Pope Francis will not go to Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral

Pope Francis definitively ruled out the possibility of visiting France for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral on his return flight last Friday from Southeast Asia.

During a press conference aboard the papal plane on September 13, the Holy Father firmly declared: “I will not go to Paris!”

French President Emmanuel Macron invited Pope Francis to visit Paris for the long-awaited reopening of the historic cathedral, which is scheduled for December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Traditionally, Pope Francis celebrates this Marian feast with the city of Rome in the famous Spanish Steps, in front of the image of the Immaculate Conception.

In 2019, the world mourned the damage caused by a fire that devastated the 96-meter oak spire and wooden roof of the more than eight-century-old medieval Paris cathedral.

Important religious and artistic treasures were removed from the cathedral when the fire began, including a relic of Christ’s crown of thorns.

Authorities have not yet found evidence that the fire was not an accident; An initial investigation conducted in the months after the fire concluded that it may have been caused by an electrical malfunction.

Almost immediately after the disaster, debate began over whether the cathedral would be restored as before the fire or updated with modern architectural designs and details on top of the old part of the church.

The French Parliament subsequently enacted a law requiring that the reconstruction “preserve the historical, artistic and architectural interest” of the original structure.

Notably, the spire was not original to the 800-year-old structure, having been added during a 19th-century renovation.

In 2020, President Emmanuel Macron of France announced, amid controversy over the possibility of a new, contemporary design, that it would be rebuilt as a replica of the one that was destroyed.

Friends of Notre Dame de Paris, a nonprofit supporting the renovation, said the new spire is built with a lead-covered oak frame, just as the old one was.

Construction of the cathedral originally began in 1160 and took almost two centuries. Although most of the work was completed in 1260, it was finally finished in 1345.

While Pope Francis does not plan to visit Paris for the reopening, he expressed his desire to travel to the Canary Islands, an autonomous Spanish archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa, in part to visit its migrant population.

Pope Francis also said he would like to go to his native Argentina, but “it is not yet decided” because “there are several things to resolve first.”

The 87-year-old Pontiff spoke about his future travel wishes as he returned from the longest trip of his pontificate to date: a nearly two-week tour of four countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.

At the press conference, in which Pope Francis addressed the upcoming US presidential elections and repeated his dream of visiting another country. “I would like to visit China. “It is a great country,” he noted.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA