France’s secular concept of laïcité that discourages the church from meddling in state affairs is one of the founding tenets of the country’s constitution, reports The Times.
President Macron, however, seems to wish that the Vatican paid him more attention. Pope Francis has infuriated Macron by planning to visit Corsica next month, but rebuffing the president’s invitations to join dozens of world leaders at a televised ceremony for the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral days earlier.
Macron regards the fulfilment of his pledge to rebuild the medieval cathedral within five years after the devastating fire in 2019 as a central part of his legacy and he had pushed hard for the Pope to attend the reopening.
Francis however, did not want to take part in a “politicised” showpiece event at which Paul McCartney was tipped to perform, according to commentators. The Pope was said to prefer ministering to the faithful in poorer parts of the world.
The official reason for refusal was that the reopening events on December 7 and 8 coincided with a consistory, a council of cardinals, at which he was to create 21 cardinals. Commentators pointed out however, that the Notre Dame reopening had been scheduled well before a date had been set for the consistory.