Cardinal Dolan: This is a moment of tears for Notre Dame

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Cardinal Dolan: This is a moment of tears for Notre Dame

Timothy Cardinal Dolan addresses the Notre Dame Cathedral fire.

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," April 15, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: An inconceivable moment on a day of historic proportions.

While many in this country were thinking of Tax Day, to the world, a taxing situation, an iconic institution that has now been reduced to rubble.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto, and this is "Your World."

And if you look at the top 10 destination sites for tourists around the globe, invariably, Notre Dame Cathedral would be on that list. In Europe, it is among the top five attractions; 13 to 18 million people visited every year, thousands of special masses and moments.

It has entertained U.S. presidents and kings and queens from around the world, and millions, tens of millions, dare I say, over the many years it has been around, and that's better than 850 years. It has proven a tourist attraction, a Catholic attraction, a Christian attraction, an attraction to those who are great appreciators of art, of culture, of what man is capable of thinking and doing, even in making this, taking centuries to do it, again, reduced to rubble tonight.

And calls on the part of the French government to think of rebuilding, and soon, but what and when and where and how, and who would fork over the dough, amid millions that had already been earmarked for a renovation project that might have been the source of this fire today?

So much, we don't know. This much, we do. An iconic symbol, not only to frame, but the world, is almost gone.

Let's get the latest now for Benjamin Hall, who has the latest from London.

Benjamin, what do we know?

BENJAMIN HALL, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Neil, just as you have been saying, Paris, Europe in total shock right now. This was a symbol not only of the city, but of the country and of the Catholic Church as well.

And we are just learning in the last 15 minutes from the national fire chief in France they do not believe now -- they're not sure that this fire can be stopped. It started at around 6:00 p.m. local time, just after the cathedral had shut to tourists.

It's believed to have started just at the back roof the church on the scaffolding, which had been in place for restoration said to cost about $7 million. An hour after that, smoke started billowing out of the rooftop.  Soon after that, flames began to appear. And it wasn't long after that that this wooden interior caught fire, going up in flames, spreading very quickly, and the roof inside tumbling down, as well as that very famous spire.

Now people concerned that nothing, nothing is going to be left. There is a large-scale operation to try and save the cathedral. There are hundreds of firemen there. There's also a large-scale operation to try and save some of the artwork, some of the relics, some of the history, 800 years of history contained inside.

There is a bit of controversy. It took fire engines about two hours to arrive. And it's unknown why it took so long. This cathedral sits on an island right in the heart of Paris, and access to it is very difficult.

But another thing is that Parisians started gathering, coming together.  They wanted to see the symbol of their city as it burns, and it made it very hard, more hard for fire engines to get close, not to mention the share height of this cathedral meant that a lot of the hoses couldn't reach the very top.

This has now been declared a national emergency. And President Macron is on the scene. They have evacuated that island, but at this point there's very little sense that the cathedral itself can be saved. It just remains to be seen what happens in the coming hours -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Ben Hall, thank you very, very much, the latest from Ben Hall there.

We are expecting to hear from French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been meeting with fire officials, wants to get to the bottom of not only what happened, but how it started.

We also have gotten a statement out of the Vatican. Keep in mind this is technically a Catholic Church, the Vatican saying that "The Holy See" -- that refers to the pope -- "has seen the shock and sadness of the news of the terrible fire that has devastated the Cathedral of Notre Dame, a symbol of Christianity in France and the world."

The statement goes on to say that: "The Vatican is praying for firefighters, those who are doing everything possible to confront this dramatic situation."

It also, "referring to the Vatican, "express our closeness to French Catholics and the population of Paris, and we assure our prayers for firefighters."

We expect to hear from the U.S. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, whose St. Patrick's Cathedral, within his diocese, of course, pays homage to Notre Dame. He will be talking about a common bond between the people of this country, not only just Catholics, but of this country, period, and to the French people as well, mourning a huge loss of cultural and emotional significance.

Catholic League president Bill Donahue joins me right now on the phone.

Bill, we don't know what started this. We do know the repercussions and what has been left as a result of this, ruins, and ruins that could take some time to fix and make right. And you never can make it as it was.

BILL DONAHUE, PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC LEAGUE: Well, Neil, if it is an accident, it's a monumental tragedy.

But forgive me for being suspicious. Just last month, a 17th century church was set on fire in Paris. We have seen tabernacles knocked down, crosses have been torn down, statues have been smashed.

CAVUTO: Bill, we don't -- we don't know that. We don't know.

So, if we can avoid what your suspicions might be, I do want to look at what happens now. There was a very pricey rebuilding and renovation effort going on that involved a good deal of Catholic fund-raising campaigns, I know, in this country and abroad. This renovation was paid for up front.  So, in other words, all the monies were there.

And now I'm wondering how much more the Catholic Church commits to this?  Or do you think now they first want to get to the bottom of it?

DONAHUE: Well, first, they have to get to the bottom of it. And they will rebuild it. There's no question about that.

And they certainly -- the Catholic Church will come up with the money for it. That's not even a question. But I am sorry. I mean, when I find out that the Eucharist is being destroyed and excrement is being smeared on crosses...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Wait a minute, Bill.

DONAHUE: This is going on now.

CAVUTO: Bill, I love you dearly, but we cannot make conjectures about this. So, thank you very, very much.

DONAHUE: Oh, I'm not. I...

CAVUTO: Bill, I'm sorry. Thank you very, very much.

I do want to let people know -- and, again, we're not trying to be rude to our guest here. There is so much we do not know about what happened here.

We do know that, about four hours ago, something started here. Now, there -- there are incidents that have been raised against the Catholic Church, a lot of popular tourist sites certainly in and around Paris, no stranger to attacks.

But it is another leap to start taking views like that, when we don't know.

