Marseillais pay tribute on Tuesday, by signing the register of condolences opened at Marseille town hall, in memory of former mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin, who died Monday at the age of 84, whose funeral will take place Thursday at the Cathedral of the Major .
“All Marseillais are of course invited to come to the Cathedral of the Major”, located not far from the Old Port and overlooking the Mediterranean, specified a source close to the one who was mayor (RPR, UMP then LR) of the second city of France between 1995 and 2020. The funeral mass will be presided over at 3 p.m. by Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, archbishop of Marseille, said the diocese of the Marseille city.
A Republican tribute this Tuesday in Marseille
During major ceremonies, the cathedral can accommodate up to 3,000 people. Once planned, the presence of President Emmanuel Macron is no longer relevant due to his departure Tuesday evening for Nouméa to try to ease the crisis in New Caledonia. Jean-Claude Gaudin suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday in his second home in Saint-Zacharie in Var and could not be revived, a source close to him indicated, specifying that the ex-mayor was “tired” but that “nothing suggested” his sudden death.
A “Republican tribute” must be paid to him on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the central town hall in the presence of the current various left-wing mayor Benoît Payan. The flags of the central town hall, on the emblematic Old Port, have been at half-mast since Monday, like those of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional hotel, which he also chaired. All are surrounded by a black armband in homage to Jean-Claude Gaudin.