February 21, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Dr. Frédéric Martel, the homosexual French author of the new book In the Closet of the Vatican, claimed in his chapter titled “The Synod” how Pope Francis launched his “secret plan” to steer the Church toward accepting adultery and homosexuality during the two Synods on the Family.
Martel highlighted the crucial role in the synods of Cardinal Walter Kasper, whom he numbers among the “most open and gay-friendly cardinals.” Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri is being quoted as saying about the driving force behind the synods that “our line was essentially Kasper’s.”
Martel also claimed in this chapter that Pope Francis – with the help of Cardinal Kasper – invited an author to write a book using St. Thomas Aquinas in an attempt to approve of homosexual relationships, and then had his book distributed to the participants of the second Synod on the Family in 2015.
Cardinal Baldisseri told Martel that the “method” for the 2014 and 2015 synods on the family was “important.” The pope wanted to open doors and windows,” the prelate explained, according to Martel. According to this method, “the debate had to take place everywhere,” also in the dioceses and among the faithful. “The People of God had to choose,” the Cardinal is quoted as saying. Baldisseri is the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops and was placed into this position by Pope Francis in September of 2013.
This chapter from Martel’s book is especially significant because Martel himself, due to his own homosexual and left-leaning background, likely had more access than most other journalists to some of the organizers of the synods and to some of the close collaborators of the Pope – such as Baldisseri, Spadaro, and Kasper. He often quotes the main actors in what he claims are verbatim statements. LifeSiteNews checked with several Vatican sources who were involved in the synods, some of whom considered this part of Martel’s book to be reliable. The book in its entirety seems to be more reliable where Martel quotes those who are largely in line with his own homophilic views than when “he deals with his ‘homophobic opponents,’” explained one well-placed source in Rome.
Claiming that “Baldisseri’s gang are fast workers,” Martel pointed out that “even foolhardy Walter Kasper announced publicly, even before the Synod, that ‘homosexual unions, if they are lived in a stable and responsible manner, are respectable.’” The French author claimed that one of the secretaries commissioned to write a draft of what later turned out to be Amoris Laetitia, was a “homosexual activist.”
Martel claimed that Baldisseri revealed to him the heavy involvement of Pope Francis in the whole process of the two family synods: “Francis came here every week,” he quoted Baldisseri saying, adding that “he personally presided over the sessions where we debated the propositions.” Martel claimed that the controversial paragraph in the draft document on the question of homosexuality – which spoke about the positive aspects of homosexual relationships – but never received sufficient support from the group of synod fathers, was “deliberately added” by Francis’ team.
At another place in this chapter, Martel stressed Kasper’s role during the two synods and called him “the ‘brains’ of the Synod.” He also stated: “The fact remains that the preparatory text [of the synod] followed the Kasper line and suggested a loosening of the Church’s position on sacraments for divorcees and on homosexuality.” “The Vatican was now willing,” Martel continued, “to acknowledge the ‘qualities’ of young people living together, remarried divorcees and homosexual civil partnerships.” These were the three main aspects of the reform agenda and the “Francis revolution.”
But Pope Francis faced opposition within the Catholic Church’s hierarchy – among them being Cardinals Raymond Burke, Gerhard Müller, Carlo Caffaro who had earlier written, together with other experts, a book called Remaining in the Truth of Christ. Interestingly, Martel claimed that Baldisseri “had the pamphlet seized!” before it could be delivered to the participants of the 2014 first Synod on the Family.
The first synod on the family in 2014 was a “battle,” wrote Martel. He quotes Baldisseri as saying: “There was a consensus on everything. Except on the three sensitive issues.” Three paragraphs had been rejected by the synod fathers in the end and “the pope didn’t get his quorum.” Added Martel: “Francis’s revolutionary project on the family and homosexuality was defeated.” The Pope was “annoyed to have been blocked by the conservative cardinals of the Curia.” Francis – who was being described by sources as “hard-headed,” “vindictive,” and “authoritarian” – told his collaborators “he would fight and launch a counter-initiative,” claims Martel. The Pope thus needed to develop a plan, and that “war would be largely secret,” Martel wrote.