Trace Gallagher, of course, you know this institution. You know what it means, not only to people the Paris, but I would think, in general, to Europe, one of the top 10 attractions for all tourists all over the world.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

CAVUTO: And now essentially gone at its core.

So I'm wondering what happens.

GALLAGHER: And you can see, Neil, you can see the Catholics outside, that they were crying. You know this is -- the intestinal feeling these people are getting from this is absolutely amazing.

And now four or five hours later, Neil, you have some of the firefighters that are pushing back, because they're saying a little after 6:00 in Paris, when this fire actually started, the firefighters are saying that they were actually on scene. They were helping some of the workers get out of the building.

That was one of their top priorities to start with is getting these workers outside of the building, the ones who were doing the renovation. Now, the firefighters -- the question seems to be the resources they had, because if there were firefighters on scene, you look at the early video, there was very little, if any water being put on to the actual fire itself, which is odd when you consider that there is a river running right through the complex.

And then you kind of look at maybe 45 minutes, an hour later, they started to get some heavy water on there. The question is, why did it take so long? They even considered for a while using helicopters to drop waters, like they do in wildfires, and even some heavy tankers.

Of course, the thing with that is, the water would have been so heavy that it might have destroyed some of the surrounding buildings. And, of course, the air tankers. That's not an exact science, so getting it to hit the right spot would have been a feat in itself.

We should point out the reason the fire burned so long and is still burning so long and so hot is because, inside of this 800 years ago, they used 52 acres of timber to actually build the cathedral. You imagine that, 52 acres. In fact, the inside of the cathedral was nicknamed the forest; 800 years of bone-dry wood going up in flames makes for a very strong adversary.

I want to point out -- you mentioned Timothy Cardinal Dolan earlier. He did -- did issue this tweet a short time ago, Neil.

And it says -- I want to quote -- "I just went next door to our beloved cathedral, St. Patrick's, to ask the intercession of Notre Dame, our lady, for the cathedral at the heart of Paris and of civilization now in flames.  God preserve this splendid house of prayer and protect those battling the blaze."

And I know you're of the same mind, Neil. When you -- when you're Catholic, and you go to places like the Notre Dame Cathedral, and St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, and St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and I remember when I was covering the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

And the militants got inside, and they defaced the church. And when Catholics went afterwards, they cried. They cried at the structures being defaced. And that was repaired in a matter of two weeks.

Imagine the visceral feeling that Catholics have watching one of the emblematic buildings, much less Catholic cathedrals, watching it burn to the ground.

We also want to point out that the artifacts inside that Ben Hall was talking about earlier, Neil, I mean, some of these artifacts are the actual drawings, the architectural renderings of the city of Paris itself, not just the cathedral, but the city of Paris itself, that are so valuable.

They are thought to be in vaults deep within the cathedral. But it's unclear the damage the smoke and other things may have on that. So, along with the artwork, along with the artifacts, along with a lot of the symbolism of the Catholic Church, you are seeing this, this just tragic scene right now, as the flames still burn.

And the quote of the day might have been from Ben Hall when he was saying they don't know if they can stop this fire.

I do want to say one good thing, Neil -- well, two good things, one, that nobody was injured in any of this, we don't believe at this point in time, and, two, because of the renovations in the days, maybe a week ago, they were able to take 16 of the copper statues, the structures that were on the sphere -- they took those -- the spire -- I'm sorry.

They took those off, Neil, and they have separated those. So those were not burned. We're talking about the statue of St. Andrew and other hundreds-and-hundreds-of-year-old statues that were taken away from the property.

So if there's -- if there's any way to look with any kind of optimism on this, that would be at least part of it -- Neil.

CAVUTO: That is a very good perspective, and a timely one, too.

Trace Gallagher, thank you very, very much, my friend.

GALLAGHER: Sure.

CAVUTO: Again, we do not know when that central spire, of course, when it collapsed and fell into the middle of this church, whether other ancient artifacts and artwork that goes back hundreds of years were destroyed as well, even allowing for those that were removed from the complex little more than a couple of days ago.

We do know -- and putting this in perspective, things are -- we lose sight of the fact that we are such a relatively new country, a new republic in this world, that we think of things like the White House or the Capitol in terms of a couple of hundred years.

This is a church, an institution built nearly 900 years ago. It has survived wars and revolutions. It has survived complex tragedies as of the Nazis running the city of Paris, and then celebrating when they had been pushed out of Paris.

So it has been sort of like a silent signatory to all these developments.  And a lot of people asking, what happened, why? If it had survived so much worse in all these centuries, over all these recent decades, how did this happen?

The fire chief in Paris is saying it's unclear if city fires are even going to be able to stop the spreading fire and potentially look at even more destruction. Apparently, they have echoed that to French President Emmanuel Macron.

The chief -- the fire chief in Paris, Jean-Claude Gallet, is on the wire is now saying his crews battle the blaze from both the exterior and the interior -- quoting him -- "We are not sure we are capable of stopping the spreading of Notre Dame's second tower and belfry" -- that, of course, one of the historically oldest that goes back about 700 years.

He said, if it collapses you can imagine, how important the damage will be.  Flames have already reached one of Notre Dame's towers, brought down the church spire that, of course, extended some 96 meters high, or about 315 feet. And, again, we do not know what was damaged there.

They're trying to get a sense of the magnitude of all of this. But this is a structure, as I said, close to 900 years old, by way of comparison, at least four times the age of some of our most iconic institutions, including, as I said, the White House and Capitol and so much more that enjoys its own great tourist appeal when those, including the French, visit here.

To former FDNY Commissioner Howard Safir, who joins me on the phone,

Howard, we do know the unusual geographical position of this. It's on an island in the middle of the River Seine. It's hard to reach and access.  We're getting reports of delays getting to the fire, maybe quite understandably, but they were obviously caught off-guard, or were trying to juggle just how to treat it.

