Meanwhile Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, archbishop of Paris, defended France's secular regime against proposals to change it to accommodate Muslims.

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But the late (Jewish-born) Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, was a staunch defender of the secular state as a bulwark against all forms of fundamentalism.

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Weighing 23 tons in total and named after saints like the Archangel Gabriel and prominent Catholics like Jean-Marie Lustiger, the late Cardinal and Bishop of Paris, they have been cast to mark the 850th anniversary of the Cathedral, which began construction in 1163 and took ninety years to build.

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