Pope Francis is an adult man who queens out in a gold-embroidered dress while surrounded by men in purple and pink vestments, and he ALSO gay-bashes. Et tu, Franny?? Sometimes it’s your own people, I’ll just say that. Apparently, Pope Francis said some unfortunate sh-t during a closed-door meeting with the members of the Italian Bishops’ Conference last week. In the meeting, Francis, who speaks multiple languages, used a derogatory Italian word for gay men. The Vatican is now apologizing on his behalf. Interestingly, the hate speech is only one part of a larger story of Francis hating gay people.
Pope Francis has apologized after he reportedly used a slur towards gay people during a private meeting. The pontiff, 87, reportedly said a derogatory term in a meeting with members of the Italian Bishops’ Conference in Rome on May 20, while discussing the subject of whether gay men should be welcomed into the priesthood. Italian news outlet Dagospia was first to report the alleged comments made by the pope, per BBC and The Guardian.
Pope Francis reportedly shared his objection against gay men being admitted to Catholic Seminaries after being asked at the meeting. Per the outlets, he then allegedly said the word “frociaggine” in Italian — which translates as a derogatory term for gay people — as he claimed there were too many members of the community entering seminaries.
Italian news outlets La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera and Adnkronos all cited sources confirming the pope used the term, leaving attendees shocked and confused, per The Guardian.
Pope Francis also allegedly said during the meeting that should gay people be allowed to train for the priesthood they are at risk of leading a double life, per The Times.
In response to the reports, Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, told PEOPLE, “Pope Francis is aware of the articles that have recently been published about a conversation held behind closed doors, with members of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. As he has had the opportunity to say on several occasions: ‘There is room for everyone, for everyone in the Church! No one is useless, no one is superfluous, there is room for everyone. Just in the way that we are, all of us.’ The Pope has never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he apologises to those who have felt offended by the use of a term, reported by others,” Bruni added.
That apology is terrible! It sounds like the Vatican spokesperson wants to pretend like Francis didn’t really say that sh-t even though multiple Italians heard him and they were offended. It would be the equivalent of the archbishop of Boston using the f-slur. I know the slur in Spanish too, as I’m sure Argentinian Francis knows it as well, and he’s probably used it. But the larger story is probably that Francis is droppin’ slurs while telling the Italian bishops that the church should find a way to weed out the homosexuals. “Should gay people be allowed to train for the priesthood they are at risk of leading a double life.” Wouldn’t the same be true of straight people? Isn’t the same thing true of all of those child molesters wearing the collar?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Pope Francis presides over the Second Vespers of the solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ. The Protonotary apostolic Mons. Vatican City, 09 May 2024,Image: 871656526, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF Foto / Avalon
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- Pope Francis presides over the Second Vespers of the solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ. The Protonotary apostolic Mons. Vatican City, 09 May 2024,Image: 871656623, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF Foto / Avalon
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- Pope Francis during the weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. 22 May 2024,Image: 875403020, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF Foto / Avalon
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- Pope Francis participated in the closing session of the “International Meeting of Sense” organized by the Scholas Occurrentes in the New Synod Hall. Vatican City 23 May 2024,Image: 876068881, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF Foto / Avalon
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- Children from all over the world at the Olympic Stadium on the occasion of World Children’s Day in Rome. Tens of thousands of children flocked to Rome for World Children’s Day, organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education at the behest of Pope Francis. Rome, Italy 25 May 2024,Image: 876391712, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF Foto / Avalon
Don’t forget his fabulous hat! Not surprising at all that he uses that language but I am pleasantly surprised that there was enough backlash he was forced to apologize.
It’s worse than that, the word doesn’t exactly translate to ‘being gay’, it’s actually a slur to indicate sort of “lifestyle in the gay way”. It’s very, very problematic.
That fabulous hat is called a tiara. Oh the irony.
That’s just a mitre. An actual papal tiara hasn’t been worn since the 60s, several popes ago.
I read it in Italian and actually what he said is even worse than what reported abroad, more or less “too much (slur indicating gayness) is already widespread”.
I hope people stop believing Catholicism is open to LGBT+ people…
Remember when we,thought he was the cool Pope?
I do. and it is really unfortunate that his homophobia came to the surface. At least he apologized.