Do you know anything?

HOWARD SAFIR, FORMER NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: It appears to me that what they're doing now is what we call a surround and drown.

They're going to keep personnel out from going into the building. They're going to just try and contain the fire to the cathedral itself. It looks like there is so much combustibles inside the cathedral, that the fire -- the fire is not to be under any control at this time.

And I -- it doesn't look to me like they have the kind of power ladders or other kind of trucks that could have reached where the fire began in the beginning. So, right now, it just looks like they're surrounding it, pouring water on it, and making sure that nobody gets hurt.

CAVUTO: Fortunately, it doesn't look like anyone did get hurt or worse.  It's too early to say that with complete assurance.

But there is that. I'm wondering, too, if you were advising -- and I know that French president is talking to fire officials, and they're talking about something that will still burn out of control. What do you do?

SAFIR: Well, you just got to keep pouring water on it. And you contain it to the building that it's in. And that's what they appear to be doing.

It doesn't look to me like they have any special equipment that's going to do anything other than contain it. And, hopefully, that's what's going to happen, that it's a terrible tragedy for such an iconic institution.

But the fact is that it is burning out of control, and they just got to keep pouring water on it until it goes out.

CAVUTO: Chief, we're looking at a little video coming into us earlier today, when French President Emmanuel Macron visited the scene of this incident.

He was to make a speech to the nation tonight. They're about five hours ahead, I believe, 9:16 p.m. their time, on -- talking about economic advancements in the country. Of course, they have had their yellow vest protests going on for close to 20 weekends here, although they have since stopped, or at least been curtailed, because some of them got very, very violent.

I'm not saying there's any link between that and what happened here. But one of the things you always look at, Commissioner, is whether other structures could be similarly vulnerable and whether this catches beyond there. That's a very condensed, packed area, even allowing for this tiny little island it's on. That could spread.

What do you think they do to deal with that?

SAFIR: Yes. Absolutely, they do.

There's going to be a -- I'm sure a wide-ranging investigation into the cause and into the response, because, clearly, by the time firefighters get there, this thing was way beyond control.

CAVUTO: When you have dealt with structures that sort of burn out of control, they can't get at it, I mean, the rule of thumb is obviously clear the area, cordon off the area. I did notice, when we were on the air earlier, Commissioner, on FOX business, we were noticing that crowds just across the River Seine and right across this island where all this was happening, there were hundreds of people taking pictures and everything.

They couldn't have been more than yards from this. That surprised me.

SAFIR: Yes, somebody must have made a determination that they were not in danger, because one of the things we always did in the FDNY was make sure that any civilians anywhere near the fire were evacuated and taken out of danger.

So I'm sure that the French fire department probably made an assessment of that, I hope.

CAVUTO: Commissioner, while I have got you here, I just want to let people know a group of Americans apparently from Maine had just finished visiting Notre Dame.

They were in a nearby park when they heard that it was indeed on fire.  Many of them were shocked at what they were seeing, one of them saying that: "Now I feel sorry for these people. Tomorrow, they won't be able to see it," going on to say: "It's incredible. I witnessed something that is now largely gone."

Someone else saying: "I'm not religious, but this is clearly very important to a lot of people."

And we forget that. People attach their own value to not only this City of Lights and known for romance and the arts and the passions here, but an iconic symbol of all of that, that was essentially destroyed. I know they're going to work on rebuilding and all of that.

But for the French people, this has got to be a gut check, huh?

SAFIR: Absolutely.

I mean, when you think of Paris, you think of the Eiffel Tower and you think of Notre Dame Cathedral. And this is just a terrible tragedy.

CAVUTO: Commissioner, thank you very, very much.

Just wanted to get a little perspective from all of that.

Again, this fire continues here. And that was a surprise to a lot of people, and as well as the difficulty of getting to it, containing it and dealing with it.

FOX News' Jonathan Hunt with us right now.

Jonathan, what are you hearing?

JONATHAN HUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Terrible news we're getting from Paris right now is the idea that this fire simply may not be containable.

We have already seen the iconic spire, some 360-feet-high, come down, and then for anybody who's ever been to Paris, stood in front of Notre Dame, or anybody who's ever seen these iconic pictures of it, you have those twin towers at the very front, where every one of the tens, hundreds of millions of tourists who've ever been -- you're looking at them right now, in fact - - has taken those pictures.

Those, we are now hearing, could be in danger themselves. In one of those towers for instance, Neil, there are nine bells. They weigh more than 20 tons. One of them is called the Great Bell. Emmanuel, it's also known as.

The fire chief now saying that that bell could come down. And if those bells collapse, Neil, the fear is that they will bring the towers with them. And if those towers come down, it would remove an iconic part of the Parisian landscape.

Those two towers, by the way, are the tallest structures in Paris, until the Eiffel Tower was built and completed some 130 years ago. And, Neil, many, many years ago, when I was in college, I spent a summer as a tour guide in Paris taking European tourists around.

And I can tell you that while everybody was fascinated by the Eiffel Tower, fascinated by the Louvre, enjoyed seeing the Moulin Rouge, going up to Sacre-Coeur on the hill, the most interesting and emotional moment for almost every tourist I ever showed around Paris was walking in the front square there in front of those iconic towers of Notre Dame.

It is obviously historically hugely important. It is religiously hugely important to so many millions of people around the world. And it is a -- it has a real emotional pull, not just for the people of Paris, but for anybody who is familiar with it.

You walk in there -- and I have to say, Neil, I'm not a religious person personally in any sense, but you feel the sense of importance when you walk through those huge doors at the front of Notre Dame.

I sat there with my family just a few months ago, my wife and three daughters, Neil. And it's on the Ile de la Cite. And you can walk across a small pedestrian bridge onto an interconnected island, the Ile Saint- Louis.

I sat there with my family at a small little bistro outside. It's called the Saint Regis. And you look back, not at the towers, but at the intricate work of the balustrades at the back of Notre Dame. And it is simply an architectural marvel as well.

And to think that we have already lost a great deal of it and could yet lose it completely is beyond belief, Neil, and so many millions of people around the world absolutely devastated tonight, as you look at those pictures. It really is beyond belief.

And, Neil, just quickly as well, I mentioned the bells of Notre Dame. They have out on many very special occasions. And I think it's worth every American remembering that those bells were rung in remembrance of every one of the victims of 9/11.

And now Paris may be about to lose its own twin towers. And it's a terrible irony to think, Neil, that the -- what was a $6.8 million renovation, if, indeed, the fire was sparked as part of that renovation, it is the renovation or the attempts to renovate Notre Dame that may be the cause of destroying it, a terrible irony.

And one final note, Neil. The U.S. ambassador to France, watching, I presume, from his offices and residence in Washington, D.C., said simply: "Notre Dame de Paris. I am crying. Incredibly sad."

Sums it up for the world tonight, Neil.

CAVUTO: It does indeed.

That was beautiful, Jonathan. Thank you very, very much.

We will go back to him as conditions warrant it.

And, again, as Jonathan pointed out, you don't have to be religious necessarily to see the magnitude and to feel its presence, visiting it. I can remember as well my wife and I visiting that, and one of the tour group leaders had said, if you want to sit here and pray, you may.

And I said, do you get many who do? And he says, oh, yes, he says, because in this structure, your prayers are heard.

They were very, very proud of the special place this held, not only in Parisians' hearts, but throughout much of Europe, one of the oldest Catholic Churches, save those in and around the area of the Vatican, in all of Europe.

Fox News' chief religious correspondent, Lauren Green, joins us outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, where very shortly we expect to hear from Cardinal Timothy Dolan. He will comment on this.

But there are some unique bonds between the two, are there not?

LAUREN GREEN, FOX NEWS CHIEF RELIGION CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely, Neil.

You know St. Patrick's Cathedral is very much like the iconic structure of America that Notre Dame was -- is. I shouldn't say it was. It still is standing. Hopefully, it will remain, parts of it, at least.

But St. Patrick's is much the same, the iconic figure in America, New York City, on Fifth Avenue. And just a few years ago, St. Patrick's went through its own renovation of more than $100 million that the church raised, the Archdiocese of New York raised, to renovate St. Patrick's Cathedral, because it was falling apart.

And so there's similarities here between St. Patrick's as Notre Dame.  Notre Dame was falling apart, and then there were friends of Notre Dame that were trying to raise millions of dollars to renovate St. Patrick's -- Notre Dame.

And you talk about the $6.8 million that they had to start a renovation, but the building, the structure itself needed more than $100 million, maybe $200 million worth of renovations. Those are renovations.

We don't know what it's going to take to rebuild. That's a whole other kind of money-raising. We don't have the artisans, the masons that they had who had constructed Notre Dame.

And one other thing about Notre Dame. We talk about the building. But the people who built Notre Dame, those artisans, those construction workers, the people who put the fine-tuning on all of the swirls and thrills, they didn't build the -- Notre Dame for their own glory.

They built it for the glory of God. And so we don't know their names for - - on purpose, because they didn't want their -- their glory to outshine God's. And that's why Paris is crying today.

I walked through Rockefeller Center and saw French tourists watching monitors with their mouths open and tears falling. They could not believe what they were seeing -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Lauren, you talk about how much money was raised for this renovation. And this has been periodic throughout the world when Catholic institutions are being refurbished or rebuilt.

In this particular case, the monies were provided up front and completely accounted for early on, much of that coming from this country. And no doubt Cardinal Timothy Dolan had a lot to do with that in raising the funds.

But you got to think about, if some of these old priceless pieces of artwork and the rest have been destroyed, I mean, you can rebuild, but you can never get back.

GREEN: No, you can never get back, and not only about the relics.

Relics are the parts of saints, the bones, and the parts of their bodies that the churches hold dear as part of the faithful's pilgrimage to these sites. And Notre Dame had quite a few of them, of relics.

And then you talk about the artwork, many of the artworks that just simply cannot be replaced. And we talk about the $100 million or $200 million to repair the structure, but the artwork and -- it is priceless. You cannot put a price on it. You can't raise artists from the dead to repaint a Renoir or something like that. You just can't do that.

And so the -- Paris has lost an iconic structure. France has lost an iconic structure, but the world has lost something of her soul, in letting Notre Dame becomes so decrepit as it was, as it became. And now we don't know what the future will hold for Notre Dame, because, as I say $100 million, $200 million to renovate, that's one cost.

But if you calculate the cost of rebuilding that structure exactly the way it was, we're talking maybe even in the billions. And I'm not an expert, but I can only estimate that would be the case, because you can't build these kinds of cathedrals anymore. They why they don't.

They take 100 years to build. And you simply cannot -- you don't have this kind of artisans around today. And it takes time. So we will see what happens.

CAVUTO: You know, Lauren, you're the religion editor here and you're very closely attuned to what's been going on throughout the world.

Fewer people go to church. Fewer people go to religious services of any kind. It's something you notice when you go into France, when you go even in this country, where Catholic schools close and church attendance takes a big tumble, in Ireland, one of the most religious, certainly, countries on Earth for a while, where churches that turned into universities or just tourist attractions.

Now, that was certainly not the case at Notre Dame. And I hasten to add that just because of its sheer history and the drama around the building itself and what it has survived, I mean, they would have packed masses and packed events.

But it is a reminder this was bigger, obviously, than religion or church attendance, but another sad kind of punctuation on all that, you know?

