Protest the Pope: T-shirt and book – get yours now

The NSS’s “Pope – Nope” t-shirt is now available to order form the NSS shop. In eye-catching red with a distinctive slogan, the shirts made from 100% pre-shrunk cotton ring spun jersey. They come in a range of sizes and are going to be the tee to be seen in this summer. And at £10 plus £2 delivery they are a bargain. Order yours today while stocks last (this is going to be very popular) and please allow 7 days for delivery.

You might also want to read a fantastic new book called The Pope is Not Gay! by Angelo Quattrocchi. Published in time to do maximum damage to Ratzinger’s reputation as he visits the UK, it’s an irreverent history of homophobic and sexist obscurantism in the Holy Roman Church and an endoscopic examination of its greatest contemporary advocate, Pope Benedict XVI.

In his inimitable style, Angelo Quattrocchi traces the evolution of Joseph Ratzinger's life, beginning with the pope's childhood in Nazi Germany, his membership of the Hitler youth in Bavaria and his conscription into the German anti-aircraft corps. His has been a startling career, a story that helps explain his development as a reactionary theologian and culminates in his carefully planned election to the papacy in 2005.

Quattrocchi contrasts the Pope's doctrinal rigidity on issues such as birth control, abortion, and homosexuality to his extravagant attire and his controversial relationship with his private secretary, Reverend Monsignor Georg Ganswein. Rigidity on all fronts. Illustrated throughout and including Ratzinger's key writings on homosexuality as an appendix, The Pope is Not Gay! sheds new light on the Catholic Church's sustained interference in contemporary politics and society and the hypocrisy of its pontiffs past and present. You can get your copy, post free, at the NSS shop.