just it was under way major restoration this is after the french catholic church appealed for the nation last year because the church which is there on day two hundred fifty years old has been crumbling for some time it's not yet clear what actually caused. a big fire but there are all suggestions that a. restoration would be on the go i stopped lou of. this thing into the sky a prize not actually when i was standing which is about a hundred two hundred feet away from places we can get a moment with that. we cannot. exactly. going it would be. coming down on it but i can see a look at least on front of me. just turning away. read that could have come forward but there. it is why in your situation quite chaotic here on the ground the police are trying to point you get everybody you move away but of course you can imagine the. iconic. people are just you know ming with them but you don't with a camera the media here but you are all just looking at your door trying not to leave conic. going up and playing who very i. got to tell how big this fall i was and all that you said with no no you k

old and was on going extensive restoration that restoration has been taking place after the french catholic church launched an appeal last year to ask people for donations to try and stop the church from crumbling any further this is of course an exemplary. example of french gothic architecture sorry just caught my breath there as of turned around and you could still see what looks to be the raid of flames from the fire from inside not to dharm it did look as if the firefighters had gotten this under control it doesn't look like they have it looks like it's still raging in the eyewitness saying to me that not only did they see the roof collapsing but also i would have the most famous spires in the side that cathedral the damage is going to be considerable and it could take many days many weeks before the firefighters and the workers are able to sift through all of the damage to see exactly what's happened and how much has been lost but it's not just about money and the cost of this this is about history this is about the history of paris this is a place where somebody was just saying to me and i'm

building this building of eight hundred and fifty years it was undergoing restoration after the french catholic church made an appeal for donations last year because this classic french gothic architecture church was actually crumbling away that appeal saw donations poor in and those restoration works have been undergoing but we do understand that the roof of and not down cathedral as well as the spire on the inside have both collapsed and the intense heat of those flames flames that when we arrived at the scene just a few hours ago the smoke was pluming out and actually bringing some of the embers all of the inside of not to put their arm and floating them across the prison sky they were actually landing on us where we stand around a hundred and fifty meters away from this iconic building visited by around twelve million people every year and something that really sticks at the heart for parisians i've been speaking to people in the crowds who've been just gobsmacked what's happening describing it it's tragic tass trophy and some people saying you know what we're seeing here. why is the culture of fr

fantastic example of french architecture that was undergoing restoration after appeal by the french catholic church last year for people to try and donate money to stop it from crumbling some eight hundred and fifty years old and as you can probably see from those images despite all the attempts of the firefighters who are poor ring water in trying to dampen it down that cathedral is still a light we can see the plumes of smoke still coming out in fact as it's getting to . now it's easy to see the fire flames licking away on the inside and as you mentioned there neal we understand that the spire in the middle of the cathedral has come down and i've heard reports that the entire roof of this iconic building has also collapse as those flames look like they have to store at the center of this church a church that stands at the center of paris for many people in fact it was built to show that paris was not just the political and the economic seat of france but also the cultural seat and it's been there for around eight hundred fifty years with millions of people visiting millions of people having memor

one of the most famous hymns of the french catholic church has been sung over and over again, as the crowds look on, some of them in tears, some of them holding each other. a great deal of emotion, as so much history and such an important part of france went up in smoke. 400 firefighters have now managed to bring it under control, but still the fire continues. it gives you an idea, jake, of just how fierce it was. still no indication of what may have started it, but, really, those plumes of black smoke that began billowing out just after 7:00 p.m. local time, then turned into massive flames, reaching high up into the sky and shouts from the crowds, as they watched this building being engulfed. even now, that sense of shock has really turned to sadness, as one of the most famous buildings in the world, jake, the most visited in europe, has been irretrievably damaged. no word yet on what may have begun it, no word yet on the extent of the damage, but having watched that fire over the course of the evening, there is no doubt that it will be substantial and that a huge part, not just of

say and that is that money should be better placed given to people who truly need it the catholic church or the french government should be picking up not to dab and as for those billionaires they need to be taking care of their tax affairs and not acting as if they're here is great saying if yes when in fact we wouldn't be in this position in the first place if they acted responsibly i think from both sides of the debate as a place that you took the time to come and join us my guest john lott and former u.s. state senator new polls and journalist social commentator thank you guys. thanks to you guys for joining us here this evening on to international updates on the top stories for you in half an hour.

