(Vatican Radio) Voters in France have been casting ballots in the final round of parliamentary elections that could clinch President Emmanuel Macron's hold on power. Sunday's vote was overshadowed by low voter turnout and widespread disillusionment with politics. Listen to Stefan Bos' report: Macron, who last month became the youngest President in France's history, appeared confident as he cast his ballot in a polling station crowded with reporters and other onlookers.Outside curious crowds gathered in this northern seaside town of Le Touquet where the 39-year-old Macron voted Sundayin the second round of elections for the 577-seat National Assembly.French voters were expected to hand his year-old Republic on the Move party an overwhelming majority. Polls suggested that his party could even win up to 80 percent, more than 400 seats, in the lower house of Parliament.Commentators have warned that such an outcome would send shockwaves through the more established...
(Vatican Radio) Voters in France have been casting ballots in the final round of parliamentary elections that could clinch President Emmanuel Macron's hold on power. Sunday's vote was overshadowed by low voter turnout and widespread disillusionment with politics.
Listen to Stefan Bos' report:
Macron, who last month became the youngest President in France's history, appeared confident as he cast his ballot in a polling station crowded with reporters and other onlookers.
Outside curious crowds gathered in this northern seaside town of Le Touquet where the 39-year-old Macron voted Sunday
in the second round of elections for the 577-seat National Assembly.
French voters were expected to hand his year-old Republic on the Move party an overwhelming majority. Polls suggested that his party could even win up to 80 percent, more than 400 seats, in the lower house of Parliament.
Commentators have warned that such an outcome would send shockwaves through the more established political
order with their unity and even their survival at stake.
REPUBLICANS DOMINATE OPPOSITION
The conservative Republicans were likely to form the bulk of the opposition, but the Socialists faced a humiliating defeat.
The far-right National Front of former presidential candidate Marine Le Pen was also expected to have only a minor presence in Parliament, despite their strong showing in the presidential contest.
Yet, there were indications that far less than half of France's 47.5 million voters bothered to cast their ballots.
Analysts linked the record low turnout to voter fatigue after seven months of roller-coaster campaigning and voting. France has also seen widespread disillusionment and anger with politics that could eventually complicate Macron’s reform efforts.
Rivals of President Macron's dominant new party tried to urge more voters to cast ballots. But that was not expected
to prevent him and his allies from having a crushing parliamentary majority.
Pope Francis waves while traveling by boat in Venice, Italy, for a meeting with young people at the Basilica della Madonna della Salute on April 28, 2024. Earlier in the day he met with inmates at a women's prison. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis opened his one-day visit to Venice on Sunday morning with a meeting with female inmates where he reaffirmed the importance of fraternity and human dignity, noting that prison can be a place of new beginnings. "A stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," the pope said to the female inmates gathered in the intimate courtyard of the Women's Prison on the Island of Giudecca. Pope Francis left the Vatican by helicopter at approximately 6:30 in the mo...
Pope Francis prays in front of the tomb of St. Mark the Evangelist inside St. Mark's Basilica in Venice on April 28, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 09:35 am (CNA).Pope Francis had a full slate of events Sunday during his day trip to Venice, a trip that tied together a message of unity and fraternity with the artistic patrimony of a city that has been a privileged place of encounter across the centuries. "Faith in Jesus, the bond with him, does not imprison our freedom. On the contrary, it opens us to receive the sap of God's love, which multiplies our joy, takes care of us like a skilled vintner, and brings forth shoots even when the soil of our life becomes arid," the pope said to over 10,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Mark's Square. Framing his homily during the Mass on the theme of unity, one of the central points articulated throughout several audiences spread across the morning, Pope Francis reminded Christians: "Remaining ...
Prayer house at San Simeone, Italy, September 2012. / Credit: Courtesy of Ricostruttori nella preghieraRome, Italy, Apr 28, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Across Italy there are houses of prayer run by the Ricostruttori (Reconstructors) community, a Catholic movement dedicated to people who are far from the Church but attracted to spirituality, particularly Eastern meditation and Buddhist practices. The Reconstructors was founded in 1978 by Jesuit Father Gian Vittorio Cappelletto. "During the postconciliar period, the Church was faced with the need for new forms of evangelization and apostolate, to reach out to people who were drifting away," Don Roberto Rondanina, priest and superior of the Ricostruttori, explained to CNA. "It was a time when Eastern meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, the New Age ... were beginning to spread in Europe." "Father Cappelletto, who lived in Turin, sought to understand the meaning of this 'flight to the East' and felt the need to find new forms of sp...