French press review 15 March 2013

Pope Francis’s election, the anniversary of the conflict in Syria, the French pension system's deficit and a European decision that will allow French smokers to bring in more cigarettes from other European countries are in the French papers today.

Elected Wednesday night by the conclave of cardinals in the Vatican, Pope Francis, formerly known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has made most of the headlines in the French press  today, starting with La Croix.

The Catholic daily talks of a new era for the church, as it follows Pope Francis on his very first day in office. According to La Croix, the cardinals’ vote indicate a desire to open the Catholic church to "new dimensions".

But this vote is also takes into consideration the new geographical reality of Catholicism in the world, as Pope Francis is the first pope to come from South America, where, says the paper, 40 per cent of the world’s Catholics live.

According to right-wing Le Figaro, Pope Francis’s first mass in the Sistine Chapel was a call to order for the Catholic church. In his first homily, says the paper, the newly elected Pope illustrated the formal simplicity and humility he wishes to apply to his pontificate, while imposing a new, abrasive style. This impression, adds the newspaper, will certainly be confirmed next Tuesday, during the official inauguration mass on St Peter’s Square.

Communist L'Humanité takes a look into the new Pope’s dark past, including accusations of collaboration with the Argentinean military dictatorship during the 1970s and 1980s.

The reactions to Bergoglio’s election have been generally positive in South America but there has also been criticism, consternation and rancour, says the paper.

Liberation’s earns the most visually interesting front page of the day award, with a portrait of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad covered in bloodstains and reads “Syria, two years of crimes”. The newspaper looks back on the past two years in Syria and the blood
that has been shed as, according to the paper, Bashar al-Assad destroys his country in order to stay in power.

As Paris and London contemplate breaking the EU arms embargo to help the Syrian rebels, the left-wing newspaper wonders if arming the rebels will really change the balance of forces.

The conflict between Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the rebels has caused the deaths of about 70,000 since 15 March 2011, says the paper.

Far from Syria and back to French issues with tabloid Aujourd’hui en France, which focuses on President François Hollande’s government's problems with financing pensions.

The Socialist government needs 20 million euros to afford the current pensions programme, says the daily, three years after a reform pushed the legal retirement age from 60 to 62 years old.

As a presidential candidate François Hollande promised a new pensions reform in May, but it has yet to be presented to the public as pensioners struggle to make ends meet, observes Aujourd’hui en France.

A European condemnation has caused anger and concern among French tobacconists as France's limits on imported tobacco have been ruled illegal by the EU.

Up until now French smokers where only allowed to bring back five cartons of cigarettes from another European country. The European Court of Justice ruled that the restriction went against the free movement of goods within the EU. Now smokers will be allowed to buy more than five cartons, as long as it’s for personal use.