The following are a selection of editorial opinions from newspapers around the world that may be of interest to Royal Gazette readers.

Daily Telegraph, London

On cue, Europe’s leaders have piled in against Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Mindful of the disastrous effect of their response to Jorg Haider’s victory in Austria three years ago, they have been careful not to threaten sanctions. But the message is clear: French voters have behaved abominably, their decision is unacceptable, and M. Le Pen’s modest success is a challenge to the entire European project...

The old bruiser’s election is indeed a challenge to the European project; but not quite in the way that the Euro-leaders intend. For the truth is that M. Le Pen, like other anti-establishment demagogues around Europe, is a product of the EU system. Supporters of European integration often claim that it discourages extremism. To the extent that it prevents radical parties from either wing from implementing their manifestoes, this is true.

But there is a downside. As more powers are transferred to Brussels, voters begin to sense that they are losing control of their futures. Sick of the ideological consensus of their governing parties, despairing of being listened to, they are driven to support politicians opposed to the entire system. ... M. Le Pen is much clearer about what he is against than what he is for. That is why it is so hard to picture him in office. If, by some unhappy miracle, he were to win the presidency on May 5, there is very little chance that he would really bring back the French franc or restore the death penalty...

The real significance of M. Le Pen’s success lies in what it tells us about the state of the French democracy. The ideals of the Fifth Republic, as conceived by de Gaulle, have been gradually eroded by the EU. The president is no longer sovereign, either in economic affairs or foreign policy, while Euro-regionalism has undermined the unity of the state. No wonder French voters have ceased to take the office seriously. The Fifth Republic has been hollowed out by Brussels. Now, the outer shell is crumbling.

The Independent, London

“People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood for those who would harm the young,” the Pope declared yesterday after talking to the 12 American cardinals summoned to the Vatican from the scandal-torn United States.

That’s fine, as far as it goes. And it does go a lot further than the cautious comments that the Pope has made so far about the gathering crisis of paedophilia among the priesthood on both sides of the Atlantic. But the statement still does not go nearly far enough when the Church is accused not only of covering up the sins of its fathers, but actually moving those guilty of child abuse about, thus allowing them to sin again...

What is the Roman Catholic Church, if it is not the shepherd of its flock? And what is more damaging to its role than breaking the bond of trust between priest and people? The present crisis cannot be treated as a “problem” in the way a company copes with a fraud: to be contained within and explained away without. It goes to the root of the Church’s mission.

It would be proper if the Pope asked not just for expressions of regret but the full and traditional act of contrition: the resignation of all 12 US cardinals present in Rome so that the world can see that humility remains the cardinal virtue of the prelate and not just the attribute of the decent ordinary priest.