World Leaders, Including Pres.-elect Trump, Attend Reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral

[Webster]

The Guardian: Notre Dame rises from the ashes at last - world leaders join embattled Macron for grand reopening

It was like stepping back into a medieval age and reliving the breathtaking awe Notre Dame cathedral would have inspired in the 14th century when the light from the rose windows threw a kaleidoscope of colours on its pale creamy walls before hundreds of years of liturgical smoke and city pollution blackened them.

This is how the church would have appeared on completion in 1345, towering over Paris, then a city of 200,000 people, from the Île de la Cité in the middle of the River Seine that bisects the French capital. And the bells, the bells rang out: the Bourdon, cast in 1683, baptised Emmanuel by its patron Louis XIV and considered one of the most beautiful in Europe, sounded in F sharp as it had done for centuries.

Notre Dame was a monumental achievement in the 12th and 13th centuries. Its resurrection after the devastating fire that threatened to bring the entire edifice down, is a monumental achievement for the 21st.

Saturday’s official opening, described as a mark of “French pride” by President Emmanuel Macron, was as much a diplomatic as an ecclesiastic occasion. It comes as Macron sits at the centre of a domestic political storm following the resignation of his prime minister and government of just three months. A vote of no confidence was passed last Wednesday with the support of the far right and hard left.

Since Michel Barnier and his government resigned, Macron has held a series of emergency meetings with political leaders in an attempt to find a new prime minister to appoint a government including the left, centre and conservative right but excluding the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) and the far-right National Rally (RN), that would survive a new vote of no confidence. Recruiting the Socialist Party (PS) and Greens (EELV) to any new administration would spell the end of the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition that won the most seats in the July snap general election.

The Élysée had invited 100 VIP guests including 50 heads of state. As well as US president-elect Donald Trump and current first lady Jill Biden, the Prince of Wales, Italian president Sergio Mattarella, Greek president Katerina Sakellaropoulou, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the monarchs of Belgium, Spain and Monaco were expected, along with the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and the Emir of Qatar. The pope, however, was not present, having declined an invitation in favour of visiting Corsica this week.

Macron was due to address the VIPs on the square outside the cathedral, out of respect for France’s secular tradition separating state and church. Instead, the threat of gale-force winds – often deemed “acts of God” by insurance companies – forced everyone inside, including Macron and his speech.

-Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/07/macron-leaders-paris-notre-dame