French weekly magazines review

In the French weeklies: the resignation of French minister Jérôme Cahuzac over a tax scandal; the new Pope Francis, and how to spot a "narcissistic pervert".

The Cahuzac affair is on the front page of two major French left-wing magazines this week: Le Nouvel Observateur and Marianne.

For those who haven’t been following this week’s political scandal, a quick reminder. Until last Tuesday, Jérôme Cahuzac was the French budget minister. But when the website Mediapart published allegations that once had a bank account in Switzerland to avoid paying French taxes. The minister denied the accusations, but resigned nonetheless.

Le Nouvel Observateur investigates on what it refers to as “the different lives of the fallen Minister” and chronicles Cahuzac's political career.

Marianne on the other hand takes a wider look at the affair seeing it as the perfect opportunity for French President François Hollande to change his entire government.

According to the magazine, the developments in the Cahuzac affair have forced the president to sacrifice his budget minister, but he should have taken that opportunity to, I quote, “reset his obnoxious governance straight and redefine the course of his policy”.

Another recurring topic in this week’s French press is the new pope, Pope Francis.

A week after his nomination, right-wing Le Figaro Magazine publishes a special on this “Unexpected Pope”, as it calls him, noting the simplicity of this new Pope and how naturally and quite rapidly he stepped into his pontiff shoes.

Reporting from the his native city of Buenos Aires in Argentina, the magazine also draws a general portrait of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio who, before becoming Pope Francis, was a highly admired and appreciated member of the local community, according to the many testimonies collected by the magazine.

The weeklyLe Point also focuses on Pope Francis, with a chronology of his religious life, from his beginning as a young priest in Argentina to his election as Pope last week. The magazine takes an interest in the small details which differentiate him from his predecessor, Pope Benedict 16th, and comes back on the conclave of cardinals to understand how Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis.

In other news, L’Express publishes a special dossier on "narcissistic perverts" and how to spot and avoid them. You probably know him...or her. They’re charming, attractive, but also manipulative, smooth talkers and guilt-trippers, and they always end up making you do whatever they want.

These "narcissistic perverts" are all around us, explains the magazine; destructive manipulators with an unconscious visceral need to wreak havoc in the family and in the workplace. Who knows, you might even know one or two… Any names come to mind?

And finally, for those of you who can’t wait for the Tour de France to start again this summer, Aujourd’hui en France magazine publishes a selection of pictures from an exhibition in honour of the 100th edition of the race, which starts on 27 March at the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris.