There’s a new book coming out to coincide with the sex abuse summit in Rome, and it’s already all the buzz on a number of Catholic websites. Entitled, In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy [and known as “Sodom” in Europe] the book is written by a French journalist by the name of Frédéric Martel — an openly gay man — and is set to debut in 8 languages and be released simultaneously in 20 countries. The amount of research said to have gone into the book is staggering. According to The Tablet, it includes “interviews with over 1,500 individuals in 30 countries, including 41 cardinals, 52 bishops, and 45 apostolic nuncios.”
This is the book that alleges that 80% of the Vatican clergy are gay. Frankly, I can no longer say I find that far-fetched. But from The Tablet’s preview — and yes, the source matters, since the “Bitter Pill” isn’t known for siding with orthodoxy and they’ve made a point of highlighting what follows — the author is claiming that Three of the dubia cardinals (Meisner, Caffarra, and Burke) were either homosexual or in some way so inclined. Two of those men are no longer alive to defend themselves. From the article:
Ahead of its release, The Tablet reviewed portions of the work, which, among its most scandalous claims, alleges Colombian Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, Pope John Paul II’s point man on marriage and family, had a “double life” with male prostitutes and affairs, alleges the two deceased “dubia” cardinals were gay, and that “this best kept secret of the Vatican is no secret to Pope Francis,” and it is the motivation for the pontiff regularly speaking out on hypocrisy.
[…]
He alleges that now deceased Italian Cardinal Carlo Caffarra and German Cardinal Joachim Meisner, two of the four cardinals who famously issued a “dubia” to Pope Francis related to questions over communion for divorced and remarried Catholics, were both homosexually inclined, along with American Cardinal Raymond Burke, another dubia cardinal, with whom Martel spent time in his apartment but whose interview was eventually cancelled due to a scheduling conflict, whom he describes as “unstraight.”
I’ve got no knowledge of Trujillo, but I’m not buying the slander against the dubia cardinals. This makes me doubt whether any of what he says can actually be trusted.
The book comes out next week, and I expect to see LOTS of people talking about it. This post is merely to advise you that if you read it, or see people discussing it, I think it would be wise to go in with your guard up. I’m sure some of what it reports is true. That said, some may be little more than salacious gossip. And it will be used against our side, and to make arguments in favor of open homosexuality in the priesthood (rather than that bad old closeted kind, natch).
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