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(Vatican Radio) The people of France are voting in the first round of presidential elections with opinion polls showing far right candidate Marine Le Pen is among those receiving many votes. A run-off election between the top two candidates will be held on May 7. Sunday's ballot was held amid security concerns following Thursday's attack that killed a policeman and injured two other officers and a woman. A knife wielding man was detained ahead of the elections, though his motives remain unclear.   

Listen to Stefan Bos' report:

The polls opened in France after prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve condemned the front runners for allegedly exploiting Thursday's terror attack in France for political reasons. He specifically mentioned Le Pen who has linked terrorism to the ongoing immigration. Most of the people fleeing war and poverty are Muslims.

"France continues to exhaust itself with uncontrolled immigration," she told supporters.

A young voter, David Masson-Weyl, who supports her, agrees. "She is saying like [President Donald] Trump did in the US "make France great again". She has a really strong message. She brings more hope, she gives France more jobs, less immigration."  

Opinion polls show her nearly neck-and-neck with centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron, seen as a jump in the past week.

ATTACK 'HELPED'?

Analysts point out that the latest attack in Paris, which killed a police officer and left three other people wounded Thursday, may have contributed to her surge in support, though some survivors of these and other attacks view her as a fear monger.  

Polls suggested that Le Pen and Macron, an independent centrist and former economy minister, were in the lead. However, conservative Francois Fillon, a former prime minister whose campaign was initially derailed by corruption allegations that his wife was paid but did no work as his parliamentary aide, appeared to be closing the gap, as was far-leftist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Following Thursday's attack,  the government has mobilized more than 50,000 police and gendarmes to protect 70,000 polling stations, with an additional 7,000 soldiers on patrol.

Yet that has not prevented some violence.

Ahead of Sunday's ballot anarchists and others protesting against capitalism and the ballot clashed with police. It overshadowed a nearby more peaceful rally organized by left-wing unions and communists.

POLICE BATTLING

While some of the activists destroyed publicity signs on the road between Place de la Republique and Place de la Bastille, others could be seen throwing and projectiles at the police, who retaliated with tear gas.

Elsewhere panicked passengers fled in terror as a knifeman was arrested at Paris' Gare du Nord station. Police sources say the arrested man is a 20-year-old from Mali.

However police reportedly said the suspect, who was not previously known to law enforcement, claimed he was carrying the knife because he feared for his life and was not intent on harming anyone. No injuries have been reported.

Security is just one of top concerns of voters who cast first-round ballots in what commentators have called the most nail-biting French election in generations. Voters are also concerned about France's 10 percent unemployment and its troubled economy.

The election is also widely being viewed as a ballot on the future of the 28-nation European Union. Analysts say the far-right Le Pen and the far-left Melenchon could pull France out of the bloc and its shared euro currency - a so-called "Frexit."

A French exit is expected to ignite a death spiral for the EU, the euro and the whole idea of European unity that was borne out of the bloodshed of World War II. France is a founding member of the EU and its main driver, along with former rival Germany.
 

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(Vatican Radio) In his Angelus address in a sunny St Peter’s Square, Pope France recalled the Church tradition of calling the first Sunday after Easter “in albis”, an expression he said, meant to recall the rite of those who had received baptism in white on the Easter Vigil. The Pope went on to say that  in the Jubilee of Year of 2000, St. John Paul II established that this particular Sunday was to be dedicated to Divine Mercy.

Listen to our report:

In the last months, the Holy Father said, “we have concluded the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy and this Sunday invites us to resume the grace that comes from the mercy of God.”

Drawing inspiration from the  Gospel reading of the day, the Holy Father  reminded those present of Jesus’ words, "receive the Holy Spirit. Those to whom you will forgive sins will be forgiven ".

Here is the sense of the mercy, the forgiving of sins, noted Pope Francis, “that occurs on the day of the resurrection of Jesus.”

The Risen Jesus, he continued  has sent to his Church, as a first task, his own mission to bring to everyone the concrete announcement of forgiveness.

This visible sign of his mercy brings with him the peace of heart and the joy of a renewed encounter with the Lord.

Mercy said the Pope, makes us realize that violence, rancor, and revenge have no sense.

Mercy also opens the door of the heart and allows us to express our closeness, above all to those who are alone and marginalized.

Mercy, in short, said Pope Francis is everyone committed to being instruments of justice, reconciliation and peace. Let us never forget that mercy, he concluded, is the keystone in the life of faith, and the concrete form in which we give visibility to the resurrection of Jesus.

Following the recitation of the Regina Caeli, the Holy Father remembered the Beatification in Oviedo, Spain on Saturday of Father Luis Antonio Rosa Ormières an educator who lived in the nineteenth century, and founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Guardian Angel.

