What happened?
Marine Le Pen has criticised Pope Francis ahead of the first round of the French presidential elections. Le Pen, who leads the Front National (FN), said she was “angry” about the Pope’s call for states to welcome more migrants, and that bishops were “meddling” in politics by raising similar concerns. Voting begins on Sunday. Le Pen is neck-and-neck with three candidates: Catholic free-marketeer François Fillon, socialist firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, and liberal Emmanuel Macron.
What the media are saying
The Economist said that the national mood seemed to favour “insurgent” candidates – especially Le Pen and the “Communist-backed” Melenchon, who wants to remove France from Nato and raise the top rate of income tax to 100 per cent.
“Until recently, the odds were clearly on a run-off between Ms Le Pen and Mr Macron.” But the polls have narrowed, and nothing can be ruled out.
David Andelman at CNN.com argued that the contest had “truly frightening similarities” to last year’s US election. As in America, “it certainly seems the most motivated voters right now are those likely to support the extremes.” And Le Pen’s chances, like Trump’s, have survived “every scandal or misplaced idea that should torpedo a serious candidate”.
What Catholics are saying
France24.com reported from Libourne, a town in south-west France where the Catholic vote is divided. One IT consultant likes Fillon’s tax-cutting plans. But Fillon’s support, which surged last year, may have been fatally damaged by allegations of financial misconduct.
One Catholic woman is backing Le Pen, she says, because “We have to stop the influx of migrants, so we can figure out how many we can take in and so we can take better care of those who are already here.” Other Catholics say they could never vote for the FN.
Archbishop Georges Pontier, the president of the French bishops’ conference, has given a coded rebuke to Le Pen, saying: “We cannot think about our future if everyone is turned in on himself.”
✣ China raises pressure on Catholics
What happened?
The Chinese government has increased pressure on Catholics. First, Bishop Guo Xijin was arrested, reportedly for opposing the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA). Then Bishop Ma Daqin, who dramatically resigned from the CCPA in 2012, concelebrated Mass with a priest whom the Holy See doesn’t recognise.
Why was it under-reported?
The news fits awkwardly with recent indications from the Vatican that a deal with China could be close. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, said in January that he was optimistic about a future agreement. But Beijing now seems to be demonstrating its resolve not to give ground. As Fr Bernardo Cervellera of asianews.it put it, “these moves seek to undermine the dialogue and make [it] fail”. The situation is hard to interpret and therefore hard to report on.
What will happen next?
We may be seeing a change of tone from the Chinese government. Yu Zhengsheng, one of the Communist Party’s leading figures, gave a speech in December in which he effectively told Catholics to follow socialism rather than the Vatican. Bishop Ma’s concelebration of Mass was widely publicised – and he was applauded by CCPA members.
But Hong Kong Cardinal John Tong said in February that a Vatican-Beijing agreement had practically been reached. This year, we may find out whether that was over-optimistic.
✣The week ahead
Pope Francis will visit the lay community of San’Egidio tomorrow for a prayer service in honour of “modern martyrs”. The community’s home church, St Bartholomew, serves as an ecumenical shrine to 20th-century martyrs of political violence and terrorist atrocities. In December, Francis said there are more martyrs today than in the first centuries of the Church.
South African Bishop Kevin Dowling (pictured) will be in Leeds on Tuesday to give a talk on the “Third World War in instalments”. Bishop Dowling, co-president of peace movement Pax Christi, will be speaking at the Oxford Place Centre.
From today until Sunday, the Hurtado Jesuit Centre in Wapping is hosting an exhibition of Christian art. Artists including Andrew White and Marcia Scott are featured in the show, which depicts the stages of salvation history culminating in the Resurrection. Next weekend the exhibition will be at Farm Street church, Mayfair.
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