“Je Suis Marine”: Lawfare Bars Le Pen From 2027 Presidential Bid

If the Spanish Reds are trying to restart the Civil War, it's beginning to look like the Left in France is trying to go for Revolution number four!

From The European Conservative

By Tamás Orbán

“Today, it is not only Marine Le Pen who is being unjustly condemned: it is French democracy that is being executed,” National Rally Chairman Jordan Bardella concluded.

In a move reminiscent of all that’s been going on in Romania, Germany, and elsewhere in Western ‘democracies’, on Monday, March 31st, a Paris court found Marine Le Pen—the leader of France’s largest and most popular party, the National Rally—guilty of misappropriation of public funds along with eight other MPs, charges that the party has been consistently denying.

For Le Pen, prosecutors originally asked for five years in prison, €300,000 in fines, and well as five years of ineligibility for holding or running for public office. 

In the end, the court sentenced the party leader and likely 2027 frontrunner to four years in prison (two compulsory and two suspended), €100,000 in fines, and the full five years of ineligibility, which is to be executed immediately, even before she can appeal.

With this, Le Pen is barred from entering the 2027 presidential race—the one she is projected to win, after reaching second place in 2017 and 2022.

Another co-defendant, Perpignan mayor and National Rally Vice President Louis Aliot, was sentenced to six months in prison and three years of ineligibility, but not immediately executed, which means he can keep his position during the appeals process.

The party itself was also fined an unprecedented €2 million, including the €1million already seized during the investigation.

The National Rally is accused of ‘embezzling’ up to €6.8 million from EU funds meant to pay European Parliamentary assistants, who were found to have engaged in domestic activities as well as working in Brussels. Le Pen’s defense appealed to common sense throughout the trial, saying EU parliamentary rules do not precisely define the scope of tasks allowed for assistants, and since appearing in their home countries is an “integral part” of the work of MEPs, their assistants should also be able to help their work back home too. 

Despite the absurdity of the charges, the court apparently took the ‘maximalist option,’ clearly intended to strip Le Pen of the ability to run for president. The move immediately split France in half and will likely trigger widespread protests in the coming days and weeks. As National Rally President Jordan Bardella wrote:

Today, it is not only Marine Le Pen who is being unjustly condemned: it is French democracy that is being executed.

The obvious lawfare was questioned even by some mainstream political figures, such as the center-right Republican leader Eric Ciotti, who wrote “Is France still a democracy?” in an X post. He then went on in a second post:

The democratic destiny of our nation has been confiscated by an unworthy judicial cabal. The favorite candidate in the presidential election was prevented from running. 

This is not a simple malfunction, it is a system of power capture that systematically excludes any candidate too far to the right who is capable of winning

Le Pen’s international allies also took to social media to condemn the move and express support for Le Pen. 

Italy’s deputy PM, Matteo Salvini—who also had his fair share of lawfare until being acquitted of bogus charges late last year—called the verdict “a declaration of war from Brussels” against national conservatives, and likened the situation to Romania, where the EU also had a hand in canceling last year’s election and banning the nationalist frontrunner.

Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán referenced the social support movement for the Charlie Hebdo victims by stating on X “Je suis Marine” (‘I am Marine’), while Dutch PVV leader Geert Wilders said he “trust[s] she will win the appeal and become President of France.”

The right-wing populist National Rally is the largest party in the French parliament, and currently polling at 32%, ahead of the joint leftist electoral coalition New Popular Front (26%) as well as Macron’s liberal centrist Ensemble coalition (23%).

As for presidential polling, Le Pen has been confidently leading in first-round voting intentions with 38%, far ahead of the runners-up, former prime ministers Edouard Philippe (26%) and Gabriel Attal (20%). In late last year, 61% of respondents in France said they believed that Le Pen would become the next president, regardless of whether they support her.

However, if Le Pen’s appeal is rejected and the ban is upheld, the National Rally will need to look for a replacement. The most likely candidate is the party president, Jordan Bardella, who still polls at first place in this hypothetical scenario, although with slightly lesser numbers (34%). The problem is that at 29, Bardella may be considered too young to win the second round, and the party has always planned for him to become prime minister eventually.

Thousands Defy Secularization at Valley of the Fallen Mass

Are the PSOE and Sánchez trying to restart the Civil War? And where is the Vatican as the Reds try to "desacralise" a Basilica and a monastery?

From The European Conservative

By Javier Villamor

The Spanish government’s intention to desacralize the Civil War monument is viewed by many as another affront to Christians.

On Sunday, March 30th, thousands of Spaniards gathered at the Basilica of the Valley of the Fallen in Madrid to celebrate Mass in support of the monument, defying the recent attempts by the Pedro Sánchez government to “resignify” the emblematic place. 