The Pope also greeted Polish pilgrims on the Feast of Divine Mercy and thanked Caritas Poland for their support of so many families in Syria.

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Bridgeport, Conn., Apr 23, 2017 / 03:08 am (CNA).- Personal stories about God’s mercy at work in the world today are the focus of a recent Catholic-produced documentary on Divine Mercy.

“These testimonies remind us that Divine Mercy is not just a devotion or theological concept – it is alive, it is present, and it is a force that can transform the world,” said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson.

The one-hour film “The Face of Mercy” depicts mercy as the antidote to evil even in great difficulty. Narrated by actor Jim Caviezel, the film interweaves history, theology, and testimonials about the importance of mercy in people’s lives.

Testimonies come from Immaculée Ilibagiza, who forgave those who murdered her family in the Rwandan genocide; a New York police officer who works for peace despite having been shot and paralyzed from the waist down; a young widow who forgave the killer of her husband; a baseball player who became a priest; and a former NFL linebacker who now shares Christ’s mercy with the homeless.

The film was produced by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal order with 1.9 million members worldwide.

Anderson said the film “highlights the sort of transformations that are possible in individual lives that embrace the way of mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation.”

The film is available at Amazon.com, the Ignatius Press website, and the Knights of Columbus site Knights Gear.

More information is available at faceofmercyfilm.com.

 

This article was originally published on CNA Nov. 17, 2016.

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Vatican City, Apr 23, 2017 / 04:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Divine Mercy Sunday Pope Francis said mercy is essential in living the Christian life, because it not only allows us to understand ourselves and God better, but it also prompts us to recognize and help those in need.

 “Let us never forget that mercy is the keystone of the life of faith, and concrete way with which we give visibility to the Resurrection of Jesus,” the Pope said April 23.

Mercy, he said, is understood as a true awareness of “the mystery” that the Church is living, particularly during the Easter season.

Not only is mercy understood in various ways such as through the senses, intuition and reason, but we can also become aware of it through an act of mercy that we personally experience, he said, adding that “this opens the door of the mind to better understand the mystery of God and of our personal existence.”

“It makes us understand that violence, resentment and revenge have no meaning, and the first victim is whoever lives these sentiments, because it deprives them of their own dignity,” he said.

Additionally, mercy also allows us to open the door of our hearts and draw close to those who are “alone and marginalized,” recognizing those in need and finding the right words to say to comfort them.

“Mercy warms the heart and makes it sensitive to the needs of our brothers with sharing and participation,” Francis said, explaining that in the end, mercy “commits everyone to being instruments of justice, reconciliation and peace.”

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims during his Sunday Regina Coeli address on Divine Mercy Sunday, the first Sunday after Easter. The Regina Coeli is traditionally prayed instead of the Angelus throughout the liturgical Easter season.

In his brief speech, the Pope noted now the Sunday after Easter in the past was referred to as “in albis,” meaning “in white,” as a reminder of the white garments worn by those who had come into the Church on Easter Sunday.

In the time after Easter, he said, Sunday takes on “an even more illuminating” aspect, especially considering the previous traditional custom in which the garment would be worn by the person for the entire week after their baptism until the following Sunday, when they began their new life in Christ and the Church.

Francis then pointed to how the Sunday after Easter was later designated as Divine Mercy Sunday by Pope Saint John Paul II during the Jubilee year 2000.

“It was a beautiful institution!” he said, noting that his own Extraordinary Jubilee for Mercy concluded just a few months ago, on the Nov. 20, 2016, Solemnity of Christ the King.

In wake of the Jubilee, Divine Mercy Sunday “invites us to take up with strength the grace that comes from the mercy of God,” he said, noting that in the day’s Gospel from John, Jesus appears to his disciples in the upper room, and gives them the message: “As the Father has sent me, so I also send you.”

After saying this, Jesus then entrusts them with a special task, telling them “receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven.”

“This is the meaning of the mercy that is presented to us on the day of the Resurrection of Jesus as forgiveness of sins,” Pope Francis said, explaining that the Risen Christ gave his Church as a first task “his same mission of bringing to all the concrete announcement of forgiveness.”

Francis said this commission is a visible sign of Christ’s mercy, which brings both peace of heart and the joy of a renewed encounter with the Lord.

He closed his address praying that Mary, the Mother of Mercy, would “help us to believe and live all of this with joy,” and led pilgrims in praying the Regina Coeli.

The Pope then greeted pilgrims from various countries around the world, giving a special shout-out to Spain, where yesterday the priest Fr. Luis Antonio Rosa Ormières was proclaimed a Blessed, and to all youth who had been confirmed or are currently candidates for Confirmation.

He then thanked everyone who sent him messages wishing him a happy Easter before asking for prayers and giving his blessing.

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