Whether they are 'practising', 'homophile', 'initiates', 'unstraights', 'wordly', 'versatile', 'questioning', or simply 'in the closet', the world I am discovering, with its 50 shades of gay, is beyond comprehension. Editor's Note: We are running an excerpt from the new book In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy by Frédéric Martel. Not the exceptions but the system and the model, what American sociologists call 'the pattern'. Open secrets? Among them, alleged homosexuals, who were present in the Vatican every day, introduced me to their world of initiates. Have the pope and his liberal theologians realized that priestly celibacy was a failure? Never, perhaps, have the appearances of an institution been so deceptive; and equally deceptive are the pronouncements about celibacy and the vows of chastity that conceal a completely different reality. How Will Joe Biden Build a Common Future? Read Our Feature Series. Have the pope and his liberal theologians realized that priestly celibacy was a failure? The first person who used that coded expression in front of me was an archbishop from the Roman Curia. This brilliant piece of investigative writing is based on four years' authoritative research, including extensive interviews with those in power. Updated regularly. How? Since arriving in Rome he has known that he is dealing with an organisation that is quite extraordinary in its way, and that isn't restricted, as people believed for a long time, to a few lost sheep. A gay adolescent today has other options, even in Italy, apart from entering holy orders. He knows his 'parish'. We will come across this archbishop several times again in the course of this book, the first in a long series of priests who described the reality of which I was already aware, but which many people will see as a fiction. We’ll soon have a review and other commentary available. 'The carnival is over,' the pope is reported to have said to his master of ceremonies at the very moment when he was elected. Editor's Note: We are running an excerpt from the new book In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy by Frédéric Martel.The book, to … He isn't part of the parish! Learn more here, Copyright © The National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company | 115 E. Armour Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64111 | 1-800-444-8910, IN THE CLOSET OF THE VATICAN: POWER, HOMOSEXUALITY, HYPOCRISY, 576 pages; Published by Bloomsbury Continuum, Detail from the Sistine Chapel frescoes (Wikimedia Commons/Jörg Bittner Unna), Pope Francis gives his annual pre-Christmas speech to officials of the Roman Curia and cardinals present in Rome Dec. 21, 2018, in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. So these pariahs became initiates and made a strength of a weakness. And then I travelled across the world, through more than thirty countries, among the clergies of Latin America, Asia, the United States and the Middle East, to collect over a thousand statements. "In the Closet of the Vatican" - Latest News. We’ll soon have a review and other commentary available. Francis has often repeated his criticisms of the 'hidden and often dissolute lives'; the ones who 'put make-up on their souls and live off make-up'; the 'lie' erected into a system that does 'a lot of harm, hypocrisy does a lot of harm: it's a way of life'. Fifty years after Stonewall, the gay revolution in the United States, the Vatican is the last bastion still to be liberated! Do I need to say that Francis knows the people he addresses in this way without naming them: cardinals, papal masters of ceremonies, former secretaries of state, deputies, minor assistants or chamberlains? Kansas City, MO 64111 USA. My project isn't about 'naming and shaming', the American practice of making names public in order to expose them. So these pariahs became initiates and made a strength of a weakness. Here we will have to be counter-intuitive in order to understand it. Do I need to say that Francis knows the people he addresses in this way without naming them: cardinals, papal masters of ceremonies, former secretaries of state, deputies, minor assistants or chamberlains? I've often had a sense during my investigation that I've gone back in time and found myself in the 1930s or 1950s, years that I haven't known myself, with the dual mentality of the chosen people and the cursed people, which led one of the priests that I met often to say: 'Welcome to Sodoma!'. Double life? In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy (French: Sodoma : Enquête au cœur du Vatican) is a book by Frédéric Martel, which was published in French by Éditions Robert Laffont in February 2019 as well as being simultaneously released in eight languages. – but of understanding their secret and collective way of life. They have a 'family resemblance'. I don't need to introduce you to this cardinal who appears in public on the balcony of the Loggia, and who was caught up in a quickly suppressed case of prostitution; this other French cardinal who for a long time had an Anglican lover in America; or this other one who, in his youth, had a chain of adventures like the beads on a nun's rosary; not forgetting those who live with their boyfriends in the palaces of the Vatican, where I have met them; they introduced their companions as their assistants, their minutante, their deputy, their chauffeur, their valet, their factotum, even their bodyguard! Comments on Distinctly Catholic by Michael Sean Winters at National Catholic Reporter. They'll say it's made up. How many are there? Open secrets? Without this key for understanding, the recent history of the Vatican and the Roman Church remains opaque. Let it be clear that for me a priest or a cardinal should not be ashamed about being homosexual; I even think it should be one possible social status among others. But lots of people described this 'closet' to me. Editor's Note: We are running an excerpt from the new book In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy by Frédéric Martel.The book, to … Lastly – alas! Fifty years after Stonewall, the gay revolution in the United States, the Vatican is the last bastion still to be liberated! Rumours? My project isn't about 'naming and shaming', the American