Reopening of Notre-Dame-de-Paris: Macron had a plan, the archbishop banned it

Emmanuel Macron has invested a lot and communicated a lot on the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris. The president intended to create an event for its reopening, but the Church said no.

The head of state is offering himself a great moment of respite this Friday, November 29: he is visiting the site of Notre-Dame de Paris, while its reopening to the public is scheduled for December 7. 5 years after the roof fire, Emmanuel Macron can be satisfied with the feat accomplished by some 2,000 craftsmen and the mobilization of thousands of private and public actors, foundations and government services to restore the great French cathedral.

It must be said that for Emmanuel Macron, this project is also his own. And he did not hesitate to let the Ministry of Culture, but also the French clergy, know this when important decisions had to be made on the renovation. According to information from Le Point, the president was not afraid to initiate a vigorous dialogue with the Archbishop of Paris, Mgr Laurent Ulrich. The head of state also had a plan for the reopening of the church, proposing to the bishop to “welcome the prelate at inside the building to hand over the keys in front of the cameras, before beginning a sententious speech in the heart of Notre-Dame on the morning of December 7.

A proposal deemed presumptuous that did not take into account the “ancestral tradition according to which the archbishop, master in “his” cathedral, strikes three times with his crosier the closed door of the building and enters it alone, first, to “sacralize””the moment”.

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The discussions were clearly very long, but Bishop Laurent Ulrich did not satisfy the president, remaining rigorously firm on his positions: “We are within our walls by entering through the door that I open,” he confided to the newspaper. His determination allowed him to assert himself in this confrontation, by prohibiting Emmanuel Macron from implementing what he had planned. to his great displeasure, the head of state will be content to speak on the forecourt during the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame de Paris, on Saturday, December 7.

Emmanuel Macron attached to Notre-Dame

As former Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak suggests in Le Point newspaper, the reconstruction of the cathedral was a good opportunity for the head of state to restore his image: “He was passionate about the project, following all the stages, he asked to see the images, the models, even the artistic proposals for the liturgical furniture and the chairs, but without interfering in the choices. Especially since with Covid this project has been transformed for him, even more than at the beginning, as a symbol of our resilience as a nation.

However, before the fire, Emmanuel Macron had never responded to the monument's calls for help. For good reason, in 2018, the cathedral was in desperate need of donations to restore its legendary spire. In power for over a year, the head of state had never bothered to visit her, even briefly.

It was only once she was buried under the flames that she regained her interest in the eyes of the president. On the day of the incident, and according to the In a story told by the newspaper Le Point, he appeared solemn, his face closed, already foreseeing a future reconstruction: “We will rebuild this cathedral, all together”, he had promised. His ambition seemed excessive. By setting a five-year reconstruction target, he was the target of strong criticism. Some accused him of maintaining unrealizable pretensions, due to the circumstances of Eric Fischer, director of the Fondation de l'OElig;uvre Notre-Dame, which assumed decades of restoration.