Plans for Notre-Dame reopening revealed
A TRIDUUM and an octave of prayer are among the plans to celebrate the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral, in Paris, over six months, starting on the feast of the Immaculate Conception (8 December), the Archbishop of Paris, the Most Revd Laurent Ulrich, announced in a pastoral letter last week. The final scheduled event will be held on Pentecost (8 June) 2025. The Gothic cathedral was gutted by a fire in 2019 (News, 18 April 2019). Renovations began in October 2021 (News, 1 October 2021) and are expected to be complete this year. The image of Notre-Dame will be taken in procession to the cathedral 15 days before the reopening. A triduum, starting on the evening of 7 December, will include the handover of Notre-Dame from the State to the Church, rededication of the organ, a liturgy with the Magnificat or Te Deum, and vespers. The altar will be consecrated during the first mass in the restored cathedral on 8 December. During the octave, a solemn celebration will take place each day with a particular theme. Archbishop Ulrich has called on dioceses in the province of Paris to organise pilgrimages to the cathedral during the ten months. “I propose and even insistently request that this feast, this festive period, be so for the entire Christian people, of all ages and conditions.”
Colorado pastor admits to crypto fraud charges
A US pastor, Eli Regalado, and his wife, Kaitlyn, have admitted to charges of stealing more than $1 million from Christian communities in Denver, Colorado, through a cryptocurrency scheme, INDXcoin (Press, 2 February). Mr Regalado said in a video statement to his followers that he received the directive from God and that people would make money from the scheme. The charges are being brought by the Colorado Division of Securities. Mr Regalado failed to attend a court hearing on Monday of last week. The Mail Online reported that he was at a five-day Christian conference in Zambia at the time, at which he reportedly told “nodding” crowds: “Here’s God saying money is the answer to everything. God wants to give you money, God doesn’t want money to have you. When you trust the Lord, God uses money to answer the things in your life.”
Eight dead after attack on Pentecostal church in DRC
AT LEAST eight people were killed and 30 more were taken hostage by armed men in an attack on a Pentecostal church in Beni, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Tuesday of last week, Vatican News reports. The attacks have been attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces, which are affiliated with Islamic State. Five of the people killed were praying in a church belonging to the Branhamist Pentecostal community. The assailants have been known to make incursions into the eastern DRC, burning houses, killing residents, and stealing goods. Other sources reported that, on the previous Saturday, 32 people were killed, including five parishioners beheaded in a church, during attacks in the north-east of DRC also attributed to ADF.