The 855-year-old landmark has been closed to the public since the massive blaze ripped through the medieval cathedral destroying its iconic spire and noticeably altering the Paris skyline.

“This is the first time since the French Revolution that there will be no midnight Mass (at Notre Dame),” cathedral rector Patrick Chauvet told The Associated Press.

He said that to his knowledge, it was only closed for Christmas in the period after 1789 when the anti-Catholic French revolutionaries turned the monument into “a temple of reason.”

Chauvet also revealed that the landmark remains so fragile that there’s a “50 per cent chance” the structure might not be entirely saved because scaffolding installed before this year’s fire is threatening the vaults of the Gothic monument.

“Today we can say that there is maybe a 50 per cent chance that it will be saved. There is also a 50 per cent chance of scaffolding falling onto the three vaults,” he said.

Notre Dame even held Christmas Masses during two world wars as a symbol of hope amid the bloodshed. The faithful are looking to keep that spirit alive outside the historic walls this Christmas.

Chauvet instead led a midnight Christmas Mass on Dec. 24 at Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois across from the Louvre Museum.

“We have the opportunity to celebrate the Mass outside the walls, so to speak… but with some indicators that Notre Dame is connected to us,” Chauvet said.

Parishioners at Christmas Eve Mass shared sorrow about the fire, but also a feeling of solidarity.

“We are French, we are going to try to rebuild Notre Dame as it was before because it is a symbol,” Jean-Luc Bodam, a Parisian engineer, told The Associated Press.

A wooden liturgical platform that resembles Notre Dame’s own has been constructed in the Saint-Germain church. The Notre Dame choir will also perform a song to the crowd of faithful.

Since the destruction, donations small and large have poured in to help restore the historic cathedral.

In October, French billionaires Francois-Henri Pinault and his father, Francois Pinault, officially signed over $109 million toward rebuilding the church. Rival French billionaire Bernard Arnault pledged $218 million. Others have donated as little as one euro.

French President Emmanuel Macron set a target of five years – which will be when France is set to host the 2024 Summer Olympics – for the completion of Notre-Dame restoration efforts.

New DNA testing in a 2010 Houston murder case has led to the exoneration of one man — after nine years behind bars — and the arrest of another.

Lydell Grant, 43, was found guilty of stabbing 28-year-old Aaron Scheerhoorn to death in the vicinity of a nightclub on the sworn testimony of multiple witnesses, according to reports. He was cleared last month — and released from prison — after DNA obtained from Sheerhorn’s fingernails was tested, using new technology. He was serving a life sentence.

On Thursday, Jermarico Carter, 41, was charged with the murder after the same DNA linked him to the crime. Investigators got a match to his DNA using an FBI database containing the DNA of convicted criminals, Fox 26 Houston reported Sunday.

“On behalf of the Houston Police Department, I want to extend an apology to Mr. Grant and his family as they have

waited for justice all these years,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Friday on Twitter.

Acevedo said Carter “has recently confessed to his role in Mr. Scheerhoorn’s killing.”

Carter was in custody in Georgia on unrelated charges, the chief said.

Grant said Saturday that he wasn’t mad at Grant for sitting in jail for a crime he committed, Fox 26 reported.

“I’m not mad at him at all,” he said, according to the station. “I forgive him because he know now what he did.”

The station reported that as of Saturday Grant no longer had to wear an ankle monitor or abide by a curfew.

Houston prosecutors said they will move for Grant’s formal exoneration before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Grant’s lawyer Mike Ware of the Innocence Project of Texas was quoted by The Associated Press as saying that he believes erroneous witness identifications based on outdated and flawed techniques used by detectives helped to wrongly convict his client.

Mistaken witness identifications contributed to more than 70 percent of the more than 360 wrongful convictions in the U.S. that have been overturned by post-conviction DNA evidence, according to the Innocence Project.

The woman, 24, is believed to be the child’s mother and left her son in a garbage dumpster for several days before he was discovered by a bystander, according to The Associated Press.

The bystander was outside feeding stray cats when she heard the newborn crying. She called the police, who arrived on the scene and rescued the infant.

The child is reportedly between six and 10 days old and after being taken to the hospital, was discovered to be in good health.

The mayor of Kalamata, the town where the baby was found, told state-run television that the child barely escaped death after the local garbage truck was delayed that morning. Had the truck been on time, it would have crushed the child to death.

Mayor Thanassis Vassilopoulos said the baby “was very lucky in its misfortune,” The AP reported.

The woman was apprehended as she made attempts to ditch her disguise and Mexico City police quickly discounted her claim that she targeted the victims in a crime of passion, the BBC reported.

Alon Azulay, who is aged 41, and Benjamin Yeshurun Sutchi, aged 44, were shot Wednesday as they were having lunch at the restaurant in the luxury Plaza Artz mall, according to the BBC which identified them as alleged Israeli underworld figures.

The gunfire sent other diners diving for cover.

Mexico City police chief Jesus Orta said the woman told police Wednesday that “she had a sentimental relationship with one of the victims, who she met on social media, and that the attack was due to infidelity,” The Associated Press reported.

However, Ulises Lara, a spokesman for prosecutors in Mexico City, was quoted by the BBC as telling reporters Thursday that the incident “lead us to link the events to a settling of scores between criminal groups.”

Sutchi was a well-known Israeli crime boss who was imprisoned for years in Israel until February, according to the Times of Israel.

Israeli police reportedly suspect an Israeli criminal organization was behind the hit, according to the paper.

The suspected killer was identified by the paper as Esperanza Gutierrez Rojano, age 33.

Police suspect she carried out the killing with the aid of three accomplices.