GREEN: Absolutely.

And you're absolutely right about the decline of real faith in Western society. And when I say Western, I include America and Europe, but particularly in Europe. And if you're -- you visited the cathedrals of Europe in England, you know that many of them are really more tourist attractions.

And they gain a lot of their wealth and their sustainability from tourists' donations. The masses are not quite as attended as before. And we simply cannot -- it is perhaps -- it speaks of the decrepitness of the real faith that the building itself is -- was falling -- falling down.

Now, Cardinal Dolan has entered now. He is coming to the podium. He will soon be addressing the press here. And he is walking out slowly. But he is very soon going to be addressing the press and talking about Notre Dame.

I'm going to hand you over. Actually, he's speaking on the phone.

Thank you so much, Cardinal Dolan.

Neil Cavuto is on the phone. Do you want to say hello to him, please?

CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN, ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK: Neil, I was just -- Lauren's mother-in-law died. I was just giving her sympathy. So good to talk to you.

CAVUTO: Oh, I'm sorry. Same here, Cardinal.

DOLAN: All right.

CAVUTO: I know you're about to address -- he is about to address people in the United States, Catholics and beyond.

But, as he has even pointed out, there's much bigger than a religious bond between Notre Dame and St. Patrick's Cathedral, but Notre Dame and its institutions and all of that is prominently featured in what was a big renovation that took about three years with the cardinal's lead efforts here, millions of dollars raised.

GREEN: Right. Right.

CAVUTO: That was something that was thought unthinkable, but, all of a sudden, he helps get it done.

The cardinal right now will be addressing the press very, very shortly.

Lauren, I want to thank you. I don't know if you're able to hang on a little while to talk to you here.

But, again, for those of you just joining us, an iconic symbol in Paris and one for the world, Notre Dame Cathedral. It has been in this world for the better part of 850-plus years, close to two centuries to build it, to finish it, to articulate it.

And now the cardinal commenting on what happened.  DOLAN: Thank you very much for your interest and your company and your presence.

I just thought it would be extraordinarily appropriate if we publicly expressed on behalf of our beloved St. Patrick's Cathedral, and on behalf of the citizens of New York, the love, the solidarity, the prayers and the sorrow that we feel over the devastating fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of Paris, and indeed the very heart of Europe and certainly the heart of civilization in so many ways.

I could only imagine, Monsignor Ritchie, what it would do to all of us if a fire struck St. Patrick's. We would all sense that there was a fire in our home, because that's what a cathedral really is. It's a spiritual home, where people go in moments of tears and in moments of smiles.

And this is a moment of tears for Notre Dame on the Ile de la Cite, right smack dab in the middle of Paris. It would be difficult, as presumed second maybe to St. Peter's Basilica, to think of a church that more represents love and God's presence among us, and the ability of a church to lift our minds and hearts back to the lord than Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

So, while our sorrow couldn't come close to that gripping the heart of the French nation, it is certainly sincere, and it's certainly deep. And I'm just hoping that the expression of that solidarity might bring a little consolation to the people of Paris.

Monsignor and I have just been inside St. Patrick's, filled with people as usual, in prayer, also filled with people approaching the sacrament of confession on this Reconciliation Monday as we get ready for a Good Friday...

CAVUTO: All right, we just lost that there. That was Cardinal Dolan. We hope to get that back again.

This is Holy Week, keep in mind. And for Catholics worldwide, this is a very special week and all just celebrating Palm Sunday, which chronicles the passing and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, ahead of Easter, of course, this Sunday.

Let's listen.

DOLAN: He was here to visit maybe only six months ago, as was his predecessor, Cardinal Vingt-Trois, who spoke to me with such warmth and pride and gratitude about their efforts in Paris to restore and repair Notre Dame, and was so interested in what we were doing here at St. Patrick's.

So I wrote him today: "My brother, Michel, the people of New York unite with you and the citizens of Paris in sorrow over today's devastating fire.  We here love St. Patrick's. It is our spiritual home for people of all faiths. Thus can we but imagine the sadness of your people as they watch their family home of the soul reduced to ashes. Count on our love, prayer, support and solidarity. This Holy Week teaches us that, like Jesus, death brings life. Today's dying, we trust, will bring rising. Eternally, Timothy."

Thank you. Monsignor, thanks.

You probably know more about the details of the fire than I do. So I don't know if I would be of much help in the information about the fire, but is there anything you wanted to ask?

I know, Monsignor, I think it deepens our appreciation that, when we did the repair and renewal and restoration of St. Patrick's, we took special care of fire prevention. We really are grateful for the attention that the New York Fire Department gives to us all the time.

They inspect us how often?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three or four times a year.

DOLAN: And they placed a new mist system upstairs because the roof is wood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

DOLAN: And they coated the roof with a fire retardant.

So we have taken all prudent steps to see that such a tragedy could not happen here. But who knows with fires?

So, anyway, thank you all for being here. Appreciate it.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DOLAN: Well, I mean, it was just a dramatic sign of the devastation and the destruction.

A little hope, the recent pictures that you are more familiar with perhaps than I am, that -- the towers are gone, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no.

(CROSSTALK)

DOLAN: Oh, the steeple is gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The steeple.

DOLAN: The towers are there and the exterior is there.

I'm grateful that nobody has been reported injured. But you worry about the devastation inside. The outside of a cathedral is very, very important, but it's what happens inside, the prayer and the worship, the love and the community, the sacred art and the objects of devotion.

And that must be -- that's got to be terribly...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Destroyed.

DOLAN: ... terribly destroyed. So it's sad.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DOLAN: I would think so. We should.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

DOLAN: We still owe -- we still owe money here.

And thanks to the generosity of this community, we're making -- we're close to paying off...

