Pope Francis definitively ruled out the possibility of visiting France for the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral on his return flight on Friday from Southeast Asia.
Speaking during an in-flight press conference on the papal plane on Sept. 13, the pope resolutely stated: “I will not go to Paris!”
French President Emmanuel Macron invited Pope Francis to visit Paris for the long-awaited reopening of the historic cathedral, which is set to take place on Dec. 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
Pope Francis traditionally celebrates the Marian feast with the city of Rome in the piazza at the foot of the Spanish Steps.
In 2019 the world mourned the damage done to the medieval Paris cathedral by a fire that devastated the 315-foot-tall oak spire and timber roof of the eight-centuries-old cathedral.
Major religious and artistic treasures of the cathedral were removed as the fire began, including a relic of Christ’s crown of thorns.
Authorities have not yet found any evidence that the blaze was not an accident, with an initial investigation conducted in the months after the fire concluding it may have been caused by an electrical malfunction.
Almost immediately after the disaster, debate began as to whether the cathedral would be restored as it looked before the fire or if it would be updated with modern architectural designs and flourishes atop the ancient portion of the church.
The French Parliament subsequently enacted a law mandating that the reconstruction must “preserve the historic, artistic, and architectural interest” of the original structure.
The spire was not original to the 800-year-old structure, having been added during a 19th-century renovation. In 2020, President Emmanuel Macron of France announced, amid controversy over the possibility of a new and contemporary design, that the spire would be rebuilt as a replica of the one destroyed.
Friends of Notre Dame de Paris, a nonprofit supporting the renovation, said the new spire is constructed of an oak framework covered with lead, just as the old one was. Construction of the cathedral originally began in 1160 and took nearly two centuries. While most work was done by 1260, it was finally completed in 1345.
While the pope does not plan to visit Paris for the reopening, he did express his desire to travel to the Canary Islands, an autonomous Spanish archipelago off the coast of northwestern Africa, in part to visit its migrant population.
Pope Francis said that he would also like to go to his native Argentina, but “it is still not decided” because “there are a number of things to resolve first.”
The 87-year-old pope spoke about his future travel wishes on the return from the longest trip of his pontificate to date — a nearly two-week tour of four countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore.
In the press conference, in which Pope Francis discussed the upcoming U.S. presidential election, the pope repeated his dream of visiting another country.
“I would like to visit China. It’s a great country,” he said.
The pope is scheduled to travel to Belgium and Luxembourg Sept. 26–29.
This article was originally published on Catholic News Agency.
