By NICOLE WINFIELD | Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis apologized Tuesday after he was quoted using a vulgar term referring to gay men.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a statement acknowledging the media storm that erupted about Francis’ comments, which were delivered behind closed doors to Italian bishops on May 20 as he reaffirmed the Catholic’s ban on gay priests.
Italian media on Monday had quoted unnamed Italian bishops in reporting that Francis used the Italian word “frociaggine” — a slur referring to male homosexuality — in describing undesirable activity in seminaries. A Vatican source told one news outlet that, in the pope’s usage, the term could be understood as “gay climate.”
Italian is not Francis’ native language, and the Argentine pope has made linguistic gaffes in the past that raised eyebrows. The 87-year-old Argentine pope often speaks informally, jokes using slang and even curses in private.
He has been known for his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics, however, starting from his famous “Who am I to judge” comment in 2013 about a priest who purportedly had a gay lover in his past. He has long insisted there is “room for everyone” in the Catholic Church.
“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,” Bruni said.
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.”
Francis strongly reaffirmed that position in his May 20 meeting with the bishops.