Is Notre Dame of Paris a cathedral or not?

Some time after the fire that destroyed part of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the French interior minister made this comment: “Notre Dame is not a cathedral." A few weeks later, the Archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, replied to this opinion in a homily:

“Yes, this cathedral is a place of worship. That is its very and unique purpose. There are no tourists at Notre Dame Cathedral, because this term is often pejorative and does not give any place to the mystery that moves people to seek invisible realities. This cultural good, this spiritual wealth, cannot be reduced to a heritage site. A common work in the service of all, this cathedral is only the mirror of the living stones that are all those who enter it.

It is ignorance and ideology that would have us believe that culture is separated from cult (in the traditional sense of worship). The etymology itself shows the strong link that exists between the two. Let me repeat: a culture without worship becomes a non-culture. It is plain that the immeasurable religious ignorance of our contemporaries can be traced to the rejection of God’s existence and name in the public sphere, on account of a secular agenda that excludes anything spiritual.

Like any building, this cathedral has a cornerstone that supports the entire structure. This cornerstone is Jesus Christ. If we removed this stone, the cathedral would collapse. It would be an empty shell, a case without jewelry, a skeleton without life, a body without a soul.

The cathedral is the fruit of human engineering and it is a human masterpiece.

The human person is the fruit of the divine engineering and it is God’s masterpiece.

When the two come together in the person of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, the Covenant between the transcendent and the immanent (Heaven and Earth) is truly accomplished. It is here and now in this cathedral, at each of our celebrated Eucharists, that this Covenant is realized, when the flesh of Christ, shared by all, opens us to eternal life.

I cannot tell you how happy I am to celebrate this Mass to render unto God what is His and to man his sublime vocation.”

Michel Aupetit, Archbishop of Paris

Excerpts from his homily on the Feast of the Dedication of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France, June 15, 2019