(NBC News) A church volunteer was detained and charged by French authorities Sunday, after he told investigators that he was responsible for an arson attack that badly damaged a 15th-century Gothic cathedral.
The man had previously been questioned and then released after the July 18 blaze that destroyed the organ, shattered stained-glass windows, and blackened the insides of the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in the western French city of Nantes.
Detained again this weekend for further questioning, the volunteer church worker admitted responsibility for the fire, said his lawyer, Quentin Chabert.