who's also known as louis king the friend there are many churches a french catholics around the world entire. french by the way my daughter was in the united states in the church of st louis in the french. plays a role that i. had a lot of you can be compared to only. the law and the vatican was some sense paris had role.

released the statement expressing his closeness to french catholics, because above all else, of course, crust, this is also a regular catholic churchtholics. and as you have been saying, this is the place where they would have been going to celebrate this most important week in the catholic calendar. inside that church are important relics. a relic of what they assume to be the cross of jesus, a relic of the crown of thorns, which they actually on good friday venerate in that cathedral. and so it's a place of gathering like many catholic churches. so, the first point is that for the vatican, of course, it's a catholic place, and they express their sorrow to catholics. whether the pope will actually be able to physically be with the catholics in paris, we have yet to see. wouldn't rule it out. of course, we know that he's a pope of surprises. this cathedral, also, chris, is a place where other popes have visited. john paul ii said mass there twice. pope benedict has visited there. a very close connection, obviously, between the city of paris and the city of rome and the vatican. so, we've been talking about how it is a devastate iin

french capital. it's a devastating start to holy week for catholic church, but french president emmanuel macron is vowing to rebuild. joining us fromondon is sarah harmon with the very latest. sarah, good morning. >> reporter: frances rivera, good morning. what a loss for france and the world. we're talking about a cathedral that took 200 years to build. yesterday just a few hours for large parts of it to be destroyed. the cause of this fire isn't clear yet. the paris prosecutor's office is investigating at the moment they are treating it as an accident, and a key focus o this vestigation is likely to be the scaffolding that was outside the cathedral. notre dame was uergoing a nearly $7 million renovation when this fire broke out. one firefighter was injured, but remarkably, frances, we don't have any reports of fatalities. that's pretty incredible when you consider t size of this fire, and also the location, a densely populated urban area. as you said, the fennch presid is vowing to rebuild and this morning one of france's rich est men says he's going to nate more than $100 million to the reconstruction

the catholic church this medieval monument to french gothic architecture has been a fundamental part of the parisian soul for almost a millennium or tonight it took only an hour for the flames to turn notre dame's wooden frame and its towering spire recognized the world over into a smoldering relic. a heart rending sight as the spire found striking at a symbol of french culture in the heart of paris. the massive blaze spread on words collapsing the roof and setting the wooden frame of the entire cathedral aflame. the alarm went off shortly before seven in the evening local time no saddam is burning spreading a brown black cloud across the sky her reasons and tourists looked on and heartbreak kept outside the security perimeter by authorities as ash fell in the vicinity. firefighters had a seemingly impossible task they had to work inside the building to save priceless our works and outside to contain the blaze as it engulfed the roof now saddam is one of the world's most famous churches holding cultural treasures from nearly a thousand years of french and catholic history. and the in

world lost today a massive fire gutted notre dame cathedral this evening the catholic church this medieval monument to french gothic architecture has been a fundamental part of the parisian soul for almost a millennium or tonight it took only an hour for the flames to turn notre dame's wooden frame and its towering spire recognized the world over into a smoldering rubble. a heart rending sight as the spire fell striking at a symbol of french culture in the heart of paris the massive blaze spread on words collapsing the roof and setting the wooden frame of the entire cathedral aflame. the alarm went off shortly before seven in the evening local time no saddam is burning spreading a brown black cloud across the sky her reasons and tourists looked on and heartbreak kept outside the security perimeter by authorities as ash fell in the vicinity. firefighters had a seemingly impossible task they had to work inside the building to save priceless our works and outside to contain the blaze as it engulfed the roof now saddam is one of the world's most famous churches holding cultural treasures from nearly a thousand y

and the funding for restoration and upkeep is largely provided by the catholic church. the french state doesn't really participate in that. so this was a private project from which they were accepting dounations around the world. if you're catholic, your local diocese might have contributed. but there was an active campaign to raise money for this restoration project. has been at least since the spring of 2017. that's how far i know it goes. at least to that point they've been raising money. these are live pictures. and the earlier report that the fire appeared to be dying down, apparently were not as accurate as we had all hoped. as the center of notre dame is towering, the flames are towering through the center, many stories. the scaffolding on the outside more than ten stories tall, and the flames lapping over them. a sight that's still, after all this time, more than two hours of watching it, really escapes belief. notre dame is being reduced to rubble before our eyes. it's just unimaginable. but indeed it has happened. in the days and weeks and months ahead, authorities will,

