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Is this a big story yet?

Paris CNN — French far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen has been banned from running for political office for five years after being found guilty of embezzling European Union funds, in a politically explosive ruling that has shattered her hopes of winning the presidency in 2027. A Paris court also handed Le Pen, who was the frontrunner for the next election, a four-year prison sentence with two years suspended, to be served under house arrest, and a €100,000 ($108,000) fine. She can appeal but the ban will stand unless overturned by another court. Her party, National Rally (RN), was ordered to...

After a few tense hours we have a definitive verdict and sentence - and it is the worst Marine Le Pen could have hoped for. She expected to be convicted, but the key question was the sentence. It is a five-year period of ineligibility which is to be carried out straight away. What this means is Le Pen cannot run in the next 2027 election - barring some legal twist of which I am completely unaware of. This of course is an earthquake. It has massive implications for her, her party and French democracy.

ROME — Pope Francis warned Sunday democracy is in “crisis” around the world, likely with an eye to a rise in right-wing parties across Italy, Austria, Argentina, Netherlands, and Germany. It is evident that in today’s world, democracy “is not in good health,” the pontiff told a group of 900 participants in the 50th annual Social Week, celebrated in the northern Italian city of Trieste. The pope went on to compare the modern “crisis of democracy” to a wounded heart that has suffered a heart attack, manifested by “various forms of social exclusion” that “limit participation.”