Did he though? A spokesperson for the Vatican issued a statement, which included a mockery of an apology… he apologizes to those “who felt offended.” Implying if someone was offended, they got their little feelings hurt. “I am sorry I used that word. I never should have used it” (full stop) would be a real apology.
Nah, it’s FABULOUS that the homophobia is being made more public again! It never left, and it never truly will. The glossing over is worse, because it’s a lie designed to lure people in. Much, much better to have it out in the open. Don’t get me wrong, I’m queer and homophobia is horrendous, but that’s exactly why it’s so important to know exactly what the deal is with any group or institution etc.
I do. I’m so disappointed in him.
@Rapunzel: I never fell for the act. They’re trying to defend him by saying he may not have known what a slur it is since Italian is not his native language. But, as Kaiser points out, it’s not dissimilar from Spanish slurs and his Italian is said to be very good. The Phony Pope.
That’s so specific that it commands a knowledge of the language at a very proficient level, I also have never heard anyone saying it in recent years so it’s something that he learnt in the past and knew the despicable and homophobic connotations of the word.
I call BS on their apologies.
What is the Spanish slur? (Legit asking) Because I’m a native Spanish speaker and I only know of two and none start with the letter “F” — just the English one.
Honestly he’s not “cooler” than previous popes. He just expresses his opinions in ways that make them sound cool. Also, nothing has really changed under his papacy.
Word. Women and gays remain second class citizens in the Church.
Welp, I got no respect for this guy. Isn’t he supposed to be more liberal than some of the other catholic factions or am I not remembering correctly?
He is in some ways, which shows you how bad the rest is.
This church should focus more on misdeeds done by their clergy than using slurs.
Oh Francis how very disappointing. I liked you and now you pull this. Worry more about your pedos that you have in your ranks. It’s time for you to get rid of them and not just move them from parish to parish.
First Amber Rose now Pope Francis?! All the gay icons are falling!
“Pope Francis also allegedly said during the meeting that should gay people be allowed to train for the priesthood they are at risk of leading a double life, per The Times.”
Please, then explain the pedophiles who have been admitted into the priesthood and the ensuing cover ups of child abuse. I find it shocking that he thinks gays are an issue and unsurprising that he does. Eff off.
Repulsive and backwards! This is definitely “I’m sorry I got caught.”
When the apology is ‘I’m sorry you were offended’ that’s not an apology.
I’m sorry I said something hurtful and offensive, that’s an apology. Take ownership if you mean it.
So disappointing. He seemed to be one of the better ones. Disheartening that he still IS one of the better ones: the others are worse.
This sort of thing l (plus bodily autonomy) is why I’m not still a churchgoing Catholic. I would say, “Do better,” but it doesn’t seem they’re willing to.
Very disappointing. Agree that he is one of the better ones, both now and historically.
He is hated by the conservative traditionalists in the church who find him way too progressive (ironically). He was undermined repeatedly because of his so-called liberal stance on many issues by his own private secretary who he inherited once pope benedict resigned (an incredibly conservative pope). I have often feared for his life.
I left the catholic church long ago. It’s brutality throughout history and the often repugnant behavior of its popes is hard to reconcile with what I believed religion should be about.
I’m a fluent, near-native Italian speaker (dual citizenship, spent almost every summer there until I was about 16, still visit pretty frequently), and was willing to give him a little leeway on word choice because he grew up in an Italian-speaking family in Argentina and the term he used is often considered not AS offensive in the diaspora, especially amongst older folks. The closest equivalent I can think of is “queer” before it was reclaimed. Not quite as bad as the f-slur, but you would definitely still try to correct your grandma if she said it.
That said, context is everything, and the context in which he used it was heinous. THAT is what he needs to apologize for. I was baptized by a gay priest, my church is LGBTQ-affirming, and many of the friars who staff it identify as gay. Sexual orientation is mostly irrelevant to someone who practices celibacy, but where it does come into play is that, in my experience, it makes them more compassionate and accepting towards others who aren’t cis-het. Christ would approve. For that matter, so would the saint (Francis of Assisi) from whom the Pope took his name. If he’s going to be like this, he should probably choose a new one.
You must be joking.
I am a native Italian speaker and that’s always been a slur and quite heavy too. We weren’t allowed to use it in family settings, while it was normal using the more common ‘f-word’ that is also the word used for ‘fennel’.
