(OSV News) — It’s likely that most of the Catholic world observed Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris knocking on the enormous door of Notre Dame Cathedral ahead of its Dec. 7 reopening ceremony, with truly biblical winds blowing outside.
Not everyone was aware, however, that as the archbishop opened the gates and stepped inside — allowing a long awaited gasp of Parisian air into the cathedral — a special piece of music welcomed him.
Polish composer Henryk Mikolaj Górecki created the “Totus Tuus” choral masterpiece for St. John Paul II’s third visit to his homeland in 1987. “Totus Tuus” — “All Yours” — was the iconic motto engraved in Karol Wojtyla’s coat of arms as a sign of his total trust in Jesus’ Mother.
And indeed the Blessed Virgin was the center of attention of “tout le monde entier” (literally, “the entire world”) as Archbishop Ulrich started the celebration with this grandiose re-entry to Paris’ iconic cathedral. Television channels all over the world transmitted the ceremony, which was victorious and spectacular.
Of course, the celebration had been anticipated on Nov. 15, when thousands of Parisians rushed to make it on time to walk the statue of Notre Dame de Paris home from the nearby Church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, which hosted the medieval statue, commonly known as Our Lady of the Pillar, since the April 15, 2019, fire that left the world speechless.
Then, on Dec. 7 and 8, despite streets completely locked down for the world leaders coming for the reopening ceremony and the first Mass in the rebuilt cathedral, those same crowds of Parisians were patiently waiting in the rain outside the Notre Dame, behind rows of security barriers, soaking in the chilling December rain.
They wanted to be as close as possible when their cathedral’s resurrection was admired by the world. The first public Mass in Notre Dame was celebrated in the evening of Dec. 8, and seat reservations available through a special app were completely filled within 25 minutes of the app’s launch.
Very hopefully, the Catholic Church was the center of attention in the eyes of the world not because of scandals plaguing it. It was back in the public square and on televisions in living rooms around the world because of its glory, beauty, splendor, prayer and closeness to the people of God.
One young Catholic student, present in the crowd outside Notre Dame on Dec. 7, said that what she was witnessing was “the rebirth of France as the eldest daughter of the church.”
Agnès Boüan is too young to remember John Paul lI in person, but she remembered the meaning of his words when he was visiting Paris in the early days of summer 1980 and asked: “France, the eldest daughter of the Church, are you faithful to the promises of your baptism? France, daughter of the Church and the teacher of the peoples, are you faithful, for the sake of man, an alliance with eternal wisdom?”
Rebuilding Notre Dame in only five years — when seasoned experts had predicted it would take at least a decade — proved France loves and cherishes its Catholic identity. At the same time, this same France, breaching the “alliance with eternal wisdom,” took a speedy path in enshrining the “freedom” of abortion in the French constitution in March 2024, leads all European countries in the number of abortions, and this year announced a bill allowing “aid in dying” (euthanasia), under “strict conditions.”
Those events, however, did not bring the world’s “société” to celebrate in Paris.
She did. Notre Dame did.
People are hungry for faith, beauty and spirituality rooted in centuries of tradition. They prayed fervently, their knees imprinted on Parisian sidewalks, for Notre Dame to be saved, and joyfully poured into the streets of Paris, like shepherds rushing to the manger, to see for themselves that their jewel was returned. The church of France should carefully stoke this new fire, fanned out of the embers of the one that had threatened to destroy Notre Dame.
The rebuilding of Notre Dame has already witnessed conversions, including a firefighter so touched by people praying for the safety of his team and skills to save the cathedral that he returned to his faith after April 2019.
Notre Dame de Paris is capable of converting France, too. She has the power to reverse the liberal social currents of the Seine River toward hope, truth and life. To turn darkness into light, just as her walls were returned to their initial glory.
But for this to happen, the church needs to do her part. Bishops, priests and religious need to work hard to maintain that momentum and be inviting. Open up confessionals, churches, Mass schedules. Invite more priests to reopen closed parishes and become a mission territory not only for those rushing to see Notre Dame but for those discouraged by the abuse scandal, for those proud of their French “laïcité” heritage, for those French citizens for whom Christianity is a foreign tradition.
A decade after Pope Francis called Europe an “elderly and haggard” grandmother, France, for a moment, became a beacon of hope to the Christian world, showing that faith brings harmony, peace and renewal in the face of a culture that glorifies destruction — that, in short, faith, just like the cathedral, is worth fighting for.
Notre Dame is not merely Notre Dame de Paris now, the cathedral organist told the media. It’s Notre Dame du Monde. With the rededication of the cathedral, Christianity is back to the heart of the Western world. And that is one spark that we pray may not be contained but may spread like wildfire.
The members of the OSV Editorial Board include Father Patrick Briscoe, OP; Gretchen R. Crowe; Paulina Guzik; Matthew Kirby; Peter Jesserer Smith and Scott P. Richert.