Paris, France, Dec 27, 2019 / 09:12 am (CNA).- This year Christmas Mass was not celebrated at Notre-Dame de Paris for the first time since the French First Republic, and the cathedral’s rector says that there is a significant chance the building cannot be rebuilt safely.
The church “is not out of danger,” Monsignor Patrick Chauvet said to the Associated Press Dec. 24. “It will be out of danger when we take out the remaining scaffolding.”
The scaffolding, which was present on the building prior to the April 15 fire due to restoration work, fused together during the blaze. There are an estimated 551 tons of metal still present on top of the cathedral.
“Today we can say that there is maybe a 50% chance (the cathedral) will be saved,” said Chauvet. “There is also (a) 50% chance of scaffolding falling onto the three vaults, so as you can see, the building is still very fragile,” he added.
The last time Christmas Mass was not celebrated at Notre-Dame was in 1803, the final Christmas under the French First Republic. In 1793, amid the French Revolution which established the republic, the cathedral was “re-dedicated” to the “Cult of Reason,” a state-created religion that was intended to replace Catholicism. It was returned to the Church in the early 19th century.
Chauvet said that once the scaffolding is removed, the restoration work will begin. He does not think that this will happen until 2021 at the earliest.
“We need to remove completely the scaffolding in order to make the building safe, so in 2021 we will probably start the restoration of the cathedral,” he said. “Once the scaffolding is removed, we need to assess the state of the cathedral, the quantity of stones to be removed and replaced.”
After the reconstruction begins, it will take about three years before the cathedral can be open to the public, Chauvet said. Although French President Emmanuel Macron vowed in the days after the fire that the cathedral would be rebuilt in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics, which will be hosted in Paris, this appears unlikely.
When the fire began, it was feared that the entire building could be lost. After 12 hours of firefighting, only the roof and spire were lost, and the majority of the stone vaults held. The vast majority of the treasures and relics that were stored in the cathedral, including the Crown of Thorns, were removed from church and were undamaged.
In addition to the structural damage caused by the fire, the flames also released a large amount of toxic lead dust due to the collapse of the spire. Levels of lead concentration in and around the cathedral are approximately 500 to 800 times the threshold for acceptable exposure levels.
Since the blaze, one Mass has been celebrated in the cathedral. On June 16, the anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral’s altar, a small Mass was celebrated in one of the side chapels that had not been damaged by the fire. All who attended had to wear protective hard hats during the Mass.
It is still undetermined what caused the fire. Authorities suggest it could have been either a cigarette or an electrical malfunction.
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Daniel O’Connell, lithograph attributed to R. Evan Sly (EP OCON-DA (17) II) from the National Library of Ireland. / Credit: National Library of Ireland
Dublin, Ireland, Aug 9, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Daniel O’Connell, known as “The Liberator,” was a pivotal figure in 19th-century Ireland, championing the cause of Catholic emancipation.
Opposed to violence, he advocated for Catholic rights through peaceful means, emphasizing dialogue and legal reform, and organizing mass demonstrations to rally public support and raise awareness about the injustices faced by Catholics.
“Daniel O’Connell’s achievement in forcing the British government to concede Catholic emancipation in 1829 was immense,” Bishop Niall Coll of Ossory told CNA. “The penal laws, a series of oppressive statutes enacted in the 17th and early 18th centuries that targeted the Catholic majority in Ireland, restricting their rights to own land, hold public office, and practice their religion were set aside.”
O’Connell’s efforts culminated in the passage of the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, which allowed Catholics to sit in Parliament and hold public office and significantly transformed Irish politics.
O’Connell was born in 1775 in Caherciveen in rural Kerry. His parents had managed to maintain their land despite the penal laws, thanks to their remoteness, business sense, and help from Protestant neighbors. O’Connell’s earliest years, until he was 4, were spent with an Irish-speaking family that instilled in him an inherent understanding of Irish peasant life.
After studying in France at the English Colleges in St. Omer and Douai during the French Revolution, he returned to Ireland, completed his studies, and was called to the bar. In 1802, then a successful barrister, he married a distant cousin, Mary O’Connell, and they had 12 children — seven of whom survived to adulthood. In 1823 he founded the Catholic Association with the express aim of securing emancipation.
