somewhat anti-Catholic
The TV says it's a miracle. The Church says it's a fake. Both are wrong. Only a priest tormented by lust, who is willing to trade body for soul, can penetrate the unholy secret of The Piercing.
Either this book was a scathing look at the Catholic church that was badly written, or it was just a bad book. I'm really not sure. But, the overall theme of the book is that priest's souls are so valuable and the priest's themselves so important, that nothing else matters.
A priest is being harassed by the devil, which uses homophobic insults on him. We later learn that the priest was seduced by the devil earlier in the form of a guy.