desecrated the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The media is keeping quiet about these images."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The footage has also been shared on Threads with a similar misleading caption.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on keyframes from the video and found a 2022 post by a Facebook user. The post shared the same video, stating that it shows Catholic faithful singing 'Ave Maria' at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Taking a cue, we conducted a related keyword search in French and found a post by the official Facebook page of Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de Lourdes from August 15, 2022, featuring the same video.
Click here to view the post.
The video was uploaded with a French caption that translates to English as, "Beautiful and happy Feast of the Assumption to all. In union of prayer with all Catholics of the world. May Virgin Mary shine in your hearts."
We then searched for news reports about the event and found several articles from various international news outlets covering it over the years.
The Brussels Times on August 15, 2022, reported, "Thousands of pilgrims of all ages and origins took part on Sunday, on the eve of a Mass for the Assumption, in a torchlight procession to the glory of the Virgin Mary at the Catholic sanctuary of Lourdes, where 1.6 million worshipers are expected this year."
The report further added that on August 14, 2022, a crowd of around 15,000 people marched shortly after nightfall, carrying torches and passing beneath the white statue of the Virgin Mary, while singing and reciting “Hail Mary.”
According to a Reuters article published in 2010, "The Lourdes shrine is in southwestern France, where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a young shepherdess in the 19th century. Assumption day is one of the busiest days of the year for Lourdes."