practice of making names public in order to expose them. Hoyt wanted to bring the professional standards of secular news reporting to the press that covers Catholic news, saying that "if the mayor of a city owned its only newspaper, its citizens will not learn … The details, certainly, but also the great laws – and there are, as we will see, 14 general rules in this book. Since then, the Argentinian has overturned the little games of connivance and the homosexual fraternity that developed clandestinely after Paul VI, were amplified under John Paul II, before becoming ungovernable under Benedict XVI, leading eventually to his downfall. By John L. Allen Jr.I've received numerous requests to comment on the sensational story in an Italian newspaper Thursday suggesting the existence of a shadowy "gay lobby" in the Vatican, linking it to the prospect of blackmail and suggesting that such dark forces may have factored into Benedict XVI's decision to resign. The world turned upside down, in some respects! It's an occupational hazard! Lastly – alas! He is an American journalist with a knowledge of five languages and a seasoned Vatican analyst. But that isn't my subject. I installed myself in Rome, one week every month, regularly inside the Vatican, thanks to the hospitality of senior prelates who sometimes revealed that they too were 'part of the parish'. But one becomes aware of the need to expose a system built, from the smallest seminaries to the holy of holies – the cardinals' college – both on the homosexual double life and on the most dizzying homophobia. Practising, certainly, but still 'in the closet'. r/nofeenews: Paywall-free news. He added: 'And if I told you all the things I know, you wouldn't believe it!'. It's an occupational hazard! Here is the pope: threatened and attacked on all sides and generally criticized, Francis is said to be 'among the wolves'. Pope Francis “is today by far the most popular religious leader on the planet, and one of the most popular leaders of any sort,” he said. The subject is: the intimate society of priests, their fragility, and the suffering bound up with forced celibacy, which has become a system. Opposition to Pope Francis Comes Out of the Closet | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. The homosexual sociology of Catholicism also helps us to explain another reality: the end of vocations in Europe. The author claims to have done exhaustive interviewing and research both personally and with a large team of interviewers and translators. This brilliant piece of investigative writing is based on four years' authoritative research, including extensive interviews with those in power. Some of them were worried about what I was going to reveal. The Vatican said Domenico Giani, head of its police force since 2006 and Pope Francis' primary bodyguard, resigned "out of love for the church." Anthony Egan SJ shares the power that he believes such a book could have for the Catholic Church today, scandal plagued as it is. His assistants, his closest collaborators, his masters of ceremony and masters of liturgy, his theologians and his cardinals, where gays are also in the majority, know that in the Vatican homosexuality includes a lot of the called and a lot of the chosen. With his calm ego and relaxed attitude towards sexuality, Francis is an anomaly. We might also put forward the hypothesis, even though it isn't the subject of this book, that lesbianism is a major key to an understanding of convent life, whether that of cloistered orders or not. With the homosexual liberation of the 1970s, and particularly since the gay socialization of the 1980s, Catholic vocations, especially in European countries, have naturally fallen. For a long time, as we will see, young Italians who discovered that they were homosexual, or who had doubts about their inclinations, chose the priesthood. ', as the Poet says, are practising. It would have been difficult to publish a book like this twenty or even only ten years ago. How? The New York Times bestselling account of corruption and hypocrisy at the heart of the Vatican. ROBERT MOYNIHAN Editor-in-chief, Founder/Publisher of Inside the Vatican magazine. Did they guess that the battle launched against gays by the Vatican of John Paul II and Benedict XVI was a war that was lost in advance? His phrase should be placed as an epigram at the start of this book: 'Behind rigidity something always lies hidden; in many cases, a double life.'. Editor's Note: We are running an excerpt from the new book In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy by Frédéric Martel. This Latino pope is the first to have used the word 'gay' rather than just 'homosexual' – and if we compare him with his predecessors, we may see him as the most 'gay-friendly' of modern pontiffs. Often, those priests, influential or otherwise, came on to me decorously, and some, with very little reluctance, more intensely. They even suggest, when questioned, that by forbidding priests to marry, the Church has become sociologically homosexual; and that by imposing a continence that is against nature, and a secretive culture, it is partly responsible for the tens of thousands of instances of sexual abuse that are undermining it from within. And we might assume that this pope probably doesn't have the tendencies or inclination attributed to four of his recent predecessors. ', The reason for this, among the older cardinals, should be sought in the past: their stormy youths and roguish years before gay liberation explain their double lives and their homophobia in the old style. I've often had a sense during my investigation that I've gone back in time and found myself in the 1930s or 1950s, years that I haven't known myself, with the dual mentality of the chosen people and the cursed people, which led one of the priests that I met often to say: 'Welcome to Sodoma! In most cases it isn't simply a general inclination, of a certain fluidity, homophilia or 'tendencies', as people said at the time, nor even repressed or sublimated sexuality, all equally prevalent in the Church of Rome. So I had to spend a long time investigating and living immersed in the Church. 