Macron televises Notre Dame tour ahead of reopening

“It’s a way for the president to put on a show before the real reopening,” said a commentator on Radio Notre Dame.

President Emmanuel Macron made a televised tour of Notre Dame de Paris a week before its official reopening, revealing its new interior to the world before the formal liturgy marking its restoration after its 2019 fire.

After quarrelling over arrangements for the Mass on 8 December, Macron invited hundreds of workers, artists and benefactors to join him for a tour on 29 November.

“It’s a way for the president to put on a show before the real reopening,” said a commentator on Radio Notre Dame.

Macron, who pledged in 2019 that the cathedral would reopen in five years, apparently dreamed of a ceremony attended by Pope Francis among many international stars and crowned by his own speech.

Since losing his parliamentary majority in July, he has sought more public events to revive his weakened presidency.  Presidential visits to the cathedral were far more discreet in the past.

However, France’s laïcité laws,which maintain the strict separation of politics and religion, hampered his plans.  Under the law, the cathedral is state property but its interior is largely controlled by the Archdiocese of Paris.

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Macron will be inside among other invited guests for the Mass on 8 December, but as a state representative cannot participate in the liturgy. Instead, he will speak outside the cathedral the day before and then head the guest list at a concert inside that evening.

Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris will lead the liturgy on the Sunday, including the consecration of the new altar with installation of its relics and anointment with holy oil.

Pope Francis declined to attend this gala, scheduling a consistory in Rome that weekend. The Jesuit Pope presumably saw an official visit to France as a political event ad majorem Macronis gloriam.

Instead, he will make a day-long visit to Corsica on 15 December to close a religious conference on popular piety in the Mediterranean region.

Although Macron is scheduled to meet him in Ajaccio, this will not be a state visit to France, but a pastoral visit to one of its peripheries.

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