What does the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris mean?
The restored Notre-Dame Cathedral has opened in France. Five years ago, the UOJ wrote about why it burnt down. Now it's time to write about what its reopening means.
The article "Why did the Notre-Dame Cathedral burn down?" was published shortly after that tragic event on 15 April 2019. At that time, the fire destroyed everything it could within the cathedral, and if it hadn’t been for the heroic actions of the firefighters, this 850-year-old monument might never have been able to be restored.
The main idea of the article at that time was that the fire could serve as a symbol of Europe’s renunciation of Christianity. In France, as in other European countries, Christianity had become unnecessary, redundant, and thus Christian churches were seen as superfluous. And this could have been the real cause of the fire. Now, however, Notre-Dame Cathedral has been restored. Does this mean our assumptions were wrong? Is there still hope for the revival of the Christian faith in people? Can everything be resurrected in its former glory, just like Notre-Dame? Let’s take a look at it and reflect.
The Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony was grand. Around 1,500 guests were invited to the event, including politicians, businesspeople, and public and religious figures. Among them were presidents and prime ministers from more than 40 countries, including British Prince William, elected US President Donald Trump, current First Lady of the United States Jill Biden, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, and many others.
The program for the opening of the cathedral began at 19:00 on 7 December 2024, and was broadcast live by TV channels in more than 20 countries. As the bells tolled, the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, symbolically knocked on the doors of the cathedral with his staff. This staff is unusual, it is made of a charred wooden element of the interior, which survived the fire.
Then French President E. Macron and guests went inside the cathedral and the action began. Macron addressed the audience with a speech. By the way, the question of where exactly he would deliver his speech became a stumbling block between the secular authorities and the Catholic clergy. The Archdiocese of Paris insisted that Macron speak outside, while the authorities insisted that he deliver the speech inside the cathedral. The Archdiocese argued that it was inappropriate for the President to stand in front of the altar and make speeches, that the cathedral was no place for political proclamations. In the end, Macron did speak inside.
Macron's Speech
Macron’s speech lacked originality. He expressed gratitude to the "French nation, to all those who saved, helped, and restored Notre-Dame de Paris," mentioned the heroism of the firefighters, and noted the figure of 340,000 people from around the world who had donated to the restoration of the cathedral. By the way, the lion's share of these donations came from a few billionaires. For example, the Bettencourt-Meyers family, owners of L'Oréal, contributed €200 million. Another €200 million came from Bernard Arnault, head of LVMH (including Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, and Hennessy and others). François-Henri Pinault, the owner of Kering (including Saint Laurent, Gucci, and Balenciaga and others), donated €100 million. In total, around €1 billion was spent on the restoration.
Macron thanked the builders and restorers, naming the leaders of the project who headed the process. The end of the French President's speech sounded pathos: “The Cathedral is a happy metaphor for what a nation and the world should be. <...> Notre Dame tells us that our dreams, even our wildest dreams, are only possible through the will of each individual and the commitment of all. <...> The bells will ring, the organ will awaken, the faithful will come to pray, the world will see the cathedral rebuilt and transformed. And we must treasure this lesson of fragility, humility and determination and never forget how important each person is and how the greatness of this cathedral is inseparable from everyone's work.”
This phrase – "the faithful will come to pray” – was perhaps the only mention of anything religious in the speech given at the reopening of the restored cathedral. There were beautiful words about the grandeur of French culture, historical heritage, the courage of the rescuers, and the hard work of the restorers. But there was no mention of Christianity, the Savior of the world, or the Most Holy Theotokos, who is the Mother of all believers in Christ. The French president ended his speech with three exclamations: "Long live Notre-Dame de Paris! Long live the Republic! Long live France!" And a natural question arises: what is the cathedral dedicated to? The Virgin Mary or the French state? What is it a symbol of: the greatness of Christ or the greatness of the nation?
The continuation of the Ceremony
After Macron’s speech, the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, took the stage and sent a joyful greeting "to all those who will come to the church: Christians, non-Christians, and the non-believers". Again, according to secular and diplomatic standards, everything was perfectly correct. Come all of you, see how beautiful the cathedral is, marvel at the stained glass windows and frescoes, admire the columns and statues. But what, in fact, about faith in Christ and the Gospel preaching? And what about the fact that the Notre-Dame de Paris was built, in fact, to celebrate a liturgy there, where not everyone ‘who comes to church’ can attend, but only those who are faithful to Christ? Monsignor Ulrich also read a greeting from the Pope, who was conspicuously absent, but more on that later.
