The visit marks Trump’s return to the world stage but comes at a time when the French and Ukrainian presidents face an uncertain future.
President-elect Donald Trump will visit Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral on Dec. 7, an event that marks his return to the world stage as the political future of two other European leaders who will be in attendance is uncertain.
Some 50 heads of state are expected to attend the weekend event that caps five years of extensive renovations after the cathedral, one of the most widely recognized churches in the world and a symbol of the French capital, was nearly destroyed by fire in 2019.
The opening begins on Dec. 7 with Archbishop Laurent Ulrich’s ceremonial knock on the cathedral’s massive outer doors. The doors will open accompanied by the chanting of a psalm. That will be followed by the reawakening of the cathedral’s 8,000-pipe organ.
On Dec. 8, a Catholic mass will be held to consecrate the main altar. Some 170 bishops from around the world will gather with heads of state and invited guests, according to the cathedral’s website.
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The history of Notre Dame is rich with political symbolism as it was seized by the state during the French Revolution, returned to the Roman Catholic Church by Napoleon Bonaparte, and was the site of a celebratory mass after the liberation of Paris in 1944.
The reopening comes at a moment when Trump and Macron are navigating very different changes in their respective country’s political landscape.
The two leaders first met in Brussels in 2017, when both had only been in office for a short time.
A year later, Macron visited Washington and presented the American president with an oak tree, which died in 2019, shortly after a fire ravaged the great cathedral of Paris.
Trump lost reelection the following year but made a political comeback in 2024, becoming the second U.S. president elected to a non-consecutive term. Since the election, Trump has been active in foreign policy, signaling his intentions through a series of posts on Truth Social.
By Lawrence Wilson