O’Connell’s early experiences were critical to his political and social formation, according to Jesuit historian Father Fergus O’Donoghue, who told CNA that O’Connell’s exposure to European influences undoubtedly shaped his character, his opposition to violence, and his deep-seated opposition to tyranny.
“He witnessed the French Revolution, which appalled him and set his heart completely against violence,” O’Donoghue told CNA. “What Daniel O’Connell really did was produce a political sense in Ireland that was never previously generated. Irish Catholics lived in appalling poverty and were neglected. He energized them. He brought Church and laity together into politics and constitutionalism.”
Bishop Fintan Monahan at Daniel O’Connell’s memorial in Rome. Credit: Bishop Fintan Monahan
O’Donoghue explained how O’Connell’s arousal of a nationwide Irish Catholic consciousness impacted politics and society but also had far-reaching consequences beyond Irish shores.
“When Irish Catholics emigrated, which of course many were forced to do, many of them were already politically aware. That’s why Irish people got so rapidly into American politics and into Australian politics later.”
“He was part of the enormous revival of Irish Catholicism in the 19th century. Before the Act of Union, various relief acts had been passed so Catholics officially could become things like judges or sheriffs, but none really were appointed in numbers. He was blistering in highlighting the difference between the law and reality. He was liberal, which amazed people; he believed strongly in parliamentary democracy. Many Catholics were monarchists and tending to be absolutists and he was having none of that. Under no circumstances would he approve of violence.”
Coll told CNA how O’Connell’s personal reputation extended his influence worldwide: “The fact that he could remain a devoted and practicing Catholic — while supporting the separation of church and state, the ending of Anglican privileges and discrimination based on religious affiliation, and the extension of individual liberties, including those in the sphere of politics — made him a hero and inspiration to Catholic liberals in many European countries.”
Coll continued: “The fact that his political movement was based upon popular support and the mobilization of the mass of the people, while yet being nonviolent and orderly, gave proof that political agitation did not necessarily have to be anticlerical or bloody. The attention his movement and opinions received in the continental European press was remarkable, as were the number and distinction of European writers and political figures who visited Ireland with the express purpose of securing an audience with O’Connell.”
Coll agreed firmly with historians who believe no other Irish political figure of the 19th or early 20th century enjoyed such an international reputation as did O’Connell throughout his later public career.
Among those whom O’Connell also influenced were Eamon de Valera, president of Ireland; Frederick Douglass, social reformer and slavery abolitionist in the United States; and Gen. Charles de Gaulle. Indeed, de Gaulle, when on an extended visit to Ireland, insisted on visiting Derrynane House in Kerry, the home of Daniel O’Connell.
When asked how he knew about O’Connell, de Gaulle replied: “My grandmother wrote a book about O’Connell.” The grandmother in question was Joséphine de Gaulle (née Maillot), a descendant of the McCartans of County Down and his paternal grandmother, who wrote “Daniel O’Connell, Le Libérateur de l’Irlande” in 1887. De Gaulle’s father, Henri, was also a historian interested in O’Connell.
In The Tablet,Dermot McCarthy, former secretary to the Office of the Irish Prime Minister, wrote that O’Connell’s primary legacy was “lifting a demoralized and impoverished Catholic people off their knees to recognize their inherent dignity and realize their capacity to be protagonists of their own destiny.”
Minister for Culture, Communications, and Sport Patrick O’Donovan said last month: “Daniel O’Connell was one of the most important figures in Irish political history, not just for what he achieved, but for how he achieved it. He believed in peaceful reform, in democracy, and in civil rights; ideas and concepts to which we should still aspire today.”
However, in its official communiques praising O’Connell, the Irish government minister failed to mention the word “Catholic” even once.
For O’Donoghue, the absence of any Catholic context is unsurprising given the prevailing secular attitudes among many of the country’s politicians.
Bishop Fintan Monahan, bishop of Killaloe, visited O’Connell’s grave in Rome during the Jubilee for Youth, telling CNA: “In 1847, the Great Famine was at its most severe and O’Connell’s final speech in the House of Commons was an appeal for help for its victims. Due to his physical weakness, this final speech was barely audible.”
O’Connell died in Genoa on May 15, 1847, on the 17th anniversary of the first time he presented himself at the House of Commons.
It was hoped that his heart might be interred in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. However, Pope Pius IX feared offending the British government on whose goodwill Catholic missionaries depended in many parts of the world. A requiem Mass was offered for O’Connell in the Roman baroque basilica of Sant’Andrea della Valle. The attendance included the future cardinal, now canonized saint, John Henry Newman.
