The official newspaper of one of the world's most homophobic places has heaped praise upon flamboyant 19th century playwright Oscar Wilde. Fans in The Vatican: Oscar Wilde Italian writer Paolo Gulisano reviewed a new Wilde book in the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, praising the outrageous wit for being "an aesthete and a lover of the ephemeral". "[He was] not just a non-conformist who loved to shock the conservative society of Victorian England," Gulisano wrote, "[he was also] a man who behind a mask of amorality asked himself what was just and what was mistaken, what was true and what was false." Has was "one of the personalities of the 19th century who most lucidly analysed the modern world in its disturbing as well as its positive aspects," the review also noted. Wilde had previously been regarded as an 'immoral degenerate' by the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI said as recently as last Christmas that the problem of gay sex is as much a threat to humanity as global warming.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Sunday, 19th July 2009 - 5:47pm