Looks like Conrad Black has now got religion. Facing the prospect of being thrown in the slammer for fraud and obstruction of justice, Black is turning to God. Well, it worked for Paris Hilton after she got in trouble with the law.

Now waiting for his sentence on November 30, Black sent a 1400-word email to journalist Nicholas Stein at Men's Vogue. Stein details the interview in his piece here.

In that interview, Black makes the point that his faith is now helping him get by. "It has been helpful...in reading apposite passages from ecclesiastical authors, especially Cardinal Newman, and in conversation with several very knowledgeable clergymen."

Quite a remarkable conversion to Roman Catholicism for someone who had previously been an agnostic and who is married to a Jewish woman. Even more remarkable given that he saw the light sitting on the terrace of his 21,000-square-foot British Colonial-style residence at Palm Beach, Florida.

Black remains unrepentant, convinced that he has been made a victim of class war. He writes: "We have the...pursuit of prominent, well-off people who get into the crosshairs of the system essentially as a substitute for a wealth-redistribution policy, and we have a certain revulsion against extreme proliferations of wealth...Property is seized without compensation, due process has eroded, and the grand jury is no protection at all against capricious prosecutions. It is a difficult time to be a corporate defendant."

Significantly, he hired high profile defense counsel Andrew Frey, who helped Credit Suisse investment banker Frank Quattrone overturn his obstruction of justice and witness tampering convictions. So watch this space.