Pwill speak, will not speak? For weeks, spiritual, political and media people have been buzzing about whether Emmanuel Macron would speak inside Notre-Dame de Paris during the cathedral's reopening ceremony on December 7.
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Scoop: the Élysée finally announced, this November 13, in a brief to journalists just before the press conference of the diocese of Paris, that the presidential speech would take place “on the square”, before the liturgical celebration, and would be the subject of a “fairly short” speech to pay tribute to “those who contributed to saving Notre-Dame”, with a special moment for General Georgelin, who led the project before dying in a mountain accident in August 2023, and to the “political history” of a cathedral which is “a religious object but also a universal project”. Short address but with a clear desire – as we suspect – to capture minds.
Especially since, it is emphasized at the Élysée, the event will be broadcast throughout a large part of the world. “It will be a question of marking what a French success is”, “in the continuity of the success that was the Olympic Games”. “The French are called to rejoice, whatever their philosophical opinions or their beliefs,” it says at the Élysée.
Last site visit on November 29
No presidential speech under the vaults of the cathedral during the religious celebration, therefore. The Archbishop of Paris, Mgr Laurent Ulrich, and the rector of the cathedral, Mgr Olivier Ribadeau-Dumas, therefore won their negotiation on this delicate point. “The discussions with the Presidency of the Republic were long,” admitted Mgr Ulrich when answering questions from journalists during the presentation of the festivities. The Archbishop of Paris will therefore be the first to enter the cathedral, which is state property and of which he is the beneficiary. “We are within our walls, and we enter through the door that I open,” the archbishop firmly emphasized.
ALSO READ In France and around the world, the extraordinary power of cathedralsThe head of state will therefore not encroach on liturgical time. But he will still be the first leader – diplomatic finesse – to… speak in the cathedral. It will be November 29, on the occasion of the last site visit, after a stroll by the president in the building. Emmanuel Macron will linger in the nave – “dazzling white” –, the choir and the side chapels, then climb into the framework – he had climbed onto the roof during the previous visit. Then, he will speak, in front of the 2,000 companions and craftsmen who worked and a (small) part of the 340,000 donors – the cathedral's capacity is 2,000 people – to emphasize “the human adventure which created very strong bonds, and the exaltation of the crew spirit more than the team spirit” which presided over this extraordinary project.
But the first, or more precisely the first to enter the premises, will be neither the President of the Republic nor the Archbishop of Paris, but a mute figure: the statue of the Virgin Mary – emerging intact from the flames – which will regain its place at the foot of the pillar where the poet Paul Claudel received the revelation of faith, at the end of a procession through the streets of Paris starting from the Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois church, on November 15.
It is this ceremony which will really kick off the reopening celebrations, the climax of which will begin on December 7 with the blows of the butt given by Mgr Ulrich on the door of the building, the opening of it, the entry of the archbishop alone and the awakening of the organ, called eight times by the prelate, then the celebration itself in the presence of the head of state. In the evening there is a cultural time, with many artists.
37,000 pilgrims, 15 million visitors
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Kangaroo of the day
Answer
Emmanuel Macron will also attend the next morning – without taking communion – at 10:30 a.m., the mass during which the altar will be consecrated by the archbishop, spreading the blessed oil of holy chrism and incense. The relics of five saints will be placed there. The first mass open to the public (by reservation) will take place in the evening, at 6:30 p.m. – and will be broadcast, like the other ceremonies, by France Télévisions. An octave – eight days of celebration – will begin and will be marked – in particular – by the blessing of the baptistery on December 10 and the return of Christ's crown of thorns, placed in a new reliquary at the back of the cathedral, on December 13.
From December 16, Notre-Dame Cathedral should resume normal operation, with three masses per day – four on Sunday – and sacred music concerts which have been organized there – for a thousand years! – under the aegis of the mastery of Notre-Dame, a breeding ground for numerous talents, starting with Magnificat by Bach. 37,000 pilgrims are already registered – reservations can be made using a mobile application set up at the end of November. And we expect 15 million visitors per year. Or even more, given the global influence taken on by the emblematic cathedral of France since its fire on April 15, 2009 and its reopening with great fanfare before the eyes of the whole world.