Built from 1940–1959 with Republican POW labor under Franco’s directive post-Spanish Civil War, the monument aims to honor all victims and foster reconciliation. It holds 33,000 remains from both sides and features a Benedictine abbey active for over 60 years.

The call to attend the Mass, posted on social networks with the slogan “El Valle no se toca” (The Valley is not to be touched), was heeded by an unexpected number of Spaniards. What was initially planned as a single ceremony at 11 a.m. had to be doubled with another at 1 p.m. due to the massive influx of attendees. 

This mobilization is in response to an agreement reached on February 25th seeking to force the departure of Father Santiago Cantera, prior of the Benedictine community of the Valley, described by the Sánchez government as “Francoist,” and to transform up to 90% of the monumental complex, including the biggest cross in the world, a symbol that for many represents a space of memory and reconciliation. 

Prior Santiago Cantera
Photo: Contrainformacion.es

Many Spanish Catholics believe the Church let them down by signing on to the agreement with the socialist government. The lukewarm attitude of institutions such as the Episcopal Conference and the Vatican has generated controversy, with the faithful viewing these actions as exploiting the memory of the Civil War for political purposes, in line with the so-called Law of Democratic Memory.

Luis Felipe Utrera-Molina, a lawyer committed to the defense of the current form of the Valley, told europeanconservative.com that the memorial place could be designated as an “asset of cultural interest” which by Spanish law would mean “not a single stone could be moved”, but there is no political will to do so. 

Luis Felipe Utrera Molina

Utrera-Molina is also critical of the church for yielding to pressure from the government. “That the church agrees that a sacred place is allowed to succumb to socialist propaganda is intolerable,” he says, describing the Vatican’s behavior as “cowardly.” 

Sunday’s Mass was not only a liturgical act but a declaration of principles in the face of what many see as an ideological attack on a sacred and symbolic place. The battle, both in the courts and in the collective consciousness, is far from over.

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In the mid-fifteenth century, two monarchs arose who would dramatically alter Spanish history. On October 19, 1469, Fernando II, heir to the crown of Aragon, married Isabel I, heiress to the crown of Castile. From her girlhood, Isabel was conscious of her family’s crusading past. Among her ancestors were many of Castile’s conquering kings, including Fernando III, who had taken Córdoba and Seville from the taifa emirs and the Almohads. It was Isabel’s dream to complete this work of her forefathers, by conquering the final Moorish emirate based in Granada.

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Lent Is the Time To Visit the Divine Physician

We are required to receive Holy Communion at Easter and we should not approach Our Lord with sin on our soul. Go to Confession!!!

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

God wants to heal us but unfortunately, too often we don't go to him with our spiritual sickness in order to be healed. We stay instead in the darkness.

There exist numerous home remedies for the most common illnesses, but there is one sickness that can not be healed through our own efforts.

That sickness is the life of sin we are currently in and the many times we walk away from God.

No matter how hard we may try to achieve inner healing through our own mental experiments, only God can heal us and bring us lasting peace through the forgiveness of sins.

What we need to do is to fly to the Divine Physician and to show him all of our ailments.

Spiritual healing

Pope Benedict XVI reflected on this spiritual truth during an Angelus message on the Fourth Sunday of Lent in 2012.

St Augustine comments: “So far, then, as it lies with the physician, he has come to heal the sick. He that will not observe the orders of the physician destroys himself. He has come a Savior to the world... You will not be saved by him; you shall be judged of yourself”. 

In this quote, St. Augustine is explaining how Jesus, the Divine Physician, wants to heal us, but he can only heal us if we want healing.

Pope Benedict XVI continues his reflection by expanding on this reality, linking it to the sacrament of confession:

 Therefore, if the merciful love of God — who went so far as to give his only Son to redeem our life — is infinite, we have a great responsibility: each one of us, in fact, must recognize that he is sick in order to be healed. Each one must confess his sin so that God’s forgiveness, already granted on the Cross, may have an effect in his heart and in his life.

He further explains how, "it is only by opening oneself to the light and only by sincerely confessing one’s sins to God that one finds true peace and true joy. It is therefore important to receive the Sacrament of Penance regularly, especially during Lent, in order to receive the Lord’s forgiveness and to intensify our process of conversion."

Sometimes it can be more convenient to ignore our sins and to hide them from God, or even from ourselves. We bury them deep within our soul, not letting them be exposed to the light of Christ.

However, if we do that, we will never experience healing. This happens whenever we go to the doctor and don't tell him something that is ailing us.

Our doctor can't heal something that he doesn't know about. While its true that the Divine Physician knows everything, he wants us to recognize our spiritual sickness and to bring it to him of our own free will.

God wants to heal us and to bring us back to spiritual health. What we need to do is to let him and we can do that by going to confession and opening ourselves up to the healing power of mercy that Jesus grants through the ministry of the priest.