Notre Dame welcomes record crowds after reopening

There are now 29,000 visitors each day, up from 23,000 a day before the 2019 fire.

Some Catholics in France have worried that the tourist numbers will overshadow the religious essence of the cathedral.

Alain-Marc Plasman wrote in La Croix that the cathedral “locked in its status as a monument . . . loses its primary function”.

Paris Auxiliary Bishop Emmanuel Tois told OSV News that the cathedral is “always full, whatever the time, and it is true that when you enter it, you can be surprised by the noise and tourist bustle there”.

“It is also true that many visitors are moved by the aesthetic beauty of the cathedral,” he said.

“Many are likely to let themselves be touched by a visit to Notre Dame, even if they first entered it simply as tourists. I am a witness to that.”

The rector and chaplains of Notre Dame often circulate among the visitors in the aisles of the cathedral.

“And they are regularly approached by people who ask for explanations, and who sometimes explicitly ask them how they can be baptised,” Bishop Tois said.

The bishop often celebrates Mass at Notre Dame, and he regularly goes there on Saturday mornings to hear confessions. 

“People come to me for confession even if they had not thought of it when they walked in,” he said.

“Some tell me it is the first time they have been to confession in 40 years! Others are not baptised and know nothing about faith. But they come and sit next to me and ask me lots of questions,” he said.

Architecture historian Mathieu Lours wrote in La Croix that Notre Dame’s “openness to all is . . . a guarantee of its vitality”.

“How could a cathedral, in today’s world, be a place of conversion if it only attracts the convinced? Crowds are the hallmark of great sanctuaries,” Lours wrote.

There is no admission charge to enter Notre Dame Cathedral.

FULL STORY

Three months into reopening, Notre Dame witnesses record crowds, confessions – OSV News (By Caroline De Sury/OSV News)