Macron invites Pope Francis to the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

The French president, Emmanuel Macronannounced this Friday that he will invite Pope Francis to the reopening of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedralscheduled just one year from now, on December 8, 2024, after the reconstruction works.

Asked about the presence of the Argentine pontiff, during an interview on the France 2 network, the centrist president responded: “I hope so (…) He will be invited, but it is not my place to respond on his behalf.”

Pope Francis already visited France at the end of September, but for an apostolic trip – and not a state trip – to Marseille (southeast), where he held a meeting with the French head of state.

Macron made these statements after visiting the reconstruction works of this symbol of Paris, destroyed by a fire on April 15, 2019 that shocked the world. Then, he announced that they would rebuild it in five years.

“We are meeting the deadlines,” he congratulated himself, two days after a cross was placed at the top of its iconic rebuilt spire, which will be followed “in the coming days” by the new rooster that, like the previous one, will crown the complex. .

During his visit, the president announced the launch of a competition for the creation of six contemporary stained glass windows that will bear the “mark of the 21st century”: “This century that is ours will have its place in the cathedral.”

The six stained glass windows that will be removed, made in the 19th century when the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc restored the cathedral, will be part of the future “museum of the work of Notre Dame” in the neighboring Hôtel Dieu hospital, he added.

Before the accident, this medieval Gothic work received an average of 12 million tourists from all over the world each year. Its reopening will take place after the Olympic Games scheduled for July and August in the capital.

On Monday, the French justice system indicated that they are still investigating the origin of the fire and that the preferred clue for the moment is that of the accident: a poorly extinguished cigarette butt or an electrical short circuit.