PARIS (OSV News): “Today, sadness and mourning have given way to joy, celebration and praise,” Pope Francis wrote in a message to Archbishop Laurent Ulrich the archbishop of Paris, France, marking the solemn reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral on December 7.
The pope’s message, read in Notre Dame, by Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the papal ambassador to France, said, “May the rebirth of this admirable church be a prophetic sign of the renewal of the Church in France.”
Paris was at the centre of the Catholic world that evening as Archbishop Ulrich called out in front of the central door, “Notre Dame, model of faith, open your doors to gather in joy the scattered children of God,” before striking it three times with the tip of his crosier—made from a beam from the cathedral’s roof structure that escaped the fire, marking the moment of the iconic Catholic church’s rebirth with millions holding their breath as the cathedral started breathing anew.
In response Psalm 121 was sung three times. “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD.’ And now our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem, built as a city, walled round about,” the psalm reads.
The reopening marks the “rebirth of France as the eldest daughter of the Church,” one Catholic witnessing the ceremony noted.
May the rebirth of this admirable church be a prophetic sign of the renewal of the Church in France
Pope Francis
It was pitch-dark when the bells of Parisian churches rang out across the capital, announcing the arrival on Notre Dame’s forecourt of the liturgical procession of bishops from the Paris region.
The archbishop of then entered the cathedral, followed by French president, Emmanuel Macron, his wife Brigitte, the first lady of France; and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. At the entrance, the archbishop paused for a long moment as La Maîtrise Notre Dame de Paris choir sang the Marian hymn.
Firefighters, craftspeople and representatives of the 250 companies and sponsors involved in the restoration then processed through the nave of the cathedral to prolonged applause. Outside, illuminated “Thank you” messages in several languages appeared at the same time on the façade of the cathedral.
“I salute all those, especially the firefighters, who worked so courageously to save this historic monument from catastrophe,” Pope Francis said in his message.
“I salute the determined commitment of the public authorities, as well as the great outpouring of international generosity that contributed to the restoration. This moment is a sign not only to art and history, but even more—and how encouraging!—the sign that the symbolic and sacred value of such a building is still widely perceived by many, from those youngest to those oldest,” the pope said.
I stand before you to express the gratitude of the French nation, our gratitude to all those who saved, helped and rebuilt the cathedral
Emmanuel Macron, president of France
Bad weather forced a change of plans as Macron, initially scheduled to speak on Notre Dame’s forecourt, spoke inside the cathedral.
“I stand before you to express the gratitude of the French nation, our gratitude to all those who saved, helped and rebuilt the cathedral,” Macron said, adding that France had “achieved the impossible,” renovating Notre Dame in five years—a feat some experts predicted would take decades.
“Tonight we can together share joy and pride. Long live Notre Dame de Paris, long live the Republic and long live France,” he said.
“We return it to Catholics, to Paris, to France, to the whole world,” Macron said of Notre Dame, which is a state-owned building under French law on the separation of state and church from 1905. He evoked the sound of the cathedral’s bells ringing again, like “a music of hope, familiar to Parisians, to France, to the world,” which have “accompanied our history.”
He spoke of “an unprecedented fraternity” that has “brought together so many people who have contributed to its rebirth.”
“Transmission and hope, that is the meaning of our presence this evening,” he stressed.
Everyone here cheered when they heard the bells, then when they saw on the big screens the firemen and craftsmen marching. And for me, as a Catholic, it is also a bit of a symbol of the rebirth of France as the eldest daughter of the Church
Agnès Boüan, student
Pope Francis also praised those whose work of hands made the cathedral rise again so quickly.
“It is beautiful and reassuring that the skills of yesteryear have been wisely preserved and enhanced,” he wrote, emphasising that many of the workers and craftspeople “testify to having lived this restoration adventure as part of an authentic spiritual process. They followed in the footsteps of their fathers whose faith, lived out in their work, was the only way to build such a masterpiece.”
Father Gaëtan de Bodard, new chaplain of the Paris fire brigade that saved Notre Dame—and successor to Father Jean-Marc Fournier, who courageously ran into the burning cathedral in 2019 to first preserve the Blessed Sacrament, bless the burning church and then save the crown of thorns—was also full of admiration.
“The cross at the back of the choir shines brightly! What a contrast to the desolate photos of the day after the fire,” he said. “The simple style of the medieval frescoes that have been restored is touching and prayerful,” he added.
Outside the cathedral, chilling December rain did not keep crowds from gathering in the famous Latin Quarter just across the Seine River. Giant screens had been set up to allow some 40,000 people to follow the ceremony.
“It is cold, and it is raining, but it is really worth being here,” one student, Agnès Boüan, said.
“Everyone here cheered when they heard the bells, then when they saw on the big screens the firemen and craftsmen marching. And for me, as a Catholic, it is also a bit of a symbol of the rebirth of France as the eldest daughter of the Church,” she said.
Pope Francis invited “all the baptised who will joyfully enter this Cathedral” to feel “justifiably proud,” and to “reclaim their faith heritage.”
