As preparations are underway for the conclave to begin on May 7, the Italian right-wing press is alleging that French political maneuvering is influencing the selection of the next Pope. Since Pope Francis’s death on April 21, publications aligned with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government have speculated about French President Emmanuel Macron’s intentions.
These publications accuse Macron of attempting to promote his preferred candidates to the papacy. Headlines in La Verita and Libero accuse Macron of trying to “choose the pope” and “crashing the conclave,” respectively. Il Tempo criticized Macron’s “interventionism worthy of a modern Sun King.”
This narrative stems from the Italian right’s distrust of France, Macron’s close ties to the Catholic movement Sant’Egidio (which had a close relationship with the late Pope), and the community’s involvement in tensions within the Italian Church, which have been amplified during the current transitional period at the Vatican.
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