Pete Buttigieg responds to the Notre-Dame fire in perfect French

The candidate made quite an impression.
 By 
Marcus Gilmer
 on 
Pete Buttigieg responds to the Notre-Dame fire in perfect French
Pete Buttigieg flexed his multilingual talents with a message for France in the wake of the Notre-Dame Cathedral fire. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has just set the gold standard when it comes to responding to the devastating fire at Paris' famous Notre-Dame cathedral.

Speaking to a reporter for French station BFM TV, Buttigieg, who is currently the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, delivered his condolences and solidarity with the French people in perfect, fluent French.

Loosely translated, Buttigieg's message was, "To the people of France I would like to say that Notre-Dame Cathedral was like a gift to the human race. We share the pain but we also thank you for this gift to civilization."

Buttigieg later shared a very similar sentiment on Twitter as he shared a message from Gérard Araud‏, French ambassador to the U.S. thanking Buttigieg for his kind words.

Buttigieg speaks seven languages, and his message of hope stood in stark contrast to President Trump's suggestion of using flying water tankers.

As of Tuesday morning, a pair of French billionaires have already pledged over $330 million dollars to aid the restoration of the cathedral which lost its spire and roof in the fire. Damage assessment of the centuries-old cathedral will continue in the coming days.

Topics Politics

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Marcus Gilmer

Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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