French President Emmanuel Macron announced this Friday that he will invite Pope Francis to attend the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, scheduled for a year from now, on December 8, 2024.
“I hope so, in any case we will invite him,” responded the head of state during an interview with France 2, when asked about the possible presence of the Pope.
“The invitation will be made, but it is not my place to respond on their behalf,” he added.
Since 2022, both the French president and the authorities of the Catholic Church have designated 2024 as the year of reopening of one of the most emblematic cathedrals in the world, destroyed by a fire in 2019.
The reconstruction phase of this symbolic monument did not begin until early 2022, after successive delays due to lead decontamination, the Covid-19 pandemic and archaeological excavations.
Work to remove scaffolding that merged with the cathedral structure during the fire on April 15, 2019 was also time-consuming.
The fire started late in the afternoon on the roof and caused it to collapse, in addition to other significant damage. At the time, the church was undergoing restoration work, and it is assumed that the fire could be related to it.
Source: TSF
