Notre-Dame, summit between leaders Trump: «The world has gone mad» | EUROtoday

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A diplomatic summit. Informal and really delicate. The reopening of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris was the event of a gathering between Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky. «It looks like the world has gone somewhat loopy at present. We’ll speak about it”, said Trump, addressing Macron, in the very short meeting with the press and photographers, after recalling the long relations with France. He and Macron were joined after three quarters of an hour by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for an exchange of views that lasted about forty minutes.

The ceremony began with the opening of the Cathedral by the Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich, who knocked on the portal three times, interspersed with the psalms sung by the Maîtrise Notre-Dame. After the parade of firefighters and craftsmen involved in the reconstruction and a brief musical intervention by the brothers Gautier and Renaud Capuçon, on violin and cello (they performed Handel’s Passacaglia transcribed by Halvorsen from the Suite pour harpsichord in G minor HWV 432), the President Macron expressed “gratitude in direction of all those that helped and constructed”. “The bells of Notre-Dame are ringing again,” he added, recalling what the Cathedral witnessed: the coronations of kings and Napoleon, the descriptions of Victor Hugo, the conversion, on Christmas night 1886, of Paul Claudel , Liberation. Then the fire, the courage of the firefighters, the commitment of more than two thousand workers, with the enormous diversity of skills. “They confirmed that we nonetheless have the need to hold out massive tasks.”

“We have found once more – added the president – what nice nations can do: obtain the not possible.” Finally, Macron recalled the “common brotherhood” and the “entre-aide”, the mutual support necessary to rebuild Notre-Dame. «And we – he concluded – must preserve this lesson of fragility, humility and will as a treasure, and never forget how each of us counts and how the greatness of this cathedral is inseparable from everyone’s work. This evening, together, we can share joy and pride. Monsignor, Notre-Dame of Paris is returned to you.” The Cathedral is owned by the French state, whereas the Church is a tenant. The absent Pope’s message was then learn, adopted by a liturgical ceremony – not a mass, the altar will probably be consecrated at present – which included a psalm for vespers, the archbishop’s homily and a Magnificat accompanied by the revived organ of the cathedral, whose 7,952 pipes had been cleared of the ashes of the fireplace.

Notre-Dame was partially devastated by the fireplace on 19 April 2019. The restoration value round 700 million, out of the 843 million paid by round 340 thousand donors from 150 international locations, who contributed sums starting from one euro to 200 million. Work will proceed till 2028 to renovate the whole space surrounding the church.

About forty heads of state and authorities and lots of entrepreneurs and well-known folks had been current on the ceremony. Among them Elon Musk, who arrived as a shock. For Italy there have been the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella and the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, with whom President-elect Trump had scheduled a bilateral assembly on the sidelines of the gala dinner.