BREAKING: More ‘erotic’ books by Cdl Fernández unearthed, after being hidden by Vatican
Three works written by Fernández, recently analyzed, document more instances of his questionable sexual-linked spirituality.
VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Fresh controversy has broken around Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández after more “erotic” texts from his past have surfaced, some of which were hidden from the official CV provided by the Vatican in 2023.
Titled “¿Por qué no termino de sanarme?” or “Why can’t I finish healing myself?,” the 2002 book by then-Fr. Fernández in Argentina appears at least textually to be a sequel to his 1995 work “Heal me with your mouth: the Art of Kissing.” The 1995 book courted immense controversy due to its repeatedly sexually suggestive and explicit content, the inclusion of unmistakably erotic and often ambiguous sexual relationships in which the genders of the participants are unspecified.
Then in January 2024 another work resurfaced, this time from 1998 and entitled “Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality.” Building on “Heal Me with Your Mouth: the Art of Kissing,” Fernández gave highly sexually explicit detail about male and female orgasms, likening them to a relationship with God. Following widespread furor over the work – which had been hidden from his record – Fernández said that it was “a youth book” that he “certainly would not write now.” The sixth chapter of the book was a particular cause for concern due to its apparent depiction of an alleged erotic fantasy by a 16-year-old girl, who related the details to Fernández.
Named as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) by Pope Francis in July 2023, Fernández’s actions have since been under scrutiny, due in no small part to the immense chaos and controversy he has caused since accepting the role.
More texts hidden by the Vatican
But now more works have been analyzed and unearthed by well-sourced Argentine Catholic website El Wanderer, to discover similar troubling themes.
“Why can’t I finish healing myself?,” looks likely to be a similarly controversial book.
The book bills itself as more “incisive and daring” than Fernández’s previous works, and being “a book that helps you live.”
A section early in the book titled “When sensuality clouds my judgment,” reads thus:
A body can make an impact if it is dressed in the right clothes, clothes that awaken sensuality by accentuating interesting features, depending on the body type. The sensuality of tanned shoulders and arms is accentuated by wearing a T-shirt. Elegance is highlighted by concealing fat with a black vest and white sleeves. A bare neck is more sensual when adorned with a necklace, etc. If we add to this a dose of imagination on the part of the observer, and in a moment of dissatisfaction, when they need to get excited or enjoy something, then a body can appear as something impressive, wonderful, indispensable.
But then, with routine, and discovering other different bodies, one discovers that that mass of flesh was nothing out of this world, that it has imperfections, shortcomings, and pains like all bodies, that it deteriorates and loses its charm with the passage of time.
A subsequent work called “Teología espiritual encarnada. Profundidad espiritual en acción,” (“Spiritual theology incarnate. Spiritual depth in action”) was published in 2005. This one is, however, included on the official CV provided by the Vatican for Fernández.
In a section entitled “Pausing,” Fernández writes opines about how to help the body relax if breathing exercises are not enough:
It consists of going through the entire body, paying full attention to one organ at a time. It is very important to note that this is not about “thinking” about that organ, imagining it, or visualizing it. It is more precisely a matter of “feeling” it, of perceiving it with sensitivity. It is about experiencing the sensations of each organ calmly, without judging whether those sensations are good or bad, but trying to relax and unwind that organ.
It is best to do this in roughly the following order: jaw, cheekbones, throat, nose, eyes, forehead (and all the small muscles of the face that we can perceive), scalp, neck and nape, shoulders. Continue with the right arm, wrist, and right hand; the left arm, wrist, and left hand. Then move on to the back.
Next: chest, stomach, waist, hips, pelvis, buttocks, genitals, right leg, left leg, right foot, left foot.
The key is to stop without rushing in one place at a time, without letting your imagination wander to another organ or another idea, until you feel that there is the same tone throughout your body. There is no rush at all.
At any point in the body, we should pick up some sensation (of heat, burning, pleasure). No part of the skin is insensitive, even if the sensations are very subtle.
Finally, it is important to try to grasp the whole organism, becoming aware of the entire body and feeling it for a long time.
The third work on spirituality analyzed by El Wanderer is “Para liberarte de la ansiedad y de la impaciencia,” or “To free you from anxiety and impatience.” Published in 2009 in Argentina the book is another which the Vatican carefully left out of Fernández’s official resume when he was appointed as CDF prefect in 2023.
Under a section titled “Learning to pause,” Fernández writes:
By putting us in deep contact with reality, it opens up bright perspectives, offers vast horizons full of richness, while at the same time simplifying life, freeing it from complications, and stopping it from getting tangled up in twists and turns that lead nowhere. When we are able to pause, and an object or a person occupies our entire interest for a moment, that moment is lived to the fullest. When our whole being is unified in a single direction, then we achieve a true encounter, a fusion, a perfect union, even if only for a few minutes.
It is not necessarily a matter of physical stillness, because this experience can also occur in the midst of the excitement of a very intense activity. This happens, for example, in an orgasm between two people who love each other. But there are many other forms of union that most people experience only rarely in their lives.
The latest revelations of Fernández’s past come in addition to the already highly controversial body of written work which the cleric has to his name, and which on a number of occasions the Vatican has tried to hide.
The outcry over his previous books on kissing and orgasms proved immense when they emerged in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
This new analysis of yet more of Fernández’s books – including the fact that once again the Vatican hid two of them from his CV – only serves to re-iterate the swirling issues surrounding his position as prefect of the CDF.
Appointed prefect in 2023, Fernández would have until 2028 should Leo XIV decide to keep him in place for the duration of his 5-year term. Whether the Pontiff decides to keep him in his position until then will have wide-ranging impacts for the doctrinal clarity of the Church, which has already suffered under Fernández’s prefecture.