“Today, sadness and mourning have given way to joy”.
This was the sound of rebirth for France…
The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is back to its former glory five years after the devastating fire. The bells are ringing again…
The choir is singing again…
And the doors of one of the greatest Gothic works open again. Inside, 1,500 guests for the reopening: from members of the European royal families to personalities such as Elon Musk or the Mexican actress Salma Hayek.
But the seats that captured all eyes were these. On the first bench, French President Emmanuel Macron, next to United States’ President-elect Donald Trump, with First Lady Jill Biden nearby. The Ukrainian Zelensky was also present.
Although one of the great absences was the Pope. He was invited to the ceremony, but declined the invitation. Pope Francis was present in some way, though. It was through a message read aloud by the nuncio in France:
POPE FRANCIS
Our hearts sank at the risk of seeing a masterpiece of Christian faith and architecture disappear, a thousand-year-old testimony to your national history. Today, sadness and mourning have given way to joy, celebration, and praise.
The most moving moment was undoubtedly this: the word "thank you" in French projected on the façade of the cathedral and the loud applause for the firefighters and all those involved in the reconstruction.
Macron took this advantage to showcase the results of his former promise coming true: it took record time for Notre Dame to rise from its ashes. He did so at a time of political crisis after the government fell and there was no prime minister.
EMMANUEL MACRON
President of France
We decided to take action, to show determination, to chart a course of hope. We decided to rebuild Notre Dame de Paris and make it even more beautiful in five years.
Some 2,000 employees and an investment of more than 700 million euros were involved in the construction. Now, it is expected that some 15 million people a year will come to admire what is one of the emblems of excellence for the French: their Notre Dame cathedral.
CA
TR: GS
