French press review 24 January 2014

The French front pages are all about President François Hollande’s first visit to the Vatican, where he will meet his papal namesake, this Friday.

Hollande’s meeting with Pope Francis is aimed at wooing back Catholic voters, says Le Figaro.

The right-wing newspaper is convinced that the Socialist government’s policies on abortion and euthanasia will feature among the hot button issues on the table. Only 16 per cent of Catholics are satisfied with President Hollande’s policies, Le Figaro learns from a new poll.

The Catholic daily La Croix agrees that two thirds of French Catholics do not vote for the left. It describes  Hollande’s relations with the faith as tense. Anger among staunch Catholics has also been fuelled by plans for the legalisation of assisted suicide - with French bishops speaking out this week to condemn a topic Hollande promised to support in his election campaign.

Relations between this part of the electorate and the government soured notably last year when France legalised gay weddings, despite hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets to hold huge protests. Some 110,000 frustrated Catholics have signed a petition calling on the congenial Pope Francis to get tough and raise their concerns with President Hollande.

This is certainly why La Croix believes the tête-à-tête with the Pope constitutes an opportunity for Monsieur Hollande to send "a strong message of dialogue and attention to Catholics".

Aujourd’hui en France seeks to shed light on Hollande's relationship with his partner Valérie Trierweiler, amid speculation that he might be poised to dump her for actress Julie Gayet.

Trierweiler remains holed up in a presidential residence in Versailles since Saturday when she was discharged from hospital after being treated for a bout of "tiredness", allegedly caused by press revelations of Hollande's affair with Julie Gayet.

The president has promised to publicly define his relationship with Trierweiler before his 11 February state visit to Washington.

Les Echos sees the World Economic Forum which gets underway in Davos this weekend, as Hollande’s first international test since the unveiling of his responsibility pact with business. According to the paper, investors are upbeat about the reorientation of his economic policy and are waiting to see concrete action. The economic newspaper reports that the French ministers of finance and foreign affairs are on a charm offensive in Davos this Friday following the positive reception given to the social-democratic turn  effected by the Socialist leader.

Les Echos says the expected release of ratings agency Moody’s verdict on the state of French economy will shed more light on whether France will remain under surveillance or whether it will be given a few months of tranquillity by the markets.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy stars in a return comedy. That’s how Libération summarises his shuttle through France to accompany his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who is staging a series of musical concerts around the country.

Libé says that the real motives for his presence at his wife's show is the chance it offers him to consult conservative voters about his plans to stage a political comeback.

The left-leaning newspaper publishes a new Harris Interactive survey which shows that right-wing voters still consider the ex-president as the sole politician capable of reuniting the conservatives come the presidential elections in 2017.