Catholic Chief Editor Must Go Because He Criticized Amorim Laetitia

Under Henk Rijkers, the Dutch Katholiek Nieuwsblad has published articles in which the communion registration of newly married divorced persons is criticized.

Herzogenbusch (kath.net/LSN/jg) Henk Rijkers (59), the chief editor of the Catholic weekly newspaper Katholiek Nieuwsblad (KN), will lose his job on 1 February. Between Rijkers and Huub Vromen, the chairman of the Foundation, which is part of the weekly newspaper, a conflict has been smoldering in the debate about "Amoris laetitia".

Under the aegis of Rijkers, the KN has published several articles which contain criticism of  approval of Communion for divorced laymen. Vromen saw this as too harsh a criticism of Pope Francis. He wanted to show "the good in other positions" in the KN more clearly. Vromen justified this, among other things, with the declining number of subscribers, for which he blamed the strictly Catholic line of the newspaper under Rijkers.

Rijkers was compelled to negotiate the termination of his employment relationship in 2013. A dismissal was not possible under Dutch employment law, as Rijkers had always fulfilled his obligations under his employment. One day before Christmas it was agreed that Rijkers would leave KN on February 1st.

He had lost his position because he had "defended the Catholic truth", said Rijkers to LifeSiteNews. Vromen strives to present the change of the chief editor as a natural development in the face of new challenges for the newspaper.

KN will continue to teach, in the midst of the Church in the Netherlands and the World Church, writes Vromen on the 13th of January. But "the tone must become more positive, the focus less on teaching and more on pastoral subjects," he adds. "Polarization must be avoided," Vromen adds. The editors regretted the tone in which the newspaper had written about Pope Francis. This was "too one-sided".

http://www.kath.net/news/58265