80 per cent of Vatican clerics are gay, distorting Catholic Church with shame and culture of cover-up, explosive book claims
- French sociologist Frederic Martel spent four years interviewing more than 1,500 priests, bishops and cardinals
- He says the huge rate of secret homosexuality in the Vatican has created a church ‘built around lies, double lives and hypocrisy’
The hidden homosexuality of so much of the Catholic hierarchy has distorted “every aspect of the church”, an explosive new book claims.
In the Closet of the Vatican, a 570-page tome which will be published in 20 countries on Wednesday, claims that 80 per cent of Vatican clerics are gay.
French sociologist Frederic Martel, who spent four years interviewing more than 1,500 priests, bishops and cardinals, said the reflex to hide the “double life” of so much of the clergy has left the church “distorted with shame” and caught in a culture of cover-up.
“The culture of secrecy around the fact that the Vatican is mostly gay is the key to reading much of the moral positions the church has taken up” in the last 50 years, Martel said.
Pope tells gay priests and nuns to be celibate or leave the Church
It is a “source of distortion of every aspect of the church”, he added.