Citing local media on the 27th (local time), foreign media outlets including Reuters reported that Pope Francis, who has been emphasizing the Catholic Church’s tolerant stance towards the LGBTQ+ community, has used derogatory slang to refer to homosexuals in a private meeting.
According to Italian dailies La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, Pope Francis jokingly said that the seminary is already full of “frociaggine” during a private meeting with about 200 Italian bishops on the 20th. As the controversy grew, the Pope expressed his apology through a Vatican statement released on the 28th. The Vatican statement said, “The Pope had no intention to cause discomfort with a homophobic term. We express our apologies to those who felt uncomfortable due to the use of this term.”
The media outlets pointed out that these remarks, which surprised the attendees, were made in the process of Pope Francis repeating his usual stance that homosexuals should not be allowed to become priests. Frociaggine is an extremely derogative term in Italy that refers to male homosexuality, which can be translated as homo. La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera reported this news based on the accounts of unspecified sources and anonymous bishops.
Corriere della Sera quoted bishops saying that Pope Francis, who was born to immigrant parents from Argentina and whose native language is Spanish, may not have been aware that the Italian term he used was offensive. Pope Francis has been praised for leading the Catholic Church to adopt a more friendly approach towards the LGBTQ+ community.
In 2013, the year of his papal inauguration, he said, “If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Last year, he allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, causing considerable impact both within and outside the Catholic Church. The Vatican has not responded to requests from foreign media for comments related to Pope Francis’s remarks.