Pope Francis has been accused of using a highly offensive homophobic slur again, just a number of weeks after the Vatican apologised over using the word.
The initial outcry got here after the pinnacle of the Catholic Church used the Italian slur “frociaggine” at an Italian bishops’ conference on 20 May, where one in all the topics being discussed was whether to permit celibate gay men to undergo training for priesthood at Catholic seminaries.
The Pope was reported to have said that there was already an excessive amount of frociaggine – which translates as “f*****ness” – in some seminaries, in response to proposals to permit gay men to undergo training for priesthood at Catholic seminaries. The 87-year-old pontiff is alleged to have spoken against the concept, saying that while it was necessary to embrace everyone, it could risk the person leading a double life.
An apology later issued by the Vatican insisted “the Pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms”, with several bishops within the room on the time claiming to Italian newspapers that the pontiff may not have realised the term was offensive.
Now Francis has now been accused of repeating the slur in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.
According to Italy’s Ansa news agency and the Catholic website Silere Non Possum, – which claimed to have a recording of his meeting with 200 young priests – Francis told the priests that “there may be an air of frociaggine within the Vatican”.
Asked concerning the latest report, the Vatican’s press office made reference to a press release it had issued regarding Tuesday’s meeting with the priests, through which the Pope reiterated the necessity to welcome gay people into the Church and the necessity for caution regarding them becoming priests.
The Pope has previously been thought to be taking a somewhat less hostile approach towards the LGBT+ community than his predecessors.
In 2013, Pope Francis said gay people mustn’t be marginalised and told reporters: “If an individual is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to guage?”.
Last 12 months, the pope approved a ruling allowing priests to bless same-sex couples – but not within the context of marriage, civil unions or regular church rituals. The Vatican has said the Church doesn’t have the ability to bless same-sex unions because God cannot “bless sin”.
However, the Pope said in a letter in 2023: “We can’t be judges who only deny, keep off, exclude.”
Asked about Francis’s initial use of the slur on 20 May, a spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales previously said: “Echoing the consistent message of the Synod and this papacy, the Catholic Church is a spot of welcome for all.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
