In the Closet of the Vatican

Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy

By: Frederic Martel

Narrated by: John Banks

In the Closet of the Vatican is a fascinating description and evaluation of financial, sexual and political misconduct throughout the Catholic Church at a time when new revelations are being uncovered each and every week. This audiobook explores the underlying causes and includes interviews with numerous Cardinals and other individuals, some of whom cannot be named.

Martel reveals financial scandals in the Vatican bank; political collusion with unsavoury regimes, including Castro’s Cuba and Pinochet’s Chile; sexual abuse and hypocrisy over homosexuality. In this explosive account, Martel goes to the heart of corruption in the Catholic Church and inside the Vatican itself.

Martel is a researcher and writer. He has a PhD in social sciences and four master's degrees in law, political science, philosophy, and social science (University La Sorbonne). He has been visiting scholar at Harvard University and taught at Sciences-Po Paris and at the HEC’s Business School MBA in Paris.

He is the author of nine books, including On Culture in America (Gallimard, 2006) and the best seller Mainstream: On the Global War on Culture and Medias (Flammarion, 2010, translated in 20 countries). He has had articles in Newsweek, the New Yorker and the New York Times.

©2019 Frederic Martel (P)2019 Audible Studios

Fascinating reading

A book that should be read or listened to by everyone with a catholic background.

As a Catholic myself the book has real force.

The writing style of the book is a mix of academic work, methodic and involved, and yet it steps back from being only thing by a large amount of story telling and reports of a large number of interviews If one was asked is this book primarily a psychological reflection or a sociological one, then sociology gets the tick in its box. A number of times Martel is able to point to how the story of the individual is linked to the problem and issue a whole society experiences and is required to face as a result of the telling of that individual's story. Finally there is one idea Martel offers which is noteworthy. He points to the presence of both gay people and non-gays in the Vatican but does not then argue there are two lobbies, one gay and the other straight. He observes while there are gay individuals, group formation for them, the capacity to be a political block is not there because that sexual orientation or interest can't be socially acknowledged. There is the ability for a political movement that attacks gays to be formed, and it is there in the Vatican, and it is populated by many who are homophile. There is permission for this group formation and Martel gives time to explain how this faction operates. This book is socking for some, as a Catholic the news that some in the Vatican are gay is no surprise, however the goings on, the things said and done, that can be indeed unsettling. A book which can be recommended to those who are willing to be open to what it offers.

in the closet of the church's very soul

The few anecdotes that I know from reliable sources, the double-lived priests I know or have known, and a culture of hypocrisy, coupled with the never-ending cover-ups of more and more sexual abuse cases involving prelates and priests lends much credence to Martel's journalism. Yes, McCarrick was fresh in my mind when I read this book. Frederic Martel and his team were like a Trojan Horse invited into the very heart and soul of Catholicism, its nerve center behind the Vatican walls. Drawbacks: Martel is not impartial. He hates the Church, actually celebrates the gayness he found within the Church, but wants the Church to change and be open and accepting of the homosexuality he claims permeates the institution.

What we've always known is true …. Mystery Babylon

Jesus will judge this 'abomination' harshly! All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.” Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues. For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.…

Riveting

Loved this. Absolutely amazing with straight up naming names and exposing the "hive" of the Vatican!