Description
A startlingly revealing and detailed account of corruption and hypocrisy at the heart of the Vatican, now updated with new material taking into account developments since publication.
About the Author
Frederic Martel is a French researcher and writer. He is the author of ten books, including In the Closet of the Vatican, which was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into 20 languages. The book was a number one bestseller in France for eight weeks and became a bestseller in 15 other countries. As a journalist, Martel also hosts a weekly radio show on media and culture for French National Public Radio. He lives in Paris.
Reviews
[An] earth-shaking expose of clerical corruption [...] What Martel does, quite masterfully, is to connect the dots that reveal an ecclesial system in profound decay [...] In the Closet of the Vatican examines in impressive detail the double lives led by many of the church's prelates [...] Without question, [the book] is a truly remarkable publishing event * National Catholic Reporter [US] *
A truly shocking theory about the Vatican; the largest gay community in the world * Il Giornale [Italy] *
I urge every Catholic to read it, however difficult that may be [...] The book did not surprise me, as such, but it still stunned, shocked, and disgusted me. You simply cannot unread it, or banish what is quite obviously true from your mind [...] This may seem like hyperbole, but in my view, the last drops of moral authority the Vatican might hope to have evaporate with this book. -- Andrew Sullivan * New York Magazine *
Probably one of the best books by a journalist ever written * Gazeta Wyborcza [Poland] *
Martel's conversational style is that of the raconteur [...] he tells a captivating story * Catholic Herald *
Stunned may be a much-overused word, but it's the best one I know to describe my wonderment at the dimensions of what has come into view [...] All this builds up to the realisation that you are seeing something which, once seen cannot be unseen. By anyone who has seen it. Once it is seen, it is known as a fact about the Church's institutional working that cannot be got around. To pretend otherwise is a sign of delusion. -- James Alison * ABC.net.au *
A glimpse of the poisonous world that Frederic Martel, himself gay, has spent five years researching for this book -- Andrew Brown, * Guardian *
An important revelation * Daily Telegraph *
Sensational ... this is much, much more than an expose of some taffeta-clad hypocrites...fascinating * Sunday Times *
Explosive ... Pope Francis seems to be ... determined to reform the Vatican ... If Martel's book proves anything, it is that this is now seriously overdue ... It would be a mistake to rubbish this book ... [Martel is] a highly intelligent and honest journalist and the Church will need courage to respond to his revelations fruitfully * The Tablet *
A remarkable feat of investigation ... Any friend of the Roman Catholic Church needs to take this book's message seriously. -- Diarmaid MacCulloch * The Times *
When God died, the official cause was elderly enfeeblement; after reading Frederic Martel's expose of infamy in the Catholic church, I suspect that the old boy committed suicide in remorse, aghast at the crimes and un-Christian sins of organised religion * Observer *
Book Information
ISBN 9781472966186
Author Frederic Martel
Format Paperback
Page Count 592
Imprint Bloomsbury Continuum
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 404g