PARIS AP — The reopening this weekend of Notre Dame is a succession of ceremonies to breathe life back into the iconic cathedral and celebrate the recovery from its devastating fire in Forecasts of stormy winds forced a late change in plans Friday, moving all of Saturday's events indoors.
Still, the weekend's high points are expected to be the ritualized reopening of the cathedral's massive doors , the reawakening of its thunderous organ and the celebration of the first Mass. For both France and the Catholic Church, the televised and tightly scripted ceremonies will be an opportunity to display can-do resilience and global influence.
President-elect Donald Trump and dozens of heads of state and government accepted invites from French President Emmanuel Macron. The Catholic faithful are so eager to worship again inside Notre Dame that tickets for the first week of Masses were snapped up in 25 minutes, the cathedral's rector says. During part one of Notre Dame's rebirth on Saturday evening, Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will lead more than 1, guests through a reopening service.
Part two, on Sunday, is an inaugural Mass, with special rites to consecrate the main altar. On Saturday, Ulrich will first reopen Notre Dame's great doors — by tapping them with his crosier, or bishop's staff. The staff was created for the occasion by designer Sylvain Dubuisson. The wood — bearing visible black traces from the blaze — came from pieces of the cathedral roof that collapsed in the inferno, Dubuisson told The Associated Press. In response to the archbishop's door-knocks, the cathedral will erupt into song, its choirs once again filling the cavernous spaces.
That back-and-forth will happen three times and the doors will then open. At that point, the guests had been expected to stream inside, having first listened to Macron give a speech outside. But the church and Macron's office announced late Friday that because of forecasted bad weather, the entire ceremony including Macron's portion will take place inside the cathedral. The voice of Notre Dame's great organ hasn't been heard in public since the blaze coated the nearly 8, pipes with toxic dust released when the lead roofing burned.
