In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy is the English title of the major book by the French sociologist and gay rights advocate Frédéric Martel. Written in the classic French style of long-form journalism, with which Anglophone readers may be acquainted but likely not accustomed, the book can read like a meandering yarn.
Martel’s conversational style is that of the raconteur. While he tells a captivating story, some of the claims he advances in the book – major and minor – may be difficult to nail down. Some of the media coverage has also conflated claims of Martel’s interviewees with claims Martel himself advances.