'The carnival is over,' the pope is reported to have said to his master of ceremonies at the very moment when he was elected. The Vatican has one of the biggest gay communities in the world, and I doubt whether, even in San Francisco's Castro, the emblematic gay quarter, though more mixed today, there are quite as many gays! in English, magna cum laude from Harvard and a M.A and Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Yale. He added: 'And if I told you all the things I know, you wouldn't believe it!'. They are less so today because the resignation of Benedict XVI and Pope Francis's desire for reform have freed people's tongues. Frédéric Martel (PhD) is a French writer and researcher. Francis knows that he has to move on the Church's stance, and that he will only be able to do this at the cost of a ruthless battle against all those who use sexual morality and homophobia to conceal their own hypocrisies and double lives. By Grimm, William. In the Closet of the Vatican is a reminder that the experience of gay priests may differ from place to place. We will come across this archbishop several times again in the course of this book, the first in a long series of priests who described the reality of which I was already aware, but which many people will see as a fiction. 'You know, he's very practising. With the homosexual liberation of the 1970s, and particularly since the gay socialization of the 1980s, Catholic vocations, especially in European countries, have naturally fallen. Afrikaans Albanian Amharic Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bengali Bosnian Bulgarian Catalan Cebuano Chichewa Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Corsican Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Esperanto Estonian Filipino Finnish French Frisian Galician Georgian German Greek Gujarati Haitian Creole Hausa Hawaiian Hebrew Hindi Hmong Hungarian … It could be cut by a third without loss. Many of these cardinals who 'have not loved women, for all the blood that flows in their veins! But what Francis is unable to bear is not so much the homophilia that is so widespread, as the dizzying hypocrisy of those who advocate a rigid morality while at the same time having a companion, affairs and sometimes escorts. Others, last of all, proved to be loquacious, excessively so, as if they had been waiting for so many years to come out of their silence. Not the exceptions but the system and the model, what American sociologists call 'the pattern'. During that long investigation I spent more than a hundred and fifty nights a year reporting, away from home, away from Paris. He earned his B.A. So it is not a matter of judging these homosexuals, even the closeted ones – I like them! ', as the Poet says, are practising. The lack of vocations has multiple causes, but the homosexual revolution is paradoxically one of the main forces behind it. Excerpted from In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy, by Frédéric Martel (Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019). This pattern explains the war against Francis. And then I travelled across the world, through more than thirty countries, among the clergies of Latin America, Asia, the United States and the Middle East, to collect over a thousand statements. Latest Videos: This report is said to reveal not so much the existence of a 'gay lobby', as was said, as the omnipresence of homosexuals in the Vatican, blackmail and harassment built into the system. Most of the monsignori who have spoken at the balcony of the Loggia of St Peter's, between the pontificate of Paul VI and that of Francis, to deliver the sad announcement of the death of the pope or, with frank gaiety, to say Habemus papam!, share the same secret. This Latino pope is the first to have used the word 'gay' rather than just 'homosexual' – and if we compare him with his predecessors, we may see him as the most 'gay-friendly' of modern pontiffs. Do as I say, not as I do! Whether they are 'practising', 'homophile', 'initiates', 'unstraights', 'wordly', 'versatile', 'questioning', or simply 'in the closet', the world I am discovering, with its 50 shades of gay, is beyond comprehension. Enter your email address to receive free newsletters from NCR. web 20181221T1121-23109-CNS-POPE-CURIA.jpg, Capitol riot mirrors insurrections outside US, say sisters with international duties, Danish proposal on translating sermons gets pushback from bishops, Historians: Capitol Hill breach damaged U.S. politics, EarthBeat Weekly: Racial inequality colors response to environmental protests, Some Canadian provinces close churches to contain pandemic, Following attempted coup, Biden administration must prioritize anti-racism work, Catholic Extension receives $1.5 million grant for Puerto Rico recovery work, Amid travel break, pope cheers Lisbon youth jamboree plans, Amid cover-up allegations, German prelate steps down from lay organization, Latino communities have enriched the church, pope says, Bishops approve pandemic-influenced budget for 2021, West Virginia high court deals setback in state's Catholic church suit, Editorial: Stop judging, and welcome LGBT Catholics 'in good faith', Pope updates Vatican financial authority following scandals, San Diego gay church worker resigns after months of harassment, Report: Pope Francis meets with, hugs transgender man. Send your thoughts and reactions to Letters to the Editor. web 20181221T1121-23109-CNS-POPE-CURIA.jpg, Capitol riot mirrors insurrections outside US, say sisters with international duties, Danish proposal on translating sermons gets pushback from bishops, Historians: Capitol Hill breach damaged U.S. politics, EarthBeat Weekly: Racial inequality colors response to environmental protests, Some Canadian provinces close churches to contain pandemic, Following attempted coup, Biden administration must prioritize anti-racism work, Catholic Extension receives $1.5 million grant for Puerto Rico recovery work, Amid travel break, pope cheers Lisbon youth jamboree plans, Amid cover-up allegations, German prelate steps down from lay organization, Latino communities have enriched the church, pope says, Bishops approve pandemic-influenced budget for 2021, West Virginia high court deals setback in state's Catholic church suit, Catholic LGBT advocates praise Francis' meeting with Jesuit Fr. 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