who's also known as louis king the friend there are many churches french catholics around the world and tired of the french by the way my daughter was in the united states in the church of the french. plays a role that i. had a law that you can be compared to only. the law and and the vatican some sense parents had role of being second long all of them or companion of the bath. or large part of his to all of the vehicle danny. and. the question of reconstruction a building of this significance and it's going to be quite a process presumably you know it has to draw and so many different types of people from historians to tax but presumably at the vatican will the vatican play a role will the church want to have you know presumably that that will be. some sort of role or expertise for them to offer in this. i think the vatican will offer or some help some expect. probably is that as we all know you know do something that only. the smallest. five years he's never seen and we were hoping something maybe he's always them that they're all interpretation and so. he got to church here is there

and rebuilding plan which we are ready to develop is the all story of the church and the french authorities. so this is a catholic church of the. divides presume that the catholic church is going to. chip in and help from this restoration. that is a question the catholic church needs to answer that last. church is a part of the seid management so i think stakeholders including the church have to be consulted on every step so this is a quite normal procedure for all our world heritage site and when it comes to rebuilding the obviously is a saying that this is a couple of hundred just a few hundred years old to the skills still exist to do that i don't know the stonemasons that the compensated i'm still around to produce the sort of architecture. this is a very interesting question because we have a nomination file of this craftsmanship this means the tradition and knowledge of by the still masons etc all of the different schools. in on its way to unesco for evolution in two thousand and twenty and different convention which is the intangible heritage convention and it shows that this is something where you really

whole world lost today a massive fire gutted notre dame cathedral the seat this catholic church this medieval monument to french gothic architecture has been a fundamental part of paris's identity of the parisian soul for almost a millennium. president emanuel he visited the scene of the fire and he pledged that france will rebuild notre dame. if you can get it it's the cathedral of old french citizens even if i have knitting here and its history is our history that he thought fit in. and then it burned. and believe it burns and i feel that sadness in a shock that so many of our fellow french citizens feeling now. i was the french president there we've got team coverage of the fire is standing by in paris is our correspondent barbara vevo and here in the studio with meat or news editors him and william glue crofts to all of you welcome let me start here with barbara earlier in the evening barbara we feared that all was lost but now there's cautious optimism that parts of notre dame will be saved. yes the fed of the firefighters there was as you say cautiously optimistic and say said just a little while ago that

state in really didn't since more than a hundred years and when the catholic church signed the agreement nineteen or five the french states the states got. most of the for the third of the french churches among them so of among them. so the state has to pay for restoration maintain the churches that's on the public budget. the churches are seen as a national monument of national interest from the earth's core is to recall the specter of. do we still have loosened in perth it's hard to tell the mood. yeah you're still with us excellent. let's talk about what the fire brigade has been saying so the french firefighters parisienne firefighters gave a press conference a little earlier what did we learn. yes absolutely they were saying that they're still sixty five factors right now at the church watching it to make sure that there is no other fire that kicks off obviously they're also looking out for weak spots of the building they're saying well it's still standing the structure seems to be more or less solid now also because they were able to safe the two towers you can see behind me obviously there are weak spots the

one of the unique things about the cathedral is that it is controlled jointly by the french state and the catholic church. the state owns the building, but gives its use to the catholic church which is responsible for its upkeep. because of that, it's a symbol of the french state and for catholics as well. during the french revolution, the cathedral had been attacked by anti-clerical forces. was partly destroyed. it was derelict until the 1830s when victor hugo wrote his novel "the hunch back of notre dame." that made it on the public radar. the french government decided to restore it in the 1840s. in the 1850s, the area around the cathedral was opened up so you can get the view that is open today. that's why it's a major tourist attraction and symbol of the city of paris for so many millions of people. >> shepard: anyone who has been inside knows there's no place you can look where a piece of history did not sit or hang. >> absolutely true. especially true of the bell towers. i understand that the fire is spreading to those now. the bells in the bell tower, again, another important symbol for catholics.

