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Amos Lassen wrote on 10/03/2010:

Quattrocchi, Angelo. “The Pope Is Not Gay”, (translated by Romy Clark Giuliani), Verso, June 2010.
Or Is He?
Amos Lassen
I love when a book shocks people into reading and “The Pope is Not Gay’ is such a book--a provocative exploration of Pope Benedict XVI’s stance on homosexuality. It is irreverent as it looks at the Pope and the way that he feels about the subject. The book looks at Joseph Ratzinger from his youth in Nazi Germany and his membership in Nazi Youth and his tour of service in the German anti-aircraft corps. We come to see how he became a reactionary theologian and how he maneuvered and planned his election to the highest position in the Catholic Church. The book shows how he came to feel about the issues of birth control, homosexuality and abortion and we are made aware of his close relationship with Cardinal Georg Ganswein, his private secretary. Ratzinger is a man who has remained solidly rigid on what he believes. Quattrocchi includes Ratzinger’s writings on homosexuality in the book’s appendix and there are illustrations throughout the book and we get an inside look on how the Church has managed to become involved in the politics and societal issues of today.
I found the book to show the author’s angry feelings but in sublimation. This is done by giving us the absurd way the Church regarded homosexuality as far back as medieval times and the author uses irony greatly in this. Ratzinger comes across a hypocritical so there is nothing much different than when we see him on the news.
Speculation about the sexuality of the Pope is one thing but it is advisable to look at the appendices of the book that give Ratzinger’s views on homosexuality. In 1986, when he was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger wrote a letter to Catholic bishops, which was approved by the previous pope, on “the Pastoral Care of Homosexuals’”. In it he referred to an earlier Vatican declaration on the matter in 1975, which looked at homosexuality the condition as opposed to the “homosexual tendency” of individual actions which he said were a disorder (his word). However Ratzinger claims that in the discussion that followed this, a different interpretation was given with some claiming that it was either a neutral or a good act. The homosexual tendency or inclination in itself is not a sin but rather a bent toward “moral evil” (whatever that means) and therefore Ratzinger claimed that it must be understood to be a moral disorder. So I ask if it is okay in the eyes of the Church if it is permissible to be moral disorderly.
From what I have read in this book, it appears to me that Ratzinger is indeed a gay man (and I say that with no reference to his red Prada pumps).Perhaps he has never acted on his homosexuality and we do not know because there is no evidence. But we also have no evidence that he is not gay. (Good thing that I am Jewish and do not risk excommunication for saying this). He has commanded the gay members of the Catholic clergy to lie about their homosexuality and this alone shows us that his credibility is lacking.
Looking at the man himself we see him as a fastidious person who speaks in an effeminate voice, he demands certain rituals and his dress all point to something there. Quattrocchi describes him as "simply the most repressed, imploded gay in the world."
Can we draw conclusions?—sure we can but I have said enough. It is now up to you to decide.