Pope Francis invites the Church of France to be “strong in its faith, proud of its history,” in a message on the occasion of the autumn assembly of the French Bishops' Conference (CEF), meeting in Lourdes from November 5 to 10, 2024. The Pope sees the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on December 7 and 8 as a “strong” and “prophetic” sign.
On October 22, CEF president Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort sent a letter to the Pope, asking for his blessing for the bishops' assembly. The meeting will also be attended by Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, Rwandan Cardinal Antoine Kambanda, Burkinabe Archbishop Gabriel Sayaogo, and Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
Turning towardsthe future with hope
“It is resolutely toward the future that we must turn,” writes the Pontiff in his two-page message, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin — the Vatican's “number 2.” The Pope calls French Catholics to “unshakeable hope,” seeing the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris for worship as “a strong — and I hope prophetic — sign that the Lord is addressing to [the Church of France] in particular.”
After five years of restoration, the Gothic cathedral, whose famous spire and roof were consumed by flames in a fire on April 15, 2019, will reopen its doors on December 7 and 8. An inauguration — with the official handover by the state as owner to the lessee, the Catholic Church — will take place on Saturday, and the first Mass will be celebrated on Sunday.
Last September, rumors of Pope Francis' coming to Paris for these celebrations spread after the publication of an article in La Tribune suggesting that the project of the visit was well underway. However, the Pope denied this hypothesis at a press conference on his return flight from Singapore on September 13: “I won't be coming to Paris,” he said. For the time being, the Vatican has not announced whether it intends to send a papal representative.
Vatican sorrow for the tragic fire
On the evening of the tragedy, the Holy See communicated its “incredulity and (its) sadness.” And the following day, April 16, 2019, the director of the Press Office had published a tweet assuring that Pope Francis was praying “for Catholics and for the shocked Parisian population.” The Pontiff “is close to France” and “assures all those striving to cope with this dramatic situation of his prayers,” the message read.
At the general audience on April 17 that year, the Pope once again expressed his closeness and the Church's gratitude “to all those who have worked so hard, even at great risk, to save the basilica.”
Referring to “this admirable restored edifice” in his letter to the bishops, Pope Francis invited the Church in France to be “strong in its faith, proud of its history and of its irreplaceable contribution to the building of [the] country.”
“And may [France] be heard,” he added, encouraging the Church in France to proclaim the Gospel.
Overcoming “greed” and “selfishness
The Pope also welcomed the main themes of the bishops' assembly, in particular the emphasis placed on relations between the Church in France and the Church in Africa.
Christian communities “must strengthen their ties” in the face of “greed, selfishness, indifference, and exploitation,” he said.
Many parishes in France, with a shortage of priestly vocations, are served by priests from the African continent, whose collaboration with the local clergy is sometimes difficult.
Finally, the Argentine Pontiff refers to his recent encyclical Dilexit nos on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which “highlights the considerable role that the saints of France have had in the development and understanding of this devotion.”
He stresses that “rather than bringing back into fashion a devotion often considered dusty and outdated, it is a question of grasping how much Jesus loves each person, [...] how much he loves the whole world.”