whole world lost today a massive fire gutted notre dame cathedral to see the catholic church this medieval monument to french gothic architecture has been a fundamental part of the parisian soul for almost a millennia or tonight it took only an hour for the flames to turn notre dame's wooden frame and its towering spire recognized the world over into a smoldering relic. a heart rending sight as the spire found striking at a symbol of french culture in the heart of paris. the massive blaze spread on words collapsing the roof and setting the wooden frame of the entire cathedral aflame. the alarm went off shortly before seven in the evening local time no saddam is burning spreading a brown black cloud across the sky her reasons and tourists looked on and heartbreak kept outside the security perimeter by authorities as ash fell in the vicinity. firefighters had a seemingly impossible task they had to work inside the building to save priceless artworks and outside to contain the blaze as it engulfed the roof now saddam is one of the world's most famous churches pulling cultural treasures from nearly a thousand ye

church run schools. when president macron expressed his sadness, he acknowledged all catholics and all french people. ised into about 98 dioceses, and in 2012, these dioceses were being served by 7000 priests above the age of 75. the church currently ordains around 80 or 90 priests a year, and needs about eight times that number to compensate for the number of those who have passed away. as you say, it isa who have passed away. as you say, it is a world heritage site and a tt ra cts is a world heritage site and attracts billions of people every year. this week being holy week, we have just had palm year. this week being holy week, we havejust had palm sunday year. this week being holy week, we have just had palm sunday yesterday, and we are moving through the week, through stations of the cross, monty thursday, and catholics will be expected to visit the church —— seine thursday. we are just hearing that saving notre—dame is not certain, according to the french interiors minister according to reuters. saving the building itself, thatis reuters. saving the building itself, that is key at the moment, an

paying for these kinds of things, i mean notre dame is technically owned by the french estate despite being at the catholic churchrange it's it's strangely and who owns and who's responsible, but the money i think will be a bit of a question. macron was praised for pitching his comments added appropriate fashion he was supposed to make a big political speech in light of the protest movement. today he has made another statement to the camera saying he'll address people again calling for a sort of unity. but interestingly, anything like that sort of building where there has beena sort of building where there has been a work going on at those at the question about the renovation and the upkeep of older buildings we have the whole debate about parliament in our own house of parliament, and actually some of the construction you can imagine, it's quite dangerous there are reports of people are just missing or falling debris and masonry for example, but some of the structures had a lot of timber that if you were to light a match and your own place and go to it would cause so much chaos. but there is a big debate about t

world lost today a massive fire gutted notre dame cathedral this evening the catholic church this medieval monument to french gothic architecture has been a fundamental part of paris's identity of the parisian soul for almost a millennium it took flames about an hour to turn its wooden frame and its torrent spire recognize the world over into small embers and ashes. one eyewitness who saw the blaze consumed notre dame was journalist not he upon telt she's a correspondent with the german daily site and i spoke to her earlier and i asked her what she could see. i am now spending in front of. their riches. and they did walk some of them away where people are kneeling in front of the church and praying. to commemorate what is going on just ten minutes away from here and i was spending on paul semi shen which is just off of itself not the church one it was burning. while the flames were actually still so big that you could just see them. and the back for most beautiful blue sky because it's a beautiful spring evening here can you can you still see flames now no no no i can't. that doesn't mean that it's not burni

say and that is that money should be better placed given to people who truly need it the catholic church or the french government should be picking up not today and as for those billionaires they need to be taking care of their tax affairs and not acting as if they're here is great safety is when in fact we wouldn't be in this position the first place if they acted responsibly coming up to seven here in moscow those that loans for this i will join us again in thirty minutes for the latest global news updates. it was awful but she put up with from she will call me a little woman. the simple truth is that once those decisions. mean some point if you. were to sit. down with. your and say to the pacific this list is to stop the push early show for . a.

