Book by Cardinal Fernandez compared sexuality, mysticism [updated]
January 08, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Cardinal Victor Fernandez, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, is the author of a book that explored the similarities between mysticism and eroticism, including graphic descriptions of real and imagined sexual acts.
The book, Mystical Passion, which the future cardinal wrote in 1998, has been available only in Spanish, but critics of the cardinal have made an English translation available. The book is not included on the list of publications by Cardinal Fernandez on the Vatican’s web site.
Cardinal Fernandez told Elise Ann Allen of Crux that he recognized portions of the book “could be misinterpreted.” The book, he said, is one “that I certainly would not write now.” He disclosed that he had “never allowed it to be reprinted,” and the reappearance of the work now was “contrary to my will.”
Cardinal Fernandez is the focal point of controversy over the declaration Fiducia Supplicans, concerning the possibility of blessings for same-sex couples, which his office released just before Christmas. His own thoughts on human sexuality have long been controversial. In the 1998 book, he wrote that “on a hormonal and psychological level there is no pure male or pure female.”
Cardinal Fernandez is the author of another book entitled Heal Me with Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing.
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