Notre-Dame de Paris hosts its first Christmas masses since the fire

(Paris) “So magical”: many faithful flocked on Tuesday to attend the traditional Nativity masses at Notre-Dame de Paris, which celebrates Christmas for the first time since the 2019 fire.

For this celebration under the cleaned vaults of this masterpiece of Gothic art, more than 860 years old, several services are planned before the traditional Midnight Mass.

Before the first mass, in the afternoon, around a hundred people are already waiting in front of a small “mass” sign placed on the square.

The first faithful enter through a line where a man in a vest bearing the Notre-Dame logo repeats “just the mass, no visit!” » (only mass, no visits). Because visits are interrupted during the service.

Among the faithful: families, couples, coming from all over France and even abroad.

“I came to mass here every year for ten years before the fire,” explains Daniel James, a 46-year-old American flight attendant who lives in Seattle.

“I'm so happy to come back here, it's so magical and special, it's a feeling of hope, of joy,” he adds. “When it reopened it was all over the media” in the United States, he assures.

Since the fire which devastated it on April 15, 2019, the cathedral had no longer hosted these Nativity masses celebrating, for Christians, the birth of Jesus.

Julien Violle, a 40-year-old engineer who came from Switzerland with his two children, explains: “We are there early to attend the 4 p.m. mass (10 a.m. Eastern time), and to be well placed. It’s a superb monument.”

“No reservations are possible for Christmas masses” and access to the cathedral will be “subject to available places”, specified the diocese of Paris.

The Notre-Dame website therefore advises arriving 30 minutes before the time of the celebrations, “keeping in mind that queues can be long, with a risk of not being able to access the cathedral” .

“Symbolic”

After a musical vigil starting at 5 p.m. (Eastern time) with the mastery of Notre-Dame, the traditional Midnight Mass will begin at midnight (6 p.m. Eastern time), presided over by the Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich.

Valentine Guilleux, a 21-year-old student who came from the west of France with her family for the holidays, waits in front of the building. “We've been waiting in line for a little less than an hour, but it's worth it! This is the first time and probably the only time I will go to Midnight Mass at Notre-Dame. It’s symbolic and very important for us.”

“We are now back at Notre-Dame […] Our hearts are celebrating! » launched M^gr Ulrich in a Christmas message broadcast on Tuesday.

He paid tribute to the “talents deployed on the restoration site” which allowed “the pain of the fire and the five years of separation to be erased to leave only the joy of reunion, the joy of living together again this common house, the house of God.”

Access to the cathedral remains subject to a strict limit of 2,700 people, while enthusiasm remains strong for access to this building magnified by the author Victor Hugo and celebrated in various films, novels and musicals.

After five years of colossal work, on a project costing nearly 700 million euros, Notre-Dame de Paris reopened its doors on December 7 with a ceremony in the presence of several personalities, including the American president-elect Donald Trump and the leader Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, broadcast on international television.

For Catholics, this Christmas also marks the start of the Jubilee, the 2025 “Holy Year” of the Catholic Church, which will be launched Tuesday evening by Pope Francis from the Vatican. This major international pilgrimage organized every 25 years is expected to attract more than 30 million faithful to Rome.