PARIS (OSV News) — The solemn reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral put Paris in the center of the Catholic world on the evening of Dec. 7 as the archbishop of France’s capital struck the magnificent door with his pastoral staff, marking the moment of the iconic Catholic church’s rebirth.
The Gothic masterpiece answered with music as Archbishop Laurent Ulrich struck the cathedral’s doors three times – with the moment of door opening causing millions to hold their breath as the cathedral started breathing anew.
“Today, sadness and mourning have given way to joy, celebration and praise,” Pope Francis wrote to the archbishop of Paris – a message read in Notre-Dame by the papal ambassador to France, Archbishop Celestino Migliore.
“May the rebirth of this admirable church be a prophetic sign of the renewal of the Church in France,” the pope said in his Dec. 7 message.
The reopening marks the “rebirth of France as the eldest daughter of the Church,” one Catholic witnessing the ceremony noted.
The city saw exceptional security services deployed for the Notre-Dame celebration, mobilizing 6,000 police and gendarmes, as well as bomb disposal units, snipers and the river brigade on the Seine River. These in turn were further reinforced by the U.S. security contingent deployed for President-elect Donald Trump’s visit as well as the security for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Both leaders were in Paris for the celebration and met in the Elysee Palace with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Bad weather forced the change of logistical plans. Macron, initially scheduled to speak on Notre-Dame’s forecourt, spoke inside the cathedral due to howling winds. But nothing could overshadow the moment Parisians and “tout le monde entier,” the whole world, awaited for the last five years, since the inferno of April 15, 2019, that devastated the cathedral’s interior and collapsed the now-rebuilt spire.
“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.
The cathedral, which for the last five years was home to hundreds of various trade workers, felt as if all the crowned heads and riches of the planet wanted to witness her resurrection, with Prince William, the heir to the British throne, and billionaire businessman Elon Musk present among many. But it was Archbishop Ulrich that opened the cathedral up for the world.
“Notre-Dame, model of faith, open your doors to gather in joy the scattered children of God,” Archbishop Ulrich called out in front of the central door, before striking it three times with the tip of his crosier. The pastoral staff itself was made from a beam from the cathedral’s roof structure that escaped the fire.
The cathedral then “responded” with the singing of Psalm 121 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.
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, their chasubles billowing in the wind – with Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York among them.
The archbishop of Paris then entered the cathedral, followed by President Macron, his wife Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France, and 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 and President Macron took his place next to President-elect Trump.
Firefighters, craftsmen and representatives of the 250 companies and sponsors involved in the restoration then paraded through the nave of the cathedral to prolonged applause. Outside, illuminated “Thank you” messages in several languages appeared at the same time on the facade of the cathedral.
“I salute all those, especially the firefighters, who worked so courageously to save this historic monument from catastrophe,” Pope Francis wrote in his message, which was released as he was at the Vatican for the consistory in which he created 21 new cardinals.
“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.
“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.
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, emphasizing that many of the workers and craftsmen “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.”
The ceremony itself was an example of a masterpiece in moments such as the archbishop blessing the organ and addressing the massive instrument eight times, singing himself, with the organ responding each time in more and more powerful tones, as part of awakening the organ that had to undergo cleaning and restoration after the 2019 fire.
Among those gathered inside the cathedral were disadvantaged people specially invited through the charitable associations of the archdiocese, along with representatives of Paris’ 113 parishes.
“We were able to walk around the cathedral before the ceremony began, with the other guests, ministers, bishops, famous artists, in a smiling atmosphere,” Xavier de Noblet, 50, told OSV News. He represented the parish with the oldest church in Paris, Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, which is located on the famous hill just a few meters from the landmark hilltop Basilica of Sacré Cœur de Montmartre.
“This new Notre-Dame is a jewel,” he said. “It is hard to imagine that this was done in five years, and not in 107 years, as in the Middle Ages!” de Noblet said, particularly looking forward to the organ’s revival. “It really is the voice of the cathedral,” he explained. “It is going to be a great thrill to hear it again, as if the cathedral were starting to speak anew.”
Father Gaëtan de Bodard, new chaplain of the iconic Paris fire brigade that saved Notre-Dame – and successor to Father Jean-Marc Fournier, who courageously ran into the burning cathedral to first preserve the Blessed Sacrament, bless the burning church and then save the crown of thorns – was also full of admiration Dec. 7.
“The cross at the back of the choir shines brightly! What a contrast to the desolate photos of the day after the fire,” he told OSV News. “The simple style of the medieval frescoes that have been restored is touching and prayerful,” he added.
Outside the cathedral, chilling December rain had not prevented 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,” student Agnès Boüan told OSV News. “Everyone here cheered when they heard the bells, then when they saw on the big screens the firemen and craftsmen marching,” she said. “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.”
Among the large number of French people who watched the event on television, one of them, Alain de Layre, was particularly pleased. In 2020, he donated six oak trees from his family forest, located two hours west of Paris, for the renovation of Notre-Dame’s roof structure, after having them blessed by his parish priest.
“I am very moved by this resurrection of Notre-Dame, and very happy to have supplied some beams,” he told OSV News. “It is a great pride for me to have contributed to this fabulous undertaking. I hope that this extraordinary undertaking will be a symbol of a new stage in the life of our church!”
For his part, Pope Francis invited “all the baptized who will joyfully enter this Cathedral” to feel “justifiably proud,” and to “reclaim their faith heritage,” when Notre-Dame is back for Paris and the world, ahead of the inaugural Mass Dec. 8.