Then a service took place, a mass lasting about 40 minutes. After that, there was a concert lasting more than two hours, a documentary about the restoration of the cathedral, and so on. Interestingly, many European media outlets didn’t even mention the mass, as if it hadn’t taken place at all or was so insignificant that it wasn’t worth mentioning. Instead, there were extensive reports on which stars performed at the concert, which guests attended, and who didn’t want to sit next to whom. For example, great care was taken not to seat Jill Biden, the wife of the current US president, next to Donald Trump.
The absence of Pope Francis
French President Emmanuel Macron sent an invitation to Pope Francis for the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame Cathedral long ago and publicly. However, in November 2024, the Pope publicly declined the invitation. His refusal was delivered in such a way that, to put it plainly, it felt like a slap in the face to the French authorities. Officially, the Vatican did not give any reasons for the refusal, nor did it cite the Pope’s health, which would have seemed somewhat plausible (he is 87). Moreover, just before the grand reopening of Notre-Dame, the Pope visited Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore. And a week after the ceremony in Paris, on 15 December 2024, the pontiff was scheduled to visit the French island of Corsica to participate in a conference "Popular Religiosity in the Mediterranean Region”. Do you feel the difference in scale?
According to the French edition Le Figaro, citing its sources, the reasons for the Vatican’s diplomatic snub are that the Pope did not want to be involved in the political spectacle orchestrated by Macron, who used the theme of the cathedral’s restoration to bolster his somewhat tarnished image and, by extension, his political influence. In the summer of 2024, Macron dissolved the parliament and called for early elections, in which his political party suffered a resounding defeat, while far-right parties emerged victorious. Two days before the Notre-Dame reopening, the parliament passed a vote of no confidence in the government, resulting in its resignation. In fact, Macron’s entire presidency could hardly be described as successful. There have been no real achievements, only failures and setbacks. France is being shamefully expelled from Africa, internal issues remain unresolved, farmers are unhappy, illegal migration is increasing, and so on. The only notable positive achievement, his so-called political legacy, is the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris. Although, in reality, he had little to do with it – most of the funding came from other people, not to mention that it was other individuals who saved the cathedral during the fire and worked on its restoration afterward.
Le Figaro wrote that Pope Francis did not want to be "marginalized" at the opening ceremony and refused to participate in a celebration of the French leader, which turned into "an international political act in honor of France".
This is the same leader who, in the summer, staged a truly sacrilegious performance at the opening of the Olympics, ridiculing Christ, the Church, and the tragic chapters of French history.
In the already mentioned article “Why the Notre-Dame Cathedral Burnt Down”, it discusses the closure and demolition of Christian churches by local authorities, as they can no longer afford to maintain and repair them. With no believers left, the churches are deemed unnecessary and can be either demolished or repurposed for other uses. No one is planning to restore them, unlike Notre-Dame de Paris, as using this for political PR would be unfeasible. Notre-Dame was restored, but the closure of churches across France continued, and even accelerated. This is noted in the report on the inventory of church buildings by the Catholic Archdiocese of France, prepared at the request of French senators Pierre Uzulias and Anna Ventalon in July 2022. The main points of this report, titled “The Universal Religious Heritage” (États généraux du patrimoine religieux), were published by the Catholic newspaper La Croix (The Cross) two weeks before the grand reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame. The results of the survey conducted across all French dioceses are not encouraging: to date, nearly 1,700 churches in 69 French dioceses have been closed and await their fate. They may be sold, turned into bars or restaurants or demolished as unnecessary.
For instance, in March 2021, the 135-year-old St. Joseph’s Church in Lille was demolished to make way for a student dormitory. The Church of Saint-Germain-Couzan in Calais is doomed for demolition. It is planned to be replaced by a housing estate. The same fate awaits the Church of Saint-Sloi du Poirier in Trit Saint-Liège, built in 1902, and many other churches.
Conclusions
The assumption made five years ago that the fire at Notre-Dame could symbolize the end of the Christian era in Europe has apparently not been confirmed. However, the restoration of the cathedral after the fire is also far from a symbol of the resurrection of Christianity. The closure of churches continues, pride parades gather tens of times more participants than church services, and public mockery of faith has reached new heights. The opening ceremony of the restored cathedral itself symbolizes Macron’s political achievements, the financial power of French billionaires, national pride, the grandeur of culture, and so on. In short, it represents everything except a return to the Christian faith in France. However, the issue is not about symbols; the term “post-Christian era” has long been used to describe the current reality. And the remaining Christians are returning to the realization that they are a small flock.
