Worshippers return to restored Notre Dame for Easter rituals with emotion and awe

PARIS (AP) — Four months after its long-awaited reopening, Notre Dame Cathedral welcomed worshippers and tourists alike on Friday for an emotional Easter ceremony centered on the Crown of Thorns, a circular band of branches encased in a golden tube and one of Christianity’s most revered relics.

The ritual, held during Holy Week, included liturgical chants, candlelight, and a solemn procession of clerics carrying the Crown of Thorns through the alleys of the cathedral.

Tourists queued in a line that stretched across the Seine, waiting to enter the renovated Gothic landmark. Inside, ushers struggled to gently enforce a separation between curious visitors and the faithful.

Notre Dame’s rector, Rev. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, said this week’s crowda exceeded expectations.

“ Before the fire, we saw about 20,000 pilgrims a day,” he said. “Now it’s closer to 30,000. The joy people feel rediscovering the cathedral — you can see it on their faces as they leave.”

Among the worshippers was Marylène Portet, 63, a Paris native who has attended Easter Mass at Notre Dame since childhood. She frowned as a group of tourists pulled out their phone to snap photos from areas where the faithful were gathered.

“This is a sacred moment,” she said. “You don’t just take a picture of the relic and move on.”

After the ushers intervened, Portet went back to soaking up the moment, gazing at the renewed ceiling or leaning forward to catch a glimpse of the ceremony unfolding more than 200 rows ahead.

“It’s not only the cathedral that’s been rebuilt,” she said. “It feels like a link that was missing for so long has been restored too.”

Tiphaine Mauquiez, 41, came with her two young daughters from Poitiers in central France.

“We tried to attend Mass during reopening week in December but couldn’t get in,” she said. “This time we made it. For my daughters to witness this magnificent moment — it’s unbelievable.”

In January, cathedral officials announced a record attendance in the first month following the reopening.

“Before the fire, we welcomed between 10 and 12 million visitors a year,” said Sibylle Bellamy-Brown, head of public reception at Notre Dame. “Since the reopening, more than 3.5 million have already come. But our goal isn’t to set records. What matters is seeing the cathedral come back to life.”

For French and foreign worshippers alike, the day of celebration wasn’t just about faith, but reconnection.

Marianna Janik, 34, visiting from Poland with her husband, said they planned their trip around this moment.

“We simply could not miss this,” she said, before kneeling as the relic procession passed. “We came to Mass here 10 years ago. When the fire happened, we were heartbroken. So coming back now to worship Jesus Christ in a cathedral that rose from the ashes — it’s even more powerful.”

On April 15, 2019, a devastating fire forced the closure of the monument. After a five-year renovation that's still ongoing, Notre Dame reopened in Dec. 2024 in a grand ceremony that drew leaders from around the world.

Clergymen stop during the Way of Cross ceremony to mark Good Friday at Notre Dame cathedral, Friday, April 18, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich holds the ancient relic that many Christians revere as Jesus Christ's "Crown of Thorns" during a ceremony to mark Good Friday at Notre Dame cathedral, Friday, April 18, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, center, holds the ancient relic that many Christians revere as Jesus Christ's "Crown of Thorns" during a ceremony to mark Good Friday at Notre Dame cathedral, Friday, April 18, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

A nun touches the ancient relic that many Christians revere as Jesus Christ's "Crown of Thorns" during a ceremony to mark Good Friday at Notre Dame cathedral, Friday, April 18, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

People attend the Way of Cross ceremony to mark Good Friday at Notre Dame cathedral, Friday, April 18, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Preparations for the conclave to find a new pope accelerated Friday with the installation of the chimney out of the Sistine Chapel that will signal the election of a successor to Pope Francis.

Vatican firefighters were seen on the roof of the Sistine Chapel installing the chimney, a key moment in the preparation for the May 7 conclave.

After every two rounds of voting in the Sistine Chapel, the ballots of the cardinals are burned in a special furnace to indicate the outcome to the outside world.

If no pope is chosen, the ballots are mixed with cartridges containing potassium perchlorate, anthracene (a component of coal tar) and sulfur to produce black smoke. But if there is a winner, the burning ballots are mixed with potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin to produce the white smoke.

The white smoke came out of the chimney on the fifth ballot on March 13, 2013, and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was introduced to the world as Pope Francis a short time later from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica.

The chimney installation took place as cardinals arrived in the Vatican for another day of pre-conclave discussions about the needs of the Catholic Church going forward and the type of pope needed to run it.

These consultations include all cardinals, including those over age 80 who are ineligible to vote in the conclave itself.

In recent days, they have heard reports about the Vatican’s dire financial situation, and have had the chance to speak individually about priorities going forward and problems they identified in Francis' pontificate.

FILE - Visitors admire the Sistine Chapel inside the Vatican Museums on the occasion of the museum's reopening, in Rome, May 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)