CAVUTO: We are continuing to monitor Cardinal Timothy Dolan, among the highest ranking U.S. cardinals in the United States, very well-connected with the Vatican, and addressing some of the ills of the Catholic Church, and trying to steer it out of some scandals in the past, having nothing to do directly with him, I might stress.

But he says that the Catholic Church has to work hard to redeem itself, and including all the these issues with harassment and the rest of that date back decades, and then an issue like this that others have talked about, refocusing the church to things that supersede these developments.

Of course, none of those ever could or would. But he was referring to the renovations that have gone on at St. Patrick's over the last few years, an institution itself that also was concerned about fires. They had had their own share of fires over the years. And they have tried to avoid that in a renovation that would make it virtually fireproof, or so that is the hope.

I don't know if they said the same about what was going on in Paris at Notre Dame. That clearly was not fireproof, with the tons and tons of firewood in that structure that burnt like a cinder and ultimately was destroyed tonight.

We do not know the degree of that. We do know that the damage is huge, and now quoted in the millions of euros, obviously more than millions of dollars. And they are just trying to get a handle on it.

Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, who was to address the French people tonight to talk about economic developments that had started protests all around the country, saying that they had gone too far, the so- called yellow vest movement, where a lot of individual Parisians and French folks all around had felt that the government was not addressing their concerns, and then something like this that is an emotional gut check here.

You have heard some guests try to conjecture what might or might not happen. My intention was not to be rude to them and dismiss them out of hand, but this is not the time for conjecture. This is not the time for thinking or looking at possible motives on the part of terrorist groups and like.

That has come up. Until we know for sure, it does no one any good, or you certainly at home, feeding doubts that might not be justified or suspicions that might not be fair.

Meanwhile, let's go back to Benjamin Hall, who has the latest on some developments he's following from London -- Benjamin.

HALL: Yes, hi, Neil.

And more than anything, you hear these interviews with people who are there on the ground. And I have been speaking to a number of them. And it is the sheer emotion, the significance of Notre Dame to those people.

But I'm hearing that people are still coming out. They want to catch a glimpse of the cathedral is it's burning, because it is such a critical part of their community.

And we were talking earlier about the bells and how the bells had tolled for each of the victims of 9/11. Those same bells also tolled for the victims of the Bataclan attack that took place in Paris, 130 killed there.

And you remember, after that attack, how Paris came together, and the resilience that they showed as a city to get through that. And you have to imagine that the city will have to come together in a similar way to get through this.

And, already, we're hearing about fund-raising campaigns getting under way, and surely those will be worldwide, because remember the restoration that was under being undertaken there was financed largely from the U.S. And there you see that bond between the two countries.

The -- you have to ask, thinking about the Bataclan as well, whether the area was prepared for this. And certainly police had a very difficult time getting to the site. And I gather we will be hearing more about that in the coming days and weeks -- Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, thank you very, very much, Ben.

We are getting a number of people commenting on this, including the U.N. secretary, on these developments here, that this is a great human tragedy.  We will keep you abreast of those developments.

Comments coming into from all over the world, including the German minister saying: "This is a great tragedy of global proportion."

From Britain, "Something the likes of which civilized people around the world can identify and fear and pray will get better."

An eyewitness to this Notre Dame Cathedral fire earlier today, David Trone, joins us on the phone.

David, what did you see? What -- did people know how quickly this started?  What happened?

DAVID TRONE, WITNESS: Well, I was -- I was actually shopping.

And my wife from the U.S. called and told me. And we were -- we're staying in the neighborhood and shopping in the neighborhood. And it's just a huge, huge, engulfed portion of the building in the back and massive smoke.

I'm sure you have seen the pictures and video and everything, but just the magnitude of it was pretty striking. We were just -- my -- I'm here visiting with my daughter, Nicole (ph). And we were just in there Saturday touring it. So it was pretty unsettling.

CAVUTO: David, when you noticed -- and I know a little bit about where you are. I think you're on the scene or close to the scene right now.

TRONE: Yes.

CAVUTO: And people who aren't familiar with Notre Dame Cathedral, it sits on a little tiny island in the River Seine here.

And I'm wondering if that affected vehicles, fire or otherwise, from getting to that scene. Did you see difficulty there or what?

TRONE: Well, there's obviously -- at any given time, there's a lot of people that are going through that area. A lot of sightseers come in and tour it, as we did on Saturday.

So it is an island. It's where the Parisii -- I guess Parisii Tribe originally settled this area, and back when it was Gaul, and before the Romans came in. So it was very, very much the heart of the origination of Paris and France.

So this is a building that was built over many phases. And when we toured it, it was actually kind of interesting. I always -- you go through the big stone columns, and you walk through the back. It's -- from that point, it would be the back. And it's pretty narrow.

But I was actually taken aback by how much wood is inside it.

CAVUTO: Right.

TRONE: It's -- these stone iconic spires make you think that it's a stone church, but there's actually a lot of wood in it and a lot of just precious wood carvings and paintings that are -- just the antiquity inside just struck me.

And I just -- I'm just kind of -- can't believe that much of that would have survived.

CAVUTO: No, I think you're probably right.

And, David, you noticed what I had noticed when I last visited there with my wife. And I was surprised by all the wood. And then I thought, oh, boy, that doesn't surprise me that that would just light up like a powder keg here.

But what's going on there now, David? I mean, are you able to -- what can you see? What's what's happening?

TRONE: Well, what's interesting is, when we were playing tourist here the last few days, you noticed that there's security everywhere. Obviously, Paris has had some pretty tough 10 years or so.

So there's always a slight heightened state of alert. So what they have done now, as they have kind of pushed the crowds back from the banks and pushed us back. About a half-block is as close as I could get.

And there's a lot of media here, a lot of onlookers. But what's a little concerning for the security forces is that they plan out for a lot of these things that happen. And this is an unplanned event, so now you have large crowds of people gathering in places that they didn't plan on protecting.

