This is why the bishops of Fréjus-Toulon will not attend the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris

Friday 29th November 2024 12:38 PM

Ordained priest in Paris Cathedral, Mgr Dominique Rey, Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, will not attend the reopening of Notre-Dame to the public.

“I am going to the Vatican this weekend and I will be in Corsica on December 15 for the Pope's visit. I cannot be absent from my diocese too often”he explains.

The rediscovery of a “monument intimately linked to the History of France”and which is said to be even more beautiful than before the fire, will therefore wait.

“I go to Paris regularly. I will go see Notre-Dame when the popular fever has subsided somewhat”confides Mgr Rey. For the moment the Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon says “very happy that the promise to rebuild the cathedral in five years has been kept”.

Mgr François Touvet remembers that the day after the fire at Notre-Dame, during the Chrism Mass, he invited his parishioners of Châlons-en-Champagne to turn towards the Parisian cathedral and intone “You, our Lady we sing to you.” (Photo Valérie Le Parc) Photo Valérie Le Parc.

Spiritual, he sees in this rebirth of Notre-Dame as “a symbol of the mystery of the Christian faith”. And to clarify his thoughts: “The Christian faith is very linked to reconstruction, to the resurrection of Christ where the tomb becomes a cradle”.

Coadjutor bishop of this same diocese of Fréjus-Toulon since November 2023, Mgr François Touvet does not have the same personal history with Notre-Dame de Paris. He too will be absent from the capital on December 7 and 8.

“Without regret. I will wait for the first wave to pass and I will accompany pilgrims from the diocese to visit this cathedral which is reborn from its ashes”he declares. Before recounting, in a confidential tone, his first “visit” to Notre-Dame de Paris.

“It was October 2, 1975 on the occasion of the funeral of Cardinal Maurice Feltin, archbishop of Paris, who was the first cousin of my great-grandfather. I remember something grandiose with the presence of President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, but I admit that at ten years old I was more fascinated by the Republican guards standing in the nave. At the time, we experienced secularism in a different way…”