Sarkozy woos Catholic voters with papal audience

Report and analysis of the motivation of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's third meeting in three years with the Pope, October 2010.

Analysts and politicians saw the president’s visit to the Vatican, organised at short notice, as blatant attempt to appeal to Catholic voters just as a heavy-handed crackdown on crime and illegal migrants in the summer of 2010 was used to attract far-right voters.