Christmas Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral is canceled for the first time in centuries due to damage from a devastating fire earlier this year. For the first time in over 200 years, there will be no Christmas Mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Archdiocese of Paris said Monday. “There won’t be a midnight Mass at Notre Dame. “Since 1803, there have always been Christmas Masses at Notre Dame,” a diocese spokeswoman said, even during the German occupation of Paris during World War II. “It’s painful because we would have liked to celebrate Christmas at Notre Dame,” said the cathedral’s senior administrative cleric Monsignor Patrick Chauvet.

Source: Punch December 24, 2019 11:15 UTC