Frédéric Martel and his new book Sodoma: "The Vatican has one of the largest gay communities in the world" – 14/02/2019

-I am like Saint Thomas, I need to see to believe. That's why I went to the Vatican: to know Sodom.

French sociologist and journalist Frederic Martel investigated for four years on a subject that the same dad Francisco put on the table shortly after his pontificate: homobaduality in the clergy. One of the many priests that the author interviewed painted the Catholic heart of Rome like this ancient and libertine city described in Biblical Genesis, Sodom, where the biggest sin was to be gay.

In the Argentine bookstores, Sodom: power and scandal in the Vatican (Roca), his 570-page book will be sold starting April 15. But next week the version Ebook It will be available worldwide: a controversy of proportions difficult to measure is expected.

The journalist argues that it is not a question of "naming and accusing"because "the book deals with the consequences of the secrecy of homobaduality in a majority of people in the Vatican". The edition, to which he accepted Clarin, Promise to reveal secrets hitherto retained, during the pontificate of an Argentine, Jorge Bergoglio, and bring to a real plane intrigues always suspected and related, before, to fiction.

Martel spoke with almost 1500 sources. Among them, 41 cardinals, 52 bishops and Monseigneurs, 45 apostolic nuncios and foreign ambbadadors. He also worked with testimonials in more than 30 countries.

Author of cultural research (see separately) and LGBT activist, points out: "The main question is, for me, why this book had not been written yet, even if everyone is aware of homobaduality in the Vatican. "

He replies that "for someone who works there, writing this book means losing his job." For an Italian journalist, it's risky and his own media fear the subject. For a non-gay journalist, it's hard to understand the codes. And in general, homobaduals do not understand too much the Church. There I tried to intervene, sociologist, researcher, "he says, and it is specified that the homobadual presence does not presuppose the denunciation of abuse, although in many cases it reveals the transgression of wishes of chastity.

In Sodom You can read about the role of VIPs in the Vatican and their relationship with the main political frameworks of the Holy See. "Francisco realized that pedophilia is not an epiphenomenon, is not the "last rumor" of which the cardinal spoke Angelo Sodano: is the most serious crisis in Catholic history since Great schism"From the eleventh century, the sentences of the book.

Last year, Martel spoke to Clarin and he foresaw that he was preparing an investigation that would be a bombshell. Now he said what he was doing Sodom.

Sodom's hypothesis is that the homobadual secret at the Vatican has an influence on the decisions that are made. How would that be?

The book explains how the clerical cupboard distorts all aspects of life in the Church. Homobaduality is at the heart of the Vatican system: the sources of business Vatileaks and so many scandals, the resignation of Benedict XVI, war against condoms, same-bad marriage and divorced families, misogyny within the Church. Is also the key that explains the concealment of badual abusebut not in a sense that one could think of.

Why

Here, you have to be very careful and precise: first, homobaduality has no direct link with pedophilia. Sexual abuse occurs primarily in heterobadual families, schools, et cetera. But it is true that 80% of abuses in churches involve boys or men, not women. 80% reported by the American bishops, 85% in a study of Spotlight (the disclosure of the newspaper Boston Globe, which was recreated in a movie). And the numbers are huge: more than 6,000 priests accused of badual abuse in the United States, 2,000 in Australia, 1,700 in Germany, 800 in the Netherlands, 500 in Belgium. This is a motive, not a question of "black sheep".

And what is this reason?

─ first, a culture of secrecy that has been created from at least Paulo VI (Pope between 1963 and 19678) protect mbad homobaduality in the Vatican. Over the years, some abusers have been able to act with this culture of secrecy, this law of silence, which were not created to protect them. This is the key. Second, when a bishop protects a pedophile priest, he not only protects him, but above all else. In most cases, these types of personalities are homobaduals. This is a parameter in most abuses.

The Vatican is full of codes. According to Martel, "to be part of the parish" is, in code, to say that a priest is homobadual

In the book, the idea of ​​a "gay lobby" is debunked …

─There is no gay lobbyThis is one of the first mistakes to avoid when talking about the Vatican. It was invented by conservatives and by Benedict XVI to try to avoid the real discussion about the great pregnancy of homobaduality in the Church. The Vatican has one of the largest homobadual communities in the world I even doubt that the emblematic neighborhood of Castro, San Francisco, has such a big one.

What is the link between this suppression of homobaduality in the Church and ideas such as opposition to the use of condoms or the condemnation of badual choices established in the book?

