Italian news agencies reported Pope Francis repeated an anti-gay slur during a meeting with priests in Rome on Tuesday, along with a derogatory term he was charged with abuse two weeks ago. The Vatican, in summarizing the meeting, said only that the pope warned against admitting gay men into Roman Catholic seminaries.
The Vatican did not mention the reports of two of the most famous news agencies in Italy, ANSA And Adnkronos, that he again used the word “frociaggine,” a derogatory Italian slang term referring to gay men. The reports cited anonymous sources who said they were present at the meeting.
The New York Times could not independently verify the Pope’s use of the term. A Vatican spokesman declined to comment Tuesday evening.
The Pope was accused of using similar terminology last month at a private meeting with Italian bishops, according to several people present at the meeting who spoke anonymously to Italian media.
Those reports sparked widespread backlash and prompted an apology from the Pope, issued through the director of the Holy See’s press office, who said: “The Pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he apologizes to those who were offended by the use of a term reported by others.”
According to Vatican News, the Holy See’s online news site, Tuesday’s meeting took place at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome. There, the summary said, the Pope “spoke about the dangers of ideologies in the Church” and reiterated that while the Church should welcome those “with homosexual tendencies” , but the Church should exercise “prudence” when admitting them to seminaries.
The Vatican said the caucus also addressed “pastoral” and “current” topics, such as substance abuse, low voter turnout in elections and wars in the Middle East , Ukraine and elsewhere.
Francis has been widely credited for making moves to welcome the LGBTQ community in the Roman Catholic Church, issuing a nearly inclusive message and deciding to allow priests to bless the Catholic Church. same-sex couple.
But previous reports of the Pope using homophobic slurs have upset and alienated some members of the LGBTQ community, inside and outside the church.
Following reports in May, a gay priest written in an American magazinea Jesuit publication, said he was “shocked and saddened” by the remarks and that “we need more than an apology for Pope Francis’ homophobic slur.”
Italian politician Alessandro Zan, gay and prominent champion of the LGBTQ community, write on social networks then: “Not too much ‘frociaggine’. There are too many people who are homophobic.”
