(Vatican Radio) Dutch Justice Minister, Ard van der Steur, has resigned in a row over a 2001 compensation payment to a convicted drug trafficker. His departure is seen as a blow to the government of Liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte ahead of upcoming elections.Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: The visibly emotional Van der Steur resigned after a six-hour grilling by opposition parties. "I see, I notice and I feel that my answers don't matter....Many already have already drawn their political conclusions," he told Parliament. He added he wanted to defend himself against trumped-up charges. But now, he said, "I'm handing in my resignation to his Majesty the King (Willem-Alexander). Thank you." Minister Van der Steur is the third member of Prime Minister Rutte's government to resign over the scandal.Former Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten and his junior minister, Fred Teeven, resigned in 2015 after misleading parliament over the 2001 deal.MUC...
(Vatican Radio) Dutch Justice Minister, Ard van der Steur, has resigned in a row over a 2001 compensation payment to a convicted drug trafficker. His departure is seen as a blow to the government of Liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte ahead of upcoming elections.
Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:
The visibly emotional Van der Steur resigned after a six-hour grilling by opposition parties. "I see, I notice and I feel that my answers don't matter....Many already have already drawn their political conclusions," he told Parliament.
He added he wanted to defend himself against trumped-up charges. But now, he said, "I'm handing in my resignation to his Majesty the King (Willem-Alexander). Thank you."
Minister Van der Steur is the third member of Prime Minister Rutte's government to resign over the scandal.Former Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten and his junior minister, Fred Teeven, resigned in 2015 after misleading parliament over the 2001 deal.
MUCH MONEY
The affair revolves around a deal prosecutors reached with a drug trafficker, Cees Helman, who received roughly $2.1 million dollars in exchange for crucial information.
Van der Steur has been criticized for his role in answers provided to parliament over the issue. He has denied advising certain information be withheld.
Prime Minnister Rutte has also come under fire from opposition politicians. The latest resignation comes while his centre-right Liberal VVD party is already trailing in opinion polls ahead of a general election in March.
The Freedom Party, led by anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders, is leading public opinion polls.
Pope Francis waves while traveling by boat in Venice, Italy, for a meeting with young people at the Basilica della Madonna della Salute on April 28, 2024. Earlier in the day he met with inmates at a women's prison. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis opened his one-day visit to Venice on Sunday morning with a meeting with female inmates where he reaffirmed the importance of fraternity and human dignity, noting that prison can be a place of new beginnings. "A stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," the pope said to the female inmates gathered in the intimate courtyard of the Women's Prison on the Island of Giudecca. Pope Francis left the Vatican by helicopter at approximately 6:30 in the mo...
Pope Francis prays in front of the tomb of St. Mark the Evangelist inside St. Mark's Basilica in Venice on April 28, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 09:35 am (CNA).Pope Francis had a full slate of events Sunday during his day trip to Venice, a trip that tied together a message of unity and fraternity with the artistic patrimony of a city that has been a privileged place of encounter across the centuries. "Faith in Jesus, the bond with him, does not imprison our freedom. On the contrary, it opens us to receive the sap of God's love, which multiplies our joy, takes care of us like a skilled vintner, and brings forth shoots even when the soil of our life becomes arid," the pope said to over 10,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Mark's Square. Framing his homily during the Mass on the theme of unity, one of the central points articulated throughout several audiences spread across the morning, Pope Francis reminded Christians: "Remaining ...
Prayer house at San Simeone, Italy, September 2012. / Credit: Courtesy of Ricostruttori nella preghieraRome, Italy, Apr 28, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Across Italy there are houses of prayer run by the Ricostruttori (Reconstructors) community, a Catholic movement dedicated to people who are far from the Church but attracted to spirituality, particularly Eastern meditation and Buddhist practices. The Reconstructors was founded in 1978 by Jesuit Father Gian Vittorio Cappelletto. "During the postconciliar period, the Church was faced with the need for new forms of evangelization and apostolate, to reach out to people who were drifting away," Don Roberto Rondanina, priest and superior of the Ricostruttori, explained to CNA. "It was a time when Eastern meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, the New Age ... were beginning to spread in Europe." "Father Cappelletto, who lived in Turin, sought to understand the meaning of this 'flight to the East' and felt the need to find new forms of sp...