So there's a lot of unease here. The security forces are everywhere, pushing people back and trying to get people in positions where they actually can't see it.

I'm actually looking at the right side of the -- the right side of the right tower. And they're dousing it with water still, but still a lot of people out here, probably several thousand people, very upset, naturally, and camera crews everywhere, but not too many people up close anymore.

CAVUTO: Yes, I imagine.

And, by the way, David, your knowledge of that area and the church itself is impressive. Your daughter is lucky to have you there to help steer that process.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: I'm just curious...

(CROSSTALK)

TRONE: Well, you can thank the tour...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Oh, all right, all right. Never give credit to anyone else. Just shift the blame, but don't give credit.

But, no, I -- one thing that's interesting -- and you mentioned it, of course -- we forget, as Americans. We think in terms of maybe a century or two, and that's old. This is a structure close to 900 years old in a city that has many structures over 1,000, 1,500 years old.

And we just cannot relate. I'm just wondering, in Paris right now, whether they have taken precautions at neighboring institutions, from the Eiffel Tower to maybe Versailles, what have you.

What have you heard? Anything?

TRONE: Well, I really haven't -- it's odd that out in the visual area, obviously, there's a lot of attention and a lot of people pretty upset.

But when you walk back a few blocks, the -- it's life as usual. The cafes are full. The shop -- people are shopping. It's getting a little late here, so I guess shops are closed now.

But, you know, it's weird how you kind of see people just going on with their life. But this is such a big loss for the city and, again, the antiquity, just precious, precious items that can never get back.

So -- but, again, we were at the Eiffel Tower today. This is my third trip to Paris, but my daughter has not been here. So I was -- we were playing very much the tourists, and security everywhere, with very large guns, as you can imagine, and a very large contingent everywhere you go.

CAVUTO: Well, I'm glad you're all right, David. And my best to your family and your daughter.

You witnessed a little bit of history, obviously, maybe not the good kind, but certainly the memorable kind.

TRONE: Yes.

CAVUTO: David Trone, American tourist on his third visit to the City of Lights, dim lights in that city right now.

You are looking at what was Notre Dame Cathedral. Now, it is still around.  I don't want to say that it's been reduced to ashes. But it has been, as engineers would tell you, technically destroyed.

This is something in excess of 150 years old, took close to two centuries to build. Kings and queens have visited and been ordained in there. We have, of course, famous presidential visits, Jackie Kennedy famous in that 1962 trip with her husband to Paris, who wanted to make a point of visiting this cathedral, a lover of the arts.

Of course, it was Jackie Kennedy who said that the message of the people up France is that they appreciate the potential of the beauty in man, a beauty that was marred today.

Jonathan Hunt joins us with the latest -- Jonathan.

HUNT: Yes, beauty, in fact, Neil, that is facing almost complete destruction, it seems.

I have seen a couple of photos circulating now, haven't been able to independently verify them, but that purport to show Notre Dame from above.  And if you look at those, pretty much the entire interior seems to have been destroyed.

I know there was, according to the authorities in Paris, a rush of firefighters to try to save some of the priceless artworks inside. And we believe that some of them have indeed been saved. We certainly hope that as many as possible have been.

But basically the entire interior, which was built of so much wood, the skeleton, if you like, of the cathedral appears to be completely gone. And all you have got standing now is essentially the exterior stonework.

And, as I was saying earlier, what they're very concerned about now, Neil, if they cannot control the flames, is that those iconic rectangular towers at the front of the cathedral, in front of which so many countless millions of tourists have stood and taken photos, may now be at risk.

The huge bells that are inside those, many of them made of copper, could melt in the heat. That if they collapse, they could indeed bring down part of those towers. So that is the huge concern now.

The firefighters there working as hard as they can to save what they can.  But the bottom line at this hour, Neil, is that very little of Notre Dame remains standing, other than those two towers at the front there.

It is of great concern now. And it is a race against time to save what is left of this iconic cathedral -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Jonathan, I was just thinking of all the history associated, of course, a lot of history, when you go back close to 900 years, and how this structure has survived world wars, civil wars, revolutionary wars, battles that just pitted the rich against the poor, and the whole guillotine movement.

And you think about how it managed to weather all of that. Now, we don't know the details of what started this, but you have to think, for a structure that has dealt with so much and sort of stood as a passive witness to all of this, it is stunning to think that is it gone as we knew it.

HUNT: Yes, it is extraordinary to think that, Neil.

And it is and would be an awful irony if, as appears to have been sitting suggested by some authorities in Paris at the beginning, that this may have been linked to this $7 million -- $6.8 million, to be exact -- renovation that was going on, that something there may have sparked this fire.

And what an irony. If the attempt to shore up parts of this cathedral, to renovate it and bring those parts of it back to their former glory are at the root of ultimately destroying this cathedral, it is just a terrible thought that those people possibly dedicated to doing everything they can to make better one of the most iconic structures in the entire world actually could have led to the destruction of that structure -- Neil.

CAVUTO: No, you're right.

Jonathan, thank you very, very much.

And you think of that iconic structure, well-known in photographs and over the years, so many famous paintings, of course, during the French Revolution itself, and that backdrop, which was an iconic image, as they were beheading nobility, not too far, about two blocks from that island contained structure that ultimately became known as the Notre Dame Cathedral.

That was then. This is the sad reality now, that maybe something as simple as a renovation project might have sparked something that quite literally lit all of those wooden benches and structures, which were shocking to see, if you ever visited Notre Dame, when you see this Gothic structure and the stone and marble and, inside, just wood.

Parisians have gathered right now to say prayers, sing hymns throughout the Paris community, including remembering those who were affected by this Notre Dame tragedy. Blessedly, no one was injured severely, we're told, or certainly killed.

