In a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops, Pope Francis reportedly used a highly derogatory term towards the LGBT community, reiterating that gay people should not be allowed to become priests, according to Italian media.
Both ”La Repubblica” and ”Corriere della Sera”, Italy’s largest circulation dailies, quoted the pope as saying that seminaries are already too full of “frociaggine,” a vulgar Italian term roughly translating to “faggotness.”
The Vatican has not responded to requests for comment.
‘La Repubblica’ attributed its story to several unspecified sources, while ‘Corriere’ cited a few unnamed bishops who suggested that the pope, being Argentine, might not have realized the offensive nature of the term in Italian.
The political gossip website ‘Dagospia’ was the first to report the alleged incident, which supposedly occurred on May 20 during the opening of the Italian Bishops Conference’s four-day assembly with a private meeting with the pontiff.
Despite these reports, Pope Francis, who is 87, has been credited with leading the Roman Catholic Church towards a more welcoming approach to the LGBT community.
Early in his papacy, in 2013, he famously said, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” Last year, he even allowed priests to bless members of same-sex couples, which triggered significant conservative backlash.
Nevertheless, Francis conveyed a similar message regarding gay seminarians in 2018, advising Italian bishops to carefully vet priesthood applicants and reject any suspected homosexuals, though he did not use offensive language at that time.
This stance aligns with a 2005 Vatican document released under Pope Benedict XVI, which stated that the Church could admit into the priesthood those who had clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years but should bar practicing homosexuals and those with “deep-seated” gay tendencies or who “support the so-called gay culture.”
