EPISTLES

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), has recently become the center of a heated debate following the resurfacing of his past writings on human sexuality and sensuality.

Appointed by Pope Francis, Fernández, known colloquially as “Tucho,” has published works such as Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing and The Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality. However, a new book details meditations on body organs, sensuality, and orgasms, prompting strong condemnation from Catholic commentators.

Critics argue these writings are unsuitable for a high-ranking cleric, especially one tasked with guarding Catholic doctrine—an office previously held by figures like Pope Benedict XVI.

The following discussion highlights a fundamental disagreement over the appropriate intersection of spirituality, sensuality, and magisterial authority.

The Cardinal’s Controversial Publications

Raymond Arroyo: Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández. He’s the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, appointed by Pope Francis, and he remains in that office.

He wrote a quasi-erotic book, I guess you could call it, several years ago, called Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing. He followed that up with another book called The Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality.

Well, this week, El Wanderer dug up some other texts where he refers to orgasms and writes, quote: “A body can make an impact if it wears the right clothes, clothes that awaken sensuality by accentuating interesting shapes.” That’s from a book called Why, or a text rather called Why Can’t I Finish Healing Myself.

In another work called Spiritual Depth in Action, Cardinal Fernández encourages the reader to, quote: “Experience the sensations of each organ calmly, without judging whether those sensations are good or bad, but trying to relax and unwind that organ: stomach, waist, hips, buttocks, genitals. The key is to linger without rushing in one place at a time. There is no rush.”

Father, your reaction to these bizarre, borderline kinky instructions and meditations from a cleric and a cardinal, no less.

Clerical Reaction and Call for Removal

Father Gerald Murray: And a Cardinal who occupies what used to be the second most important position in the Roman hierarchy. This is a total disgrace.

When Pope Francis appointed this Cardinal to the job he has in Rome, these books surfaced as being part of his—the first two books you mentioned, rather—surfaced being part of his bibliography.

These other books were never referred to. They’ve been somehow dug up and found by this blogger named El Wanderer down in Argentina.

So Fernández has demonstrated he is completely unsuited to be a pastor of souls because he is doing things that pornographers do. This is a horrendous production done by a priest, done by someone…

And the other scandal, of course, is when these earlier books came out, Pope Francis kind of justified it, [saying] they were writings as an earlier, you know, younger priest, etc. These date—these continued way after the dates of those earlier writings. He has a habit.

You know, if we were doing a profile, a criminal profile about, you know, a sex abuser, and I’m not saying he’s a sex abuser, but if you saw this literature coming out, and you would say to yourself, well, it’s quite clear that the sex abuser got started a long time ago. In his case, I would say the pornographer got started a long time ago, and he’s doing things that nobody should do as a priest.

I’m totally disgusted. He should be fired. This is going to be a benchmark for Pope Leo. This man should be fired. He is unsuited.

Last week, he issued a—two weeks ago, he issued a document which is essentially a veiled attack on the Blessed Virgin Mary‘s privileges.

The Doctrinal Office and Context

Raymond Arroyo: Bob, your reaction to this. I mean, this is Cardinal “Tucho” Fernández. He is the last word on doctrine in the Vatican. This is a job for those who may not be fully aware or cognizant—this was a job held by Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict, and Cardinal Müller in recent days. What do you make of this?

Robert Royal: Well, I wouldn’t want to insult the Argentinian people by thinking that they need some instruction in having more sex or better sex.

It’s remarkable to me, as a layman, that a priest thinks he has to, you know, encourage people how to relax. And, you know, it’s a bizarre mentality that he has.

And, you know, he just issued this other document about one flesh, about monogamy. And, as I mentioned to both of you, privately, he quotes a number of poets in there.

He quotes Walt Whitman, who was a homosexual. A great poet, I mean, I have to say that that’s true. He quotes Pablo Neruda, who was married three times. He quotes the French modernist Paul Éluard, who was also married three times.

So, you know, you can find passages in writers like this that kind of give you a boost of what love is like and what marital union is like. But, at the same time, there’s something bizarre about calling in those kind of troops in the Catholic Church, which has a very rich Tradition and doesn’t have to resort to this kind of double, triple carom shots or whatever these things are. It’s just strange.

Raymond Arroyo: Yeah, it’s bizarre. I mean, was the Song of Songs not available that week? I mean, he couldn’t quote that. He had to go to Walt Whitman. I mean, it is—you read this stuff, and as Father (Murray) said, between the lines, it is revealing, and it’s troubling. And why more people aren’t disturbed by it, even in Rome, I don’t know.

Reference: Raymond Arroyo. (2025, December 12). Attacks on the Sacred and a Kinky Vatican Official? | Prayerful Posse [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/3ng5xHVMA4g