Embattled Macron Seeks Boost From Notre Dame Reopening

Emmanuel Macron plans to use the reopening of the cathedral for a political boost.

A gravely weakened President Emmanuel Macron hopes to win a new lease of political life from Saturday’s ceremonial reopening of Notre Dame.

Joined by US President-elect Donald Trump, Prince William and other international figures, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Macron will seek to present the renovated cathedral as a symbol of France’s inner reserves of creative strength.

In a speech marking the occasion, he will urge the world to see beyond the country’s current political crisis and admire the determination, organisation and hard graft that have rescued one of France’s most famous buildings in just five years.

The long-awaited event comes just as France enters a period of deep uncertainty triggered by the fall of Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government on Wednesday. A replacement has yet to be named.

Five-and-a-half years after the devastating fire, Macron had planned to make the cathedral’s reopening the optimistic climax of 2024 – a year also marked by the Paris Olympic Games.

But while he seeks to capitalise on the project’s undoubted success, a contrast is unavoidable between the depressed state of the country as a whole, and the soaring achievement of fixing this magnificent Gothic cathedral.

The ceremony marks the moment that the Catholic Church retakes possession of the cathedral, ahead of the first Mass to be celebrated on Sunday.

Macron had originally intended to make an address inside the cathedral, but was advised that this would contravene France’s strict rules on secularity.

The first mass for the public is on Sunday evening, after the cathedral reopens.

One dignitary who will not be attending is Pope Francis, though he has sent a message that will be read out on Saturday.

BBC/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma