‘Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality’…
Another Scandalous Fernández Book Unearthed:
DDF Prefect Published Blasphemous Porn in 1998
There are news stories so sordid that no decent person wants to cover them. Then there are news stories so significant that there’s no way one can ignore them.
This current one is a mix of both, so please be forewarned:
The remainder of the post, including any links, may include explicit words or ideas that pertain to human sexuality and/or involve blasphemy.
In 1998, then-‘Fr.’ Victor Manuel Fernandez, today the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, published a book on spirituality and erotic love that is so sexually explicit/pornographic that it makes his 1995 book Heal Me With Your Mouth look like a chastity manual by comparison.
The title of the work is La Pasión Mística: Espiritualidad y Sensualidad (‘Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality’). According to a report by Crux, the book is “noteworthy for its detailed and explicit description of male and female experiences during” the culmination of the marital act. It is 94 pages in length and was released by Ediciones Dabar, a publisher based in Mexico that prides itself on carrying works by liberation theologian Leonardo Boff. The ISBN for the paperback version, for those who may doubt its real existence, is 970-652-052-X.
This book, of which it is rather difficult to get a hardcopy in our day, has recently been rediscovered. Like Heal Me With Your Mouth, it is notably absent from the abridged bibliography provided by the Vatican when Fernandez was named DDF prefect on July 1, 2023. Fernandez has given a reason for why that is, but more on that further down below.
We first heard about this scandal on Dec. 31, 2023, when the blog Miles Christi Resístens shared something found on Facebook about it. Not being able to verify the matter independently, we decided to hold off on reporting it until some more information would be available, and that is the case now.
The big news today had been cryptically pre-announced yesterday on Twitter/X by the Lepanto Institute. Today came their full report:
- Vatican’s Chief Guardian of Doctrine Wrote Pornographic, Blasphemous Book (Lepanto Institute)
Vatican journalist Diane Montagna was among the first to tweet details about it, and Rorate Caeli quickly posted the full English text (translated) of Chapters 7, 8, and 9, allegedly the most disgusting/damning of them:
- Mysticism, Sex, and Justification for Sin: A Rediscovered 1998 Publication by Victor Manuel Fernández (Rorate Caeli)
Meanwhile, Chapter 6 has also been translated, at least preliminarily:
- Working Translation of Chapter 6 (by Michael Haynes on Twitter/X)
The Contents of the Book
We are not going to quote lewd excerpts from the work here — the headlines speak for themselves. People who need to find more information can do so at the links given:
- Rediscovered book by Cardinal Fernández features graphic erotic passages on ‘spirituality and sensuality’ (Catholic News Agency)
- BREAKING: Scandalous book on orgasms surfaces from Cardinal Fernández (Life Site)
- 25 year-old book by Vatican doctrinal czar surfaces on God and orgasms (Crux)
- Cdl. Fernández’s book on orgasms contains disturbing chapter about teen girl’s erotic fantasy with Christ (Life Site)
A bullet-point summary of the main theses can be found in this post:
- Pornographic Book Written by DDF Prefect Cardinal Fernandez (The Okie Traditionalist)
A scan of the actual book is (currently) available at the Internet Archive:
- Victor Manuel Fernandez, La Pasión Mística: Espiritualidad y Sensualidad (Ediciones Dabar, 1998)
In case the above link no longer works, the Lepanto Institute has also published a scan of the entire text.
What we will quote from the book is one very important excerpt that touches upon moral doctrine:
But this does not necessarily mean that this joyful experience of divine love, if I achieve it, will free me from all my psychological weaknesses. It does not mean, for example, that a homosexual will necessarily stop being homosexual. Let us remember that God’s grace can coexist with weaknesses and even with sins, when there is a very strong conditioning. In those cases, the person can do things that are objectively sinful, without being guilty, and without losing the grace of God or the experience of his love. Let’s see how the Catechism of the Catholic Church says this:
Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors (CCC 1735).
(Source; italics given.)
Sinning without guilt! Now that idea explains a lot of what has been going on in the Vatican since Bergoglio usurped the Chair of St. Peter in 2013!
Apparently, Bergoglio could find no more suitable candidate for the position of doctrinal watchdog in his modernist sect. Now that says a lot, at least about ‘Pope’ Francis.
Years ago we published the following meme on this, a spoof on the brand I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!:
It may very well be — though this is mere conjecture — that the entire homo-perverted cabal Bergoglio oversees has Fernández play the role of theological mastermind behind it all, delivering the spiritual-doctrinal framework for their perverted acts and attitudes. Unable to endure the cognitive dissonance that results from their depraved acts when seen in light of reason and Catholic morality, these people have devised a theology and a spirituality that justifies or at least trivializes it all! Fernandez delivers the theological underpinnings of “Who am I to judge?”!
That is why in his homo couple blessings declaration, we see the DDF prefect drag the grave crime of sodomy down to the level of ‘nobody’s perfect’. As if there we no significant difference between not having reached perfection and habitually engaging in acts so depraved that they cry to heaven for vengeance! To people like that, all sin is equally serious, or rather, equally trivial: from entertaining a vain thought to hating God or murdering a child, it is all the same to them. “God never tires of forgiving us”, so what does it matter!
The outrageous and, frankly, ridiculous claim that sinful sex acts could just be a matter of venial sin and therefore not deprive the soul of sanctifying grace, underlies the ‘orthodox’ defense of Amoris Laetitia. However, as we have shown in the past, this is utterly impossible and based on a false understanding of how certain factors can — and can’t — mitigate guilt:
- Adultery as a Venial Sin? Amoris Laetitia and Mitigating Circumstances
- Vatican Doctrine Office explains Amoris Laetitia: Adultery can be a Venial Sin only!
Yes, it looks like the perverts have (fallaciously) reasoned themselves out of guilt, and as though this weren’t bad enough yet, under Bergoglio they have made it official and ‘magisterial’! What further proof is needed that Jorge Bergoglio (‘Pope Francis’) cannot possibly be a valid Pope?!
Fernandez’s Damage Control
In first comments after the breaking news today, ‘Cardinal’ Fernandez acknowledged the scandalous book is his but distanced himself from it — somewhat:
Speaking to Crux, Fernández said “Mystical Passion” is a book he wrote while still young and is one “that I certainly would not write now.”
“Long after that book I wrote much more serious ones like, ‘The Healing Force of Mysticism,’ and ‘The Transforming Force of Mysticism,’” he said.
Fernández said he cancelled “Mystical Passion” not long after it was published, and “never allowed it to be reprinted.”
He said the book made sense at the time after having a conversation with young couples “who wanted to better understand the spiritual meaning of their relationships,” but that soon after it came out he feared the book “could be misinterpreted.”
“That’s why I don’t think it’s a good thing to spread it now. In fact, I have not authorized it and it is contrary to my will,” he said.
(Elise Ann Allen, “25 year-old book by Vatican doctrinal czar surfaces on God and orgasms”, Crux, Jan. 8, 2024)
We recall here that ‘Tucho’ Fernandez also had an interesting ‘explanation’ for his earlier bad book, Sáname Con Tu Boca (‘Heal Me With Your Mouth’), saying a few months ago that it had been meant as a “catechesis for teenagers”!
Notice that although the kissy ‘cardinal’ is trying to distance himself from his 1998 book, he is not actually rejecting it. He is not saying it was wrong, it was an abomination, it contains blasphemy, it was pornographic, etc. All he is saying is that he feared it could be misunderstood. That implies that there is a right way to understand it, and that interpretation is what he obviously still stands by, though we suspect he won’t share it with the world any time soon.
We should add that Vatican journalist Bree A. Dail says the book had not merely been discontinued from printing; rather, even most records of it had been removed. Whether Fernandez had anything to do with scrubbing the records is not known, and we should not assume that he did or didn’t.
Enough Already!
Naturally, most people are outraged by the content of Fernandez’s Mystical Passion, whereas some of the usual suspects are downplaying it along the lines of ‘nothing to see here, move along.’
In between two calls for you to subscribe to his YouTube channel, Michael Lofton, ‘popesplainer’ extraordinaire, put on his somber face today as he made a very brief video suggesting that Fernandez was being persecuted by the devil for past sins he has repented of. — Except Lofton read a little more into Fernandez’ words than he actually said.
As we just saw, Tucho merely said he wouldn’t write this book today. He didn’t even say he regretted having published the work then, and he didn’t say anything was wrong with it apart from the potential of it being misunderstood (and of course we all know how careful the man is about ensuring his words can’t be interpreted in more than one way, right?). Sorry, but that’s a far cry from saying, “Please forgive me, this was wrong, I should not have written it.”
The editor-in-chief of Inside the Vatican magazine, Robert Moynihan, held a livestream today with the Rev. Charles Murr to discuss the scandal. Murr said only a complete repudiation of the work could save the DDF prefect now:
‘Archbishop’ Carlo Maria Viganò, Francis’ most outspoken but somewhat shady antagonist, took to Twitter/X to call on the Vatican Swiss guards to arrest Bergoglio and Fernandez: “The Swiss Guards have sworn to defend the See of Peter, not the one who is systematically demolishing it. Let them therefore be faithful to their oath and arrest these heretical perverts!” (source).
Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute concluded as follows:
This book by Victor Manual Fernandez reveals a perverted mind with a twisted theology. His scandalous descriptions of intimate bedroom behavior may be expected in the pages of a pornographic magazine, but they have no place in Catholic theology. Furthermore, his reduction of the mystical experiences of the saints to sexually orgasmic experiences is not only debased, but it borders on (if not transgressing into) blasphemy and sacrilege. But by far, the worst elements of the book have to do with the reduction of the marital act to the experience of pleasure between two “human beings” for the sake of bringing the other to completion as expressions of “true love.” Not only does he conspicuously omit the primary purpose of the marital act (the begetting of children), but his reduction of the act to expressions and experiences of pleasure opens the door for contraception and sodomy.
(Michael Hichborn, “Vatican’s Chief Guardian of Doctrine Wrote Pornographic, Blasphemous Book”, Lepanto Institute, Jan. 8, 2024)
It would be a mistake, however, to think that a book like this will incur displeasure from ‘Pope’ Francis. If anything, it probably helped Fernandez to get the job he has now.
Had he written a book advocating for the Traditional Latin Mass, now that might get him fired.
Image source: composite with elements from lepantoin.org and YouTube (screenshot)
Licenses: fair use
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