Notre-Dame de Paris hosted its first midnight mass since the 2019 fire

Notre-Dame de Paris attracted many faithful on Tuesday, December 24, for its first midnight mass since the 2019 fire. “Joy in heaven, peace on earth, Merry Christmas to all of you who are here in this cathedral to celebrate the feast of Christmas”declared the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, to the Catholics gathered at the 12th century cathedral^e century.

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

Mgr Ulrich is to preside over Christmas Day mass on Wednesday morning. In addition to this celebration scheduled for 11 a.m. and broadcast on France 2, two other services are planned in the cathedral, at 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

A capacity of 2,700 people maximum

Access to Notre-Dame is subject to a strict limit of 2,700 people, while enthusiasm remains strong for access to this building magnified by the writer Victor Hugo and glorified in various films, novels and musicals.

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.

“Since 8 a.m. this morning [mardi]the line is continuous »had testified Valentin Lacroix, responsible for controlling entries. Before 3 p.m., around a hundred people were waiting on the square: families, couples, coming from Paris, the provinces or even abroad. “No reservations are possible for Christmas masses” and access to the cathedral is “within the limit of available places”specified the diocese of Paris.

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

After five years of colossal work, Notre-Dame de Paris reopened on December 7, during a ceremony in the presence of several personalities including the American president-elect, Donald Trump, and the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

For Catholics, this Christmas also marks the beginning of the jubilee, the“holy year” 2025 of the Catholic Church opened Tuesday evening by Pope Francis from the Vatican. On the occasion of this great international pilgrimage, 30 million faithful from all over the world are expected in Rome.

Wednesday at noon, during his traditional blessing “The City and the World” (“To the city and to the world”), the 88-year-old Argentine Jesuit should also renew his calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.