say and that is that money should be better placed given to people who truly need it the catholic church or the french government should be picking up not today and as for those billionaires they need to be taking care of their tax affairs and not acting as if their here is great safe years when in fact we wouldn't be in this position in the first place if they acted responsibly. about to our breaking news story putin and russia's far east in the city of lot of boss thought he's preparing to meet north korea's kim jong un for the first time of the two leaders summit is expected to focus on the denuclearization of the korean peninsula these are live pictures we can show you of the meeting point to god of all of their place awaiting the arrival of the two leaders i will have live full coverage of the talks throughout the day. he will give us all the updates as soon as they have. those that lines for now just coming up to six thirty am here in moscow don't go anywhere we're coming back for a shortly with those full global news updates once again. was out and called me in the presidential contest wasn't e

and so i think that french leaders and the catholic church at large have a real moment now, a real voidy to fill, a real moment to try to provide an opportunity of solace to catholics around the world, who will be -- who will be grieving at what should be on easter sunday, something of a joyous time. it will be really interesting to see what they try to do, how they try to sort of replace that sunday mass, that all-important easter sunday mass, and try to turn this into a moment of hopefulness. because in spite of everything we've seen, there is a message of hope also from this horrific fire. the fact that the structure is still in tact, the fact that only one firefighter has been seriously injured, but of course, there's the loss. those relics that you mentioned, the crown of thorns that jesus christ was believed to have warn, as he went towards his death on the cross. the parts of the true cross itself. this is a place that is steeped in symbolism, in ritual, that is deeply intertwined, not just with france's history, but with this ritual that christians and catholics across the world

say and that is that money should be better placed given to people who truly need it the catholic church or the french government should be picking up not today and as for those billionaires they need to be taking care of their tax affairs and not acting as if they're here is great saying if yes when in fact we wouldn't be in this position in the first place if they acted responsibly opinions from both sides of the debate ever so pleased that you took the time to come and join us my guests john lott and former u.s. state senator sanju polson journalist social commentator thank you guys. thanks to you guys for joining us here this evening on r.t. international updates on our top stories for you in half an hour. that's geysers. they say. this is a central plank so for dying at the moment they say stop the. greetings and salutation. spring is here in the united states hawk watchers and with every spring comes growth and reflection see reflection is important my friends both personally and for a nation which is why we here in the united states of america need more reflection like the kind put forth by for

culturally church was pretty quick to say that's not our business that's the french state building so they have. to repair it and. but still there are some criticism. because as you say it's the catholic church and especially in france is there rich and kurds could afford at least to co-found the restoration of the church. i mean with the religious oh oh no there's a magnificent building. that's also there the issue for for the government it's also a building from the national on that national importance is not only. a place of religion. but still they decided to. give it their are going to resist and for people who want donation to rebuild the church if you give to nestle station that is from public interest you get the part of the money back when you raise your taxes and they want to raise the rates because they were changed venues no. where will. and. lives and hundreds just. in terms of it. and. try again soon that for us to paris and bring in that data because when it's on lease and there said lisa at how did this set events come so come to be. well actually the catholic bishops conference actually organized the national catholic church they said they wanted to show solidarity wi

the catholic church retained a strong influence in french minds but after the revolution a movement had been growing in the wanted to separate church and state leading to an eventual change in the law in one thousand nine. hundred dolla under hokum and it had a lot more media mob shabby and of the felons are wormers no on their third. loss of being the vessel see it must have been the leonore or the the been me again there is barely if they know we have planted an alignment possible of infertility of year with them you know what's a bit over all in that you have a credible sense of the indian everything we. have of the cup in the city i love salt but while i'm a bit of a fancier i know i'm a hooker if you know i'm not the humble saucy men and we're dealing. divorce law part of our book on the use of sound says it don't go boy garvin on normandy school you don't want visited our norm on the. city book class or talk of the aversion. don't even talk to act of excuse. let your viola. this express shown that you. don't want certain. dances on a street the second you can a live recording your

the catholic church retained a strong influence in french minds but after the revolution a movement had been growing in the wanted to separate church and state leading to an eventual change in the law in one thousand five. hundred dollar and under and it had a little more media. shabby and of the wormers no on the third. the. last of the in the vast sea it must have been the leonore all the way is the binney again there is barely if they know we have planted an alignment possible of infertility of year with the mimeo what's a been over all in that. sense of being the return we. would have of the lesser he i love sort but while i'm a bit of a fancier you know i'm a hooker if you know i'm not the humble saucy men and we're dealing. divorce level of our book on the use of sound says it don't go or are gone via the norm on the scale you don't want visited our normal dining. city book class or talk of the aversion. don't even act of excuse. let your via. this express shown that you. don't want your ten. dollars on a street the second you in the loop on your call it blew. the lid who were wha