O’Connell had said he wished to bequeath “his soul to God, his body to Ireland, and his heart to Rome.”
Cordoba, Spain, Jul 29, 2022 / 05:00 am (CNA).
The bishop of Córdoba, Spain, Demetrio Fernández, warned about the challenges facing the Synod on Synodality, an initiative that he acknowledges “has stirred up the waters… […]
1 Comment
A Comment on The Holy family and the Unity of God’s Family. Notre Dame’s unprecedented crisis matches the crisis of the Christian Family. Lucia Dos Santos wrote 1983 then Pres Pont John Paul II Inst Studies on Family and Marriage Cardinal Caffarra in a widely known account that the Family would be the end times focus of Satan’s efforts. Editor Olson quotes John Paul II that “The family is the human communion by which life is received and love is given and then offered to others. The family is the core of social and relational life, and without it, humanity ceases to exist”. Lucia according to Cardinal Caffarra said Satan is constructing an anti creation agenda centered on the “sacred relation between Man and Woman” (Diane Montagna Aleteia). Olson notes the spread of same sex relationships in his 2007 article. Today we have a Roman Catholic Church that has virtually eradicated the legacy of John Paul II and is reevaluating homosexual behavior. The Holy Family is the centerpiece of Roman Catholicism attested to by that eminent father of the Church Saint Cyril of Alexandria. He identifies the Incarnation, the flesh and blood of Mary that enfleshed Jesus as the sacrament that conveys divinity and Unity. I add that the Real Presence evident in the love shared within the Holy Family mirrors the Trinity of Persons. Saint Cyril instructs us that the Holy Eucharist shared by the Christian body instills a communal bond of charity within us. Assault against this divinely instituted sacred unity of the Mystical Body is evident in the doctrines of Amoris Laetitia regarding Holy Communion for Adulterers, and other “irregular unions” implying cohabitation and homosexual relationships. Many, too many who attest to belief in Christ are in compliance with the Vatican’s New Paradigm believing if it’s from the Pontiff it must be divinely inspired. This is where the fiery crisis that threatens to reoccur and entirely destroy Notre Dame threatens the faith. Error can occur in non definitive non binding policy which is exactly the current crisis. All the more must we adhere to the witness of the Apostles and the splendid pure glow of divine love within the Holy family.
A Comment on The Holy family and the Unity of God’s Family. Notre Dame’s unprecedented crisis matches the crisis of the Christian Family. Lucia Dos Santos wrote 1983 then Pres Pont John Paul II Inst Studies on Family and Marriage Cardinal Caffarra in a widely known account that the Family would be the end times focus of Satan’s efforts. Editor Olson quotes John Paul II that “The family is the human communion by which life is received and love is given and then offered to others. The family is the core of social and relational life, and without it, humanity ceases to exist”. Lucia according to Cardinal Caffarra said Satan is constructing an anti creation agenda centered on the “sacred relation between Man and Woman” (Diane Montagna Aleteia). Olson notes the spread of same sex relationships in his 2007 article. Today we have a Roman Catholic Church that has virtually eradicated the legacy of John Paul II and is reevaluating homosexual behavior. The Holy Family is the centerpiece of Roman Catholicism attested to by that eminent father of the Church Saint Cyril of Alexandria. He identifies the Incarnation, the flesh and blood of Mary that enfleshed Jesus as the sacrament that conveys divinity and Unity. I add that the Real Presence evident in the love shared within the Holy Family mirrors the Trinity of Persons. Saint Cyril instructs us that the Holy Eucharist shared by the Christian body instills a communal bond of charity within us. Assault against this divinely instituted sacred unity of the Mystical Body is evident in the doctrines of Amoris Laetitia regarding Holy Communion for Adulterers, and other “irregular unions” implying cohabitation and homosexual relationships. Many, too many who attest to belief in Christ are in compliance with the Vatican’s New Paradigm believing if it’s from the Pontiff it must be divinely inspired. This is where the fiery crisis that threatens to reoccur and entirely destroy Notre Dame threatens the faith. Error can occur in non definitive non binding policy which is exactly the current crisis. All the more must we adhere to the witness of the Apostles and the splendid pure glow of divine love within the Holy family.