And there is that and something to remember, but an iconic institution -- you can't say it enough -- that is just seen in terms that we cannot in this country, where a structure is deemed old, if it's the U.S. Capitol or a little bit more like the White House, a couple hundred years old, or St. Patrick's Cathedral, a little over a century old.

Our time reference is a little different in a city where institutions are thousand years or more old are routine and not the exception.

An eyewitness to the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, Sophia Forero, joins us now on the phone from Paris.

Sophia, very good to have you. Thank you for taking the time.

SOPHIA FORERO, WITNESS: Thank you.

CAVUTO: What did this look like when you saw it?

FORERO: Well, it was -- I just -- it's very difficult to describe in words.

We just -- we were our on way walking to the Seine, my husband and I, like we have been doing the last couple of days on our visit in Paris. We get - - we turn to a corner where we were expecting to see Notre Dame. And there it was in flames.

And it was something that it was surreal. It was something that -- I mean, from the moment that we saw it, we really couldn't believe it. That's when I started and -- myself started videotaping, because I just couldn't really wrap my head around the fact that this beautiful structure was in flames.  It's completely undescribable.

CAVUTO: Where are you now, Sofia?

FORERO: Well, I'm back in my hotel room. It's kind of later.

But I was outside on the Seine for about a good half-hour. I was there before the first-responders were able to kind of assemble themselves before. I was there. I watched when the firemen came. That was very difficult to see, too, because people were not quite out of the way.

And I saw -- it was like a desperation trying to get to the spots. And it was so hard to see, because, as -- when we first turned the corner, it was mostly smoke. And my husband and I, we walked along the Seine getting got closer and closer to the building itself, trying to figure out like how big the flames were.

And as we did get close as possible, we saw that the flames were actually quite, quite big. And that really took us aback. I, myself, I felt like I couldn't videotape anymore. I felt like it was disrespectful, because to think, it's just a national monument. It's just not a monument to history.  It's also a house of worship.

And just to see -- to see this iconic building going down, just it was heartbreaking, heartbreaking.

CAVUTO: Now, did you notice any difficulty, Sofia, for fire personnel and others to get to the fire? You mentioned a lot of people were there.

FORERO: Yes.

CAVUTO: I was noticing that early on, too. Quite a few people were there.

FORERO: Yes.

Mr. Cavuto, I have to tell you, I was a little bit surprised by how it seemed like there was a -- the crowd was quite big. And I did see the firemen come from one side of Notre Dame.

And literally they had to -- the fireman had to go over part of a sidewalk in order to get to the spot that he needed to be in. I think everyone was so stunned, that the crowd was not moving. The crowd just kind of -- we all just stood there looking at it in really funny ways, because we were still all kind of talking to each other, trying to understand what was in front of us.

But it was a very strange feeling, a surreal feeling. And I did see that those first-responders, the looks on their faces, they were not in a good place at that time.

CAVUTO: I'm sure.

Sofia, did you get a chance while there to go inside Notre Dame?

FORERO: I did. We -- go yesterday.

CAVUTO: Oh, my goodness.

FORERO: I went in yesterday. My husband and I have been -- because my husband is an artist. I'm a (INAUDIBLE) designer.

We like to travel in order to get inspiration from different places. And Paris is -- it's just a beautiful place to me. We had come years ago and we wanted to come again. We have been going to different neighborhoods every single day.

And we happened to go to Notre Dame yesterday.

CAVUTO: Wow.

FORERO: And it's interesting, because, as you were talking, when you walk into Notre Dame, you kind of make a U.

There was a mass going on, because it was Palm Sunday. And so you work from one end of the building to the other in kind of a U-shape. And in the back, there was an exhibit that showed how Notre Dame had changed over the years, like when it started out 800 years ago, the side of the building, the buttresses and all that.

And I remember pointing that out to my husband, and saying, saying, wow, look at how the building had changed. To see like that is no longer, it's a very -- that's a hard moment to -- it's a hard thing to process.

CAVUTO: Are you and your husband OK?

FORERO: Oh, yes, fine.

I just -- my heart goes out to the French people.

CAVUTO: Absolutely.

FORERO: I will you, I was out there for at least a half-an-hour.

And there was a young Parisian woman that I was talking to. I'm in my 60s.  This was in her -- I would say her early 20s. And I was just trying to talk to her about how I really think that the French people will be able to rally around this, that things are going to become -- that it's going to be a point where people can come together and create something, something new and better.

But it was hard for her, because we were both standing there crying. And another point that we did say was how quickly things can change.

CAVUTO: Absolutely.

FORERO: We see -- we think that things and buildings are permanent.  They're not.

They can change in an instant. And that's another -- that we need to be respectful of that. And it was a very surreal moment.

CAVUTO: Well, I am glad you're OK. I'm glad your husband is OK.

Thank you, Sophia, for taking the time...

FORERO: Yes, we're OK. Thank you so much, Mr. Cavuto.

CAVUTO: ... to talk to us here.

Again, Paris' mayor is on the wires right now saying that firefighters are indeed optimistic they can salvage Notre Dame's main towers from the flames. They're not making any promises, but they are optimistic, and that those living close to Notre Dame have been evacuated in case of a possible collapse of the cathedral.

When you think about all the developments today and how, in this country, it is Tax Day, and there are political arguments back and forth, and you think of this structure that has been around for close to 900 years, and all the politics it has endured, and all the invading armies it has survived, and all the presidents and kings and queens and potentates, those who had a firm grasp on power, until they didn't.

And then you realize something that was part of the landscape of Europe, until it wasn't, it teaches you something about the fleeting nature of time, the fleeting nature of us, and it makes you appreciate a skyline, just as it does this line: We are all bound for the moment, just the moment. 
 
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