This is a blow that hurts whether you’re a Catholic, a Sedevacantist, a Protestant of any type, or someone who just doesn’t adhere to religious faith altogether.

Something that has stood through the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, both World Wars (including indiscriminate Allied bombing), and the beginnings of a new Islamic conquest has fallen today – through something an insurance claim would call “an act of God.”

Daily Mail:

French fire chiefs have warned the devastating inferno which ravaged the world-famous Notre Dame cathedral this evening evening ‘cannot be stopped’. An official in the French interior ministry said saving the building ‘is not certain’ after the spire and part of the roof collapsed earlier this evening – adding that it may not be possible to stop the blaze consuming yet more of the structure. A spokesman for the cathedral said the entire wooden frame of the cathedral would likely come down, and that the vault of the edifice could be threatened too. ‘Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame,’ Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot said. The 12th-century cathedral is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions. Photos showed huge plumes of smoke billowing into the city’s skyline and flames engulfing large sections of the historic building as firefighters struggled to contain the inferno. According to French newspaper Le Monde, the fire broke out in the attic of the monument before spreading across the roof. Officials in Paris said the fire could be linked to restoration works as the peak of the church is currently undergoing a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project. A spokesperson for the cathedral said the blaze was first reported at 5.50pm (GMT) and the building was evacuated soon after. Police said no deaths have been reported although officials did not comment on injuries.

Just a disclaimer for everyone:

I’m a former Catholic, was raised Catholic all through my Confirmation, and still hold sympathy with the Church and the impact it has had on European Civilization for the best part of two thousand years.

I’ve said (and will continue to say) harsh words towards modern Catholicism, but let everyone who is still practicing know that it comes out of a desire to save what has endured through the centuries, and not out of a nihilistic fedora-wearing temper tantrum – I do the same with modern Protestantism.

That being said, I can’t help but wonder if out there in a time and place beyond man’s comprehension, God Himself is looking down upon those created in His image, and struggling to contain His rage.

What took our ancestors well over one hundred years to construct in honor of God is now lost forever – I’ll put the odds of rebuilding at about 1-10%.

It really makes you think if this tragedy symbolizes the destruction of religion itself in the West – suppressed, infiltrated, and watered down into a mockery of its original.

A mockery so awful and cartoon-like that millions have begun to abandon the faith of their forefathers in despair.