I believe that they think that this was an accident stemming from an accident during renovations, but it’s still ongoing. I wouldn’t care to speculate on any other causes until there’s more information; it is, after all, a very old building and entropy gets everything in the end. The damage sounds very bad:
The roof of Paris’ famed Notre Dame Cathedral collapsed Monday as a massive fire ripped through the structure.
The city’s mayor and firefighters warned people to stay away from the area. There have been no confirmed deaths, according to Paris police, while a French government official said no injuries had yet been reported.
A sad day for all of us. I hope that there will be no deaths or injuries, of course. And that as few as possible of the treasures inside were damaged.
I just read a 2017 article from Time Magazine about the urgent need for repairs. Here’s a haunting little quote from that article:
To the government, the cathedral is just one of many old buildings in need of care. “France has thousands of monuments,” says the official, who was not authorized to speak to the media. Among them, Notre Dame is not necessarily the most pressing case. “It will not fall down,” she says.
http://time.com/4876087/notre-dame-cathedral-is-crumbling/
Well, that ruined my day.
Was looking at some pictures, looks like everything burnable up to and including the roof is ashes.
Mother of God.
And right at the beginning of Holy Week.
.
Whether it was a stern divine warning, or enemy action, remains to be seen.
They are apparently thinking fire from the restoration process, which is apparently a thing that can happen in church restorations.
I’ve heard both. Some (including the mayor) are saying it was an accident. Others (including, apparently, at least some individuals at the Cathedral itself) are apparently saying it was arson.
As always, it’s best to wait a while before we come to any conclusions.
Unfortunately, given the tendency in officialdom to paper over actual “enemy actions” in the past, many will likely ignore an official report that claims it was an accident unless there is VERY strong hard evidence of such.
Especially if Macron opportunistically blames the yellow vests.
.
The early reports I’ve seen claimed tr fire started around 2 AM. That doesn’t really lend itself to the tentative official explanation.
People think in stories.
This makes narrative sense as an omen indicting the leadership of France and/or the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.
It also makes narrative sense as a terrorist attack by musselmen.
These aren’t mutually exclusive.