To understand this You have to listen to Francisco. Day after day, during the homilies of his mornings in Santa Marta, he talks about the Cardinals with "Double life", his "schizophrenia", his "hypocrisy" and his "rigidity"; All these words that I mention are used by Francisco. And yes, homophobia goes hand in hand with the Conservatives and, for many of them, with hidden homobaduality. I would even suggest this rule: The more a priest or cardinal is anti-gay, the more likely he is to be gay. When you're so obsessed and you say so much against an idea, you're more likely to hide something around that idea. Homophobia is almost an essential technique for secretly recognizing homobadual remedies. And that, I support with the immense amount of testimony contained in the book, many of which come directly from the Vatican.

"This book is not outrageous: it's based on sociology and reporting, and its publication is, in my opinion, a matter of public interest"

And how does this translate into the daily life of the Vatican?

It's interesting, because of all this, I do not deduce that any conservative priest is gay. What I know about my research: in the Vatican, you have 50 shades of gay. You have homophilic cures, who are homobadual but do not practice and stay chaste. And there are cures with regular loves, some even depressed by his lie and his double life. And there are even priests who have a boyfriend.

What does it mean to be part of the parish?

It's a code to say to be gay. It's an old formula in French, Italian and English to say things without saying them. I like that kind of formula that seems straight out of a novel Jean Genet or Marcel Proust.

Many who speak speak in front of a tape recorder. Some are anonymous – especially my 27 homobadual sources in the Vatican –

FirstThe first part of the book is dedicated to Bergoglio and explores his political orientations, from his Peronism to his visions of the theology of liberation. Where did these surveys lead?

─I would say that Francisco is a product of his generation. He was 23 years old at the time of the Cuban Revolution led by Che Guevara, a key figure for him as an Argentine. He was much more influenced by the theology of liberation than we believe he was against violence but also from reading strictly Marxist social problems and pro-guerrilla remedies. A key adviser to the current Argentine government has said to me: "He is an 82-year-old Peronist priest.How do you want it to be modern and progressive? It is mainly with the left in the social problems and with the conservatives in the family and moral domains. "I think this trial is tough and harsh, but I think that, given his age, Bergoglio is more progressive than we usually think.

"The book has a very favorable position with the pope's policies in the Vatican. Because?

"My book is very favorable to Francisco, as you say, even though I am not a practicing Catholic.I know that Cardinal Bergoglio was criticized in Argentina, but he is a more efficient pope now in Rome. And when you understand the war that has been organized against him by the right-wing cardinals – many of them being secretly homobadual – it's almost inevitable not to take sides with him. This pope is friendly, courageous and really dedicated to doing his job.

"Francisco denounced" the hypocrisy of double life. "For the first time, the critics of the Church came from within, from the holy father in person, so we must understand the" Francisco Revolution "."

And, as he says, he does not oppose civil unions of the same bad.

he he was a big opponent of gay marriage in Argentina and Romebut he was more empathetic with the civil unions in both countries. The book contains information on two secret talks between him and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi about civil unions in Italy. Basically, he remained silent and … for a Jesuit, the silence speaks volumes!

"The research has led through many Latin American countries. What did you discover in this region?

In no other area is the role of homobaduality as important as in the church. Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Cuba the church is very homobadualized. Cardinals who are organizing the battle against the theology of liberation – to name a few, mainly Cardinal López Trujillo from Colombia and Sebastiano Baggio from Italy, they are homobaduals. I interviewed priests who found people related to the prostitution of López Trujillo in Medellín. And of course, he was extremely conservativeand organized the war against the use of condoms and civil unions, and hysterically homophobic.

"In the book, I mention 14 situations that caused the resignation of Benedict, and I can confirm that 9 of them are related to homobaduality"

– Can it change?

-In the short term, I'm not sure that my book has positive effects on the Church. In the long run, I think so, because after 50 years of gay liberation from Stonewall, the time has come to have homobadual remedies. My goal is not to change the church. I am a sociologist, journalist and I just want to explain a reality and write what we can call a non-fiction narrative book. I try to explain "a" truth. And my search for this truth is similar to that of Pope Francis.

Author's profile

Châteaurenard, France, 1967. French sociologist and journalist, is the author of nine other works translated into more than 20 languages. His research focused on mbad culture (embodied in Traditional culture, 2010), the digital revolution (Clever, 2014) and the impact of gay culture on a global scale (Global Gay, 2012).

He has a radio program and frequently publishes in various media around the world. For his research, he usually travels around the world to interview, collect materials and write books.