Struggling Macron seeks boost for reopening

President Emmanuel Macron, seriously weakened, hopes to find a new political lease of life thanks to the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame on Saturday.

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 domestic reserves of creative force.

In a speech marking the occasion, he will urge the world to see beyond the country's current political crisis and admire the determination, organization and hard work that went into saving one of the most famous buildings of France in just five years.

This long-awaited event comes as France enters a period of deep uncertainty triggered by the fall of Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government on Wednesday. A replacement has not yet been named.

Five and a half years after the devastating fire, Macron had planned to make the reopening of the cathedral the optimistic highlight of 2024 – a year also marked by the Paris Olympics.

But as he seeks to capitalize on the project's undoubted success, a contrast is inevitable between the depressed state of the country as a whole and the meteoric rise in the repair of this magnificent Gothic cathedral.

The ceremony marks the moment when the Catholic Church regains possession of the cathedral, before the first mass which will be celebrated on Sunday.

Mgr Laurent Ulrich will knock on the entrance gate using a stick made from one of the saved frames. Answered by the choir, already present inside, he will enter the cathedral and make the organ hear “praises of God”.

Macron had initially planned to give a speech inside the cathedral, but was informed that doing so would contravene France's strict rules on secularism.

As a compromise, he visited the cathedral eight days ago to thank hundreds of craftsmen – a televised visit that gave the world its first glimpse of the stunningly rejuvenated interior.

The evening's religious ceremony will be followed by a concert featuring Chinese pianist Lang Lang and Canadian singer Garou.

Sunday's mass, which the president will attend, will be presided over by Mgr Ulrich in the presence of 170 French bishops and priests from 106 Parisian parishes. The first public mass will take place Sunday evening, by reservation, as for all masses planned for the coming week.

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

The Pope's relations with France are rather cordial than friendly. He was reportedly angered by French policies aimed at reducing immigration and by Macron's decision to enshrine the right to abortion in the constitution.

In the French press, the pope is said to be more interested in the younger and growing Christian communities of the southern hemisphere than in the medieval churches of Europe.

The fire of April 15, 2019 destroyed the medieval framework, the spire and three sections of stone vaults. An appeal to donors raised €850 million ($897 million; £704 million) and 2,000 masons, carpenters, art restorers, engineers and architects worked on the project.

“As soon as I looked inside the day after the fire, I knew everything would be fine. The damage was not as bad as I feared,” said the chief architect of the Philippe Villeneuve Cathedral, which challenges the widely held theory that Notre-Dame de Paris. Dame almost collapsed completely.

“Besides replacing the roof and spire, the main task was decontamination. Everything was covered in lead oxide powder. But this allowed us to restore and clean, which is why the cathedral is so beautiful today 'today.'

Before the fire, the cathedral was already judged to be in a state of severe disrepair and scaffolding was in place to renovate the spire and other exterior parts badly damaged by corrosion.

Some 12 million people visited the cathedral each year, a figure which is now expected to rise. A new route around the building has been designed to cope with the 100 visitors per minute expected here during the peak tourist season.