Notre Dame rector: ‘Computer glitch’ possible fire culprit

Notre Dame’s rector said Friday that a “computer glitch” was one of the possible causes of the devastating fire that severely damaged the cathedral this week.

Rector Patrick Chauvet did not specify the nature of the glitch being investigated by authorities in comments made to CBS News and The Associated Press, but said that “we may find out what happened in two or three months.”

{mosads}Police investigators previously said Thursday that an electrical short circuit was likely behind the fire, which curators said Friday spared the interior of the structure, including most of the historic relics contained within the cathedral.

“We will rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral even more beautifully. We can do it, and once again, we will mobilize,” French President Emmanuel Macron pledged this week.

Paris’s archbishop, Michel Aupetit, told the French publication Le Figaro that the cathedral was “more than a pile of stones,” remarking that the fire had rekindled the faith of many in the city “who have not prayed for a long time.”

“We are going to rebuild the cathedral. The world’s excitement, the extraordinary generosity caused by the fire that partially destroyed it, will allow us to consider its recovery, we could speak in these Easter times of certain resurrection,” Aupetit said.