VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis used a highly derogatory term towards the LGBT community, Italian media reported on Monday.
The remark reportedly came during a Bishops’ conference where the pope reiterated his opposition to gay priests.
La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, Italy’s largest circulation dailies, both quoted the pope as saying seminaries, or priesthood colleges, are already too full of “frociaggine”, a vulgar Italian term roughly translating as “faggottness”.
VATICAN
Pope Francis has called for gays to be prevented from becoming seminarians
The pope said there is too much ‘f*ggotry’ pic.twitter.com/xXVCOD7PIu
— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) May 27, 2024
The Vatican did not respond to a request for comment.
La Repubblica attributed its story to several unspecified sources. Corriere too cited unnamed sources. It also said a few bishops suggested the pope, an Argentine, might have not realised that the Italian term he used was offensive.
Political gossip website Dagospia was the first to report on the alleged incident which apparently happened on May 20.
Francis, 87, is credited with leading the Roman Catholic Church into taking a more welcoming approach towards the LGBT community.
In 2013, at the start of his papacy, he famously said, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”. And last year he allowed priests to bless members of same-sex couples, triggering substantial conservative backlash.
Nevertheless, he delivered a similar message on gay seminarians – minus the reported swear word – when he met Italian bishops in 2018. They must carefully vet priesthood applicants and reject any suspected homosexuals, he said.
A 2005 document, released under Francis’s late predecessor Benedict XVI, says the Church could admit into the priesthood those who had clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years.
Practicing homosexuals and those with “deep-seated” gay tendencies and those who “support the so-called gay culture” should be barred, it said.
(REUTERS)
In a career spanning three decades and counting, Ramananda (Ram to his friends) has been the foreign editor of The Telegraph, Outlook Magazine and the New Indian Express. He helped set up rediff.com’s editorial operations in San Jose and New York, helmed sify.com, and was the founder editor of India.com.
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