Trump says he will attend the reopening of Notre-Dame in Paris, his first trip abroad since his election

President-elect Donald Trump declared Monday evening that he would go to Paris for the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedrala big party which will take place this weekend.

“It is an honor to announce that I will be traveling to Paris, France on Saturday to witness the reopening of the magnificent and historic Notre-Dame Cathedral, which was fully restored after a devastating fire five years ago” , Trump wrote. on his social media platform Truth Social. “President Emmanuel Macron has done a magnificent job so that Notre-Dame regains all its glory, and even more. It will be a very special day for everyone!”

Notre-Dame was damaged by a fire that raged for 12 hours on April 15, 2019, nearly destroying the iconic 1,200-year-old church. Although experts said at the time that restoration could take up to 40 years, Macron pledged to rebuild in five years.

“The decision to rebuild Notre-Dame concerned our ability to save, restore, sometimes reinvent what we are while preserving where we come from,” Macron told 60 Minutes. “It’s a message of success.”

Paris is preparing the reopening of the cathedral, which will be marked by days of celebration starting on Saturday. Laurent Ulrich, archbishop of Paris, will preside alongside Macron at Saturday’s mass, which will be broadcast on French television. Nearly 170 bishops from France and the world are expected at the celebration, as well as a priest from each of the 106 parishes of the diocese of Paris and a priest from each of the seven Eastern Catholic Churches, accompanied by Catholics from them. communities, according to the Notre Dame website.

The inauguration mass, with the consecration of the main altar, will take place on Sunday.

Trump was at the White House for his first term when the fire occurred and tweeted at the time that it was “so horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.”

Macron, who has led France since 2017, was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Trump for winning the 2024 presidential election – social media post before Trump was projected as the winner. During Trump’s first term, the media characterized their relationship as a “bromance”, although rifts are likely within the second Trump administration due to differences of opinion on NATO and Ukraine.

This is Trump’s first international trip since winning the election last month. He visited France four times during his first term and Melania Trump, who is Catholic, prayed at Notre Dame in 2017, before the fire.