IN THE CLOSET OF THE VATICAN

Sub-titled 'Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy' this massive book exposes the rot at the heart of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church today. It is a brilliant piece of investigative writing based on four years' authoritative research, including extensive interviews with those in power. The celibacy of priests, the condemnation of the use of contraceptive, the cover-up of countless cases of sexual abuse, the resignation of Benedict XVI, misogyny among the clergy, the dramatic fall in Europe of the number of vocations to the priesthood, the plotting against Pope Francis - all these issues are clouded in mystery and secrecy. This book reveals these secrets and penetrates this enigma. It derives from a system founded on a clerical culture of secrecy which starts in junior seminaries and continues right up to the Vatican itself. It is based on the double lives of priests and on extreme homophobia. The resulting schizophrenia in the Church is hard to fathom, but the more a prelate is homophobic, the more likely it is that he is himself gay. This extraordinary book was published simultaneously in eight languages and 20 countries by all the major publishing houses, written by a team of 80 researchers, correspondents, advisors, fixers and translators and using only first hand sources. Pope Francis himself let the cat out of the bag when he stated 'Behind rigidity there is always something hidden, in many cases a double life.' An extraordinary and disturbing book, 555pp in heavyweight hardback 2019.