whole world lost today a massive fire gutted notre dame cathedral this evening a catholic church this medieval monument to french gothic architecture has been a fundamental part of paris's identity of the parisian soul for almost a millennium it took flames about an hour to turn its wooden frame and its torrent spire recognize the world over into smoldering embers and ashes. one eyewitness who saw the blaze consume notre dame was journalist not he upon tell she's a correspondent with the german daily site and i spoke to her earlier and i asked her what she could see. i am now spending in front of a. church there it is. and they did walk some knuckle down the way where people are kneeling in front of the church and pray. to commemorate what is going on just ten minutes away from here and i was spending on all semi shen which is just off of itself not the church one it was burning. one of the flames were actually still so big that you could just see them. and the back for most beautiful blue sky because it's a beautiful spring evening here can you can you still see for flames now no no no i can't. that doesn't mea

obviously, not only as a sign of the pope's solidarity with the french people, but also because notre dame is operated by the catholic churcht it's owned by the french state. so obviously, any reconstruction on the cathedral is going to have to be a collaborative effort between the two. and to that end, we heard this morning from the vatican's culture minister who said the vatican would be willing to lend a hand, particularly with their technical expertise. the pope also sent a message this morning to the archbishop of paris who is the priest in charge of the cathedral and he called it an architectural jewel of collective memory. so the pope, as well as obviously expressing his closeness to the french people, is aware and concerned about the architectural treasure of humanity. we'll have further developments obviously once that phone call happened. >> okay, delia gallagher, thank you for that reporting. now i want to bring in jim bittermann. jim, you have lived in paris a long time. i understand you are a parishioner of notre dame. how is this hitting you personally? >> well, ana, i was a parishioner. i moved across the cit

and the closure of most church run schools and it's interesting that when president macron expressed his own sadness, he says it's thoughts are with all catholics and all frenchhe same time the history of the nation but also the present status. in terms of the catholic church, estimates range between a1% and 88% of the nation describing themselves as catholics. the church is organised into about 98 dioceses and in 2012, these dioceses were being served by 7000 priests above the age of 75. the church currently ordains about 80 or 90 priests per year and needs about eight times that number to compensate for the amount that pass away but as you say, it's a world heritage site and attracts millions of people every year and of course, this week being holy week, we've just had palm sunday yesterday and we are moving through the week as you know, through stations of the ci’oss you know, through stations of the cross on thursday morning, maundy thursday and catholics would be expected to church —— attend church on good friday to mark the death of christ on easter sunday, his resurrection, that now being imperilled by what's happened to the building. i want to show yo

this coming during easter week here in paris, around the world, and the symbol of the catholic church, symbol of the frenchation. couldn't have gone down at such a terrible time. again, i've lived here for nine years. i'm talking to people who have lived here. it is an emotional time for the french. a time when they're having their own political problems and had this happen. but again, the feeling is that it was not arson. certainly wasn't terrorism. the feeling is it was start bid the renovation work as they were trying to fix this cathedral up and now it's badly damaged, kennedy. kennedy: thank you so much. and of course we all hope for the resurrection of that beautiful cathedral this important week. >>> well the wait is finally almost over. the justice department announcing today attorney general william barr will release a redacted version of the mueller report on thursday morning. the battle of course far from over. democrats demanding to see the entire thing, no redactions. the president today said we already know what's inside. he tweeted mueller and the ag based on mueller findings and great intel

question, and you caption this -- capture this, the ambivalence in the history of the french and the catholic church: it was a center for the catholics, as you can see last night from the people praying in the street. remark an element of sympathy was to the catholics , but it is much more than that. it is a national symbol that stretches across religions, including those who owe their authority to the state of france, not the catholic church. tom: in new york city, let's get to our first word news. uma: congressional democrats are ramping up their investigation of president trump's finances and dealings with the russians as they issued subpoenas to deutsche bank and other financial institutions. two congressional committees have been after trump related to uriel's. deutsche bank is cooperating. north korea's kim jong-un is getting ready to begin another summit with vladimir putin. a south korean newspaper says they will probably meet next week and are likely to discuss the nuclear disarmament talks between north korea and the u.s. russia has repeatedly called for sanctions against north korea to be

