Notre-Dame Cathedral reopens five years after fire

Notre Dame Cathedral formally reopened its doors Saturday, more than five years after a devastating fire nearly destroyed the 861-year-old Gothic wonder at the center of the City of Lights.

Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris is presiding over the reopening with French President Emmanuel Macron and more than 1,500 invite-only guests, among them 50 heads of state, Prince William, first lady Jill Biden, President-elect Donald Trump, who made his first foreign trip since his presidential victory last month, and Elon Musk.

The event — the culmination of a painstaking, $760 million restoration project — is taking place on one of the Roman Catholic Church’s holiest days — the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the belief that Mary, to whom the cathedral is dedicated, was conceived without sin.

The massive bell outside began to sound multiple times beginning at 1:09 EST, and Macron and his wife stood outside facing the cathedral in reverent attention. Crowds, well away from the cathedral due to security measures, could be heard cheering the peeling that rang over the darkened city.

First Lady Jill Biden talks to President-elect Donald Trump in Notre Dame Cathedral. AP

The archbishop, dressed in colorful vestments, led a procession that included priests from each Paris parish carrying banners to the massive, ironwork-covered oak doors. He then used a staff to knock at its golden door three times.

“Our Lady, most loving mother, open your doors to help us seek love and truth, justice and peace,” he said each time, with a youth choir inside the church responding by singing Psalm 121.

Ulrich then pushed open the door to reveal the crowd gathered as the choir’s song soared in the massive nave. Then, he exited the church to shake hands with Macron and his wife and then they all entered together.

The crowd then viewed a video about the fire and restoration, followed by the entrance of firefighters who responded to the blaze amid a standing ovation, as “Merci,” or “Thank you” in French, was projected onto the front of the cathedral.

The next part of the three-part service included a musical interluded and a speech by Macron. The rest of the program will include the “awakening of the great organ,” where the Archbishop blesses the massive instrument.

The organ, which dates back to the 1730s, survived the fire, but its 8,000 pipes each needed to be removed and cleaned, and the process to tune it back to the cathedral’s acoustics took about six months.

The organ awakening will be followed by a hymn, along with a psalm, the canticle “Magnificat,” followed by prayers for the world and “The Lord’s Prayer.”

To conclude, the Archbishop will give a final blessing, and then the Latin hymn “Te Deum,” will be sung, organizers said.

The 40-minute ceremony will unfold under intense security — “a ring of steel” surrounding the cathedral, including 6,000 police officers and soldiers and surface-to-air missiles and SAS-style anti-terrorist units present across the city.

Members of the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group, an elite police tactical unit, will deploy rooftop snipers and helicopter-borne rapid intervention teams.

And while the ceremony was invite-only, public viewing areas capable of holding 40,000 people are being set up on the Seine’s southern bank for the public to watch the two-day events on giant screens.

The first Mass celebrated since the fire will be held on Sunday morning, with around 3,000 invited guests in attendance.

The cathedral will open to the public at 6:30 p.m. local time Sunday.

As a show of unity, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops encouraged churches across the nation to peal their bells at 2 p.m.

There was speculation Pope Francis would attend the ceremony, but he publicly declined Macron’s invitation to attend during a September press conference. “I will not go to Paris!” he said at the time.