While Pope Francis does not appear to lose much sleep over offending those who don’t agree with his leftist views, the Holy See took care to soothe any ruffled feathers that may have stemmed from his use of a term seen as a “homophobic” slur.
The Vatican let it be known the Pope apologized for using the term “faggotness” in a joking manner while reaffirming the Catholic Church’s ban on allowing gay men to enter seminaries and be ordained priests, according to the New York Post.
The term was reportedly used while Francis was speaking behind closed doors in Italian to bishops on May 20, joking that “there is already an air of faggotness” in seminaries.
“The pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he extends his apologies to those who were offended by the use of a term that was reported by others,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement.
Pope apologizes for gay slur
“The Pope never intended to offend or express himself using homophobic terms & he offers his apologies to those who felt offended”
Full text from Vatican Press Office (my translation) below pic.twitter.com/aVEzKKgSbP
— Delia Gallagher (@deliavatican) May 28, 2024
Francis is aware that the media was reporting on his comment, according to Bruni, who stressed that the pope believes there is “room for everyone” in the Catholic Church, having made outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics a hallmark of his papacy.
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Francis was addressing an assembly of the Italian bishops conference, which recently approved a new document outlining training for Italian seminarians. The document, which hasn’t been published pending review by the Holy See, reportedly sought to open some wiggle room in the Vatican’s absolute ban on gay priests.
The Vatican ban was articulated in a 2005 document from the Congregation for Catholic Education, and later repeated in a subsequent document in 2016, which said the church cannot admit to seminaries or ordain men who “practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture.”
As the newspaper noted, Italian is not the mother tongue for the 87-year-old Argentine pope who “often speaks informally, jokes using slang and even curses in private.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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