engulfed the roof now saddam is one of the world's most famous churches holding cultural treasures from nearly a thousand years of french and catholic history. the inferno brought french president emanuel mccrone to the scene he had been scheduled to give an address to the nation. he tweeted that the fire awoke the emotion of the entire nation and that the cathedral was a part of all french people it's still unclear what started the blaze there's been no word about arson or foul play the fire may have started in connection with renovation work on the roof scaffolding could be seen around much of the church and just a few days ago statues were removed from the upper spire they at least will survive the flames but that's little consolation as the blaze burns on into the night having already done incalculable damage. i mean we see those images there that we're dealing with a massive blaze here i mean i mean what's a fire who's going to do what i mean it's you can only feel for these firefighters you know looking at those images it looks so pathetic what they're able to do although these are high power fire hoses and yet still what's it

that, of course, is this coming friday in the catholic church and then relics from st. genevieve and st. dennis, both french saints. there's been a tremendous loss, not just of a spire cha thanks paris' skyline but certainly of relics that are very, very important to the catholic churc church. >> let's listen in right now. >> you can hear people gasping in the street. david, can you still hear us? >> yes, i can. >> tell us, we were just looking at video from a few minutes ago when the spire fell and people on the scene, you could hear them gasping. >> yeah. >> reporter: take us there to where you are. what is it like? how are people feeling? >> so it's definitely an ominous quiet right now. i think people have finally understood what happens just transpired. there are hundreds of people lined on the bridges here along the river siene. we can still see the flames shooting into the air. and i think people are just in shock at what they're seeing. we can see two towers from here. the flames are in the middle. the smoke is lot less thick than it was but the mood is somber. there are tour boats coming through. a

a reverence for a church which we haven't seen in france for years. >> during the french revolution it was it would've been happy if it would've burned down. they treated the catholicemy. now people don't believe necessarily but to understand the catholic church as something important. it's in addition to being holy and sanctifying. and also humanize a society. it is a beautiful tribute. david: we should mention that a lot of people look at what happened yesterday and say how could it possibly rebuild. windsor castle back in 1992 had a terrible devastating fire and we're looking at it now. this is back in 1982. many people saw this. interestingly enough it was built in the 11th century. just as notre dame was built. there is a restoration effort and everybody thought it was a lost cause, 58 million dollars was spent in 1992, probably be $100 million today so for $100 million they were able to restore that counsel. not in duplicate of what it was but close. do they think they can do it with notre dame? >> i'm convinced that notre dame -- after st. peter's the second most famous church in the world. i think there will be a lot of fundraising in this country in other

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french citizens donating. despite ongoing criticism by some where the money could be better spent and the catholic church should pay for the reconstruction. >> if it was necessary to find this money through taxes, it would have been taken away from people. >> it would make much more sense -- >> french president emmanuel is meeting with you and officials today to discuss restoration efforts. in paris, greg, ktvu fox 2 news. >>> passover begins today at sundown. the holiday commemorates the jewish liberation from slavery in egypt under the leadership of moses. passover involves dinners on both friday and saturday nights. tomorrow is the unofficial holiday celebrating marijuana. san francisco city leaders are expecting a larger than usual crowd at golden gate park perhaps the biggest ever. amberly takes a look at how the city is preparing for that.>> reporter: the fields here at hippie hill and golden gate park is now closed in anticipation of the for 20 celebration. still there are people here and this weekend, a larger than ever crowd is expected since this is the first such gathering to fall on a saturday since

notre dame cathedral in paris but already french president emanuel is pledging to rebuild it a day after those flames consumed the capital's famed catholic church has urged the country to come together to begin a new chapter in the history of the built. we are a people of builders and we have so much to rebuild so yes we don't reconstruct the cathedral at northtown to be even more beautiful than before. and i want to gold to be reached within five years we can do it and once again we will mobilize to do this after this challenging time comes a period of reflection and then a time for action. and that was the french president speaking there wus correspondent lisa lewis is in paris tonight yester helmer crones words have been received for. well it wasn't since speech because on the one hand he was saying i'm really sharing your sorrow your pain and we need to go through this together we can get through this together we will rebuild this cathedral within five years at the same time he was saying now is not the time for me to make announcements you know yesterday he was actually expected to make an announcement following months of you know strikes