The late Pope Benedict XVI has launched a scathing attack on the state of the Catholic Church under Pope Francis – from beyond the grave.

In the book, which was written by Benedict with implicit instructions that it shouldn’t be published until after his death, he claims that there has been a “vast collapse” in priestly formation [training for ministry] under Francis’ tenure, with gay clubs operating in seminaries, particularly in the United States:

“In various seminaries homosexual clubs were formed which acted more or less openly and which clearly transformed the atmosphere in the seminaries.”

The late Pope goes on to claim that a bishop had allowed seminarians to be shown pornographic films “presumably with the intention of enabling them to resist against behaviour contrary to the faith.”

He goes on to write about a seminary in southern Germany in which candidates for the priesthood and lay students lived together and ate together with married representatives, wives, children and in some cases girlfriends.

Benedict died in December at the age of 95 and is buried in the Vatican. His book, entitled ‘What Christianity Is’ is the latest work by recently deceased Vatican leaders to criticise Pope Francis.

Earlier this month it was revealed that former Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell had written an anonymous blog before he died in which he described the leadership of Pope Francis as a “catastrophe”.

The Vatican has not addressed the claims.