He has a proficient level of the language and what’s awful he must have heard it several times as it’s difficult to pronounce even for me.
P.S. I never heard any of my older folk using it and given that many were all zealous Catholics, which means it was a slur you couldn’t say in front of children even among them.
I don’t disagree with you at all about the offensiveness of it in Italy, but I was speaking of its use in the diaspora, and I also qualified it as “OFTEN considered”, because language will always vary. My late grandpa and his friends, who left Italy as young adults circa late 1910s, early 1920s, and lived most of their lives in US, would use it in what they considered a humorous way. My dad, almost the same age as the Pope and also grew up speaking Italian at home, would never say it under any circumstances. At any rate, I’m not defending its use. It’s bad (particularly for someone who is supposed to be devout), and the context proved that he meant it to be so, rather than just being a slip-up or an archaism.
If it’s something that was used abroad I’ve no idea, but one of my grandfathers was born in 1908 and one in 1913 and never used it in conversation with us present, which means it was already considered a slur in the 1970s when I was a child. It’s never been used in a ‘humorous’ way in my lifetime, so I don’t think the pope can be excused if he came into contact with the word as a young priest, abroad or not.
Also, remember that the first things you learn in a language are swearwords and really know which ones can be used (or not) and when. I say this as a now-fluent speaker of English but once I learnt what the f-word (or p-word in British English) meant, I have never used them afterwards.
I wasn’t saying you were condoning it, just wanted you to understand that the context in modern Italy is as offensive as reported (actually, if you read the original story in Italian what he said is unforgivable).
I also think he might have assumed the Italian word may be used in the same sense the similar Spanish word is used in Argentiina (the m- one all newspapers reported here in Arg), which, at least until I was a little kid, was used to describe a child (or any person) who moaned a lot… a “cry baby”, I guess. You could tell whether the word was used to describe sexuality or behavior based on the context. While I do not doubt the Churchs homophobic stance, I also believe Francis wanted to “make a pun” with this meaning here.
The Pope fooled a lot of people with rhetoric about climate change and other social issues but he’s as conservative as his predecessors. He should be more concerned about the paedophiles in the priesthood rather than homosexuals.
There are deeply closeted gay men serving as priests right now. Is that not the definition of a double life?
Am I the only one surprised this info got out? I think, the people he met behind the closed-doors aren’t happy with him. Pope hating on gay people isn’t news unfortunately even when he was presented as more progressive.
He is very unliked by conservative Catholics.
“Someone who practices celibacy” . Priests who are discretely and privately sexually active would never submit to a poll so it’s impossible to know who is celibate and who is not. Imo Christ would not approve of someone who takes a vow of chastity/celibacy and breaks those vows. I don’t know if compassionate hypocrisy exists.
Responding to Miranda
A spokesman for the vatican went on a news channel to try to give context to the conversation and it came out even worse, he said basically that the pope meant that gay men shouldn’t be allowed in the seminary to avoid having pedophile priests. I was thinking to myself “holy sht! How can they be so bad at this?”
It just showed the Catholic Church still refuse to understand their pedophile priests problems. The victims included boys & GIRLS. And not to mention (unholy) priests having s3xual behavior with women.
So it’s not just a gay problem in the Catholic Church.
My personal opinion is due to the pedophile coverup mess they are so afraid of gay men as though they are pedophiles and they are biased and associate the two even if they don’t come out and say it,
He never directly apologized, cause it was said behind closed doors
There’s a lot to unpack here. From what I’ve heard from Italian friends, this source is not trustworthy.
I’m not saying Pope Francis is perfect, but he has embraced LGBTQ catholics like no other pope before him and he has denounced the rampant pedophilia among the clergy. I’m not calling bullsh*t exactly. I’m calling bull on the Vatican suddenly caring about LGBTQ people’s feelings getting hurt.
This sounds like a smear campaign. Most of the Vatican and the old regime hates him and the Jesuits for being too liberal. I will take anything I hear about Francis with a grain of salt if it comes from them.
I think you make very valid points here.
It’s true though, an official source from the Vatican “apologized” which means he did say exactly that. Sorry to burst your bubble but Pope Francis is no better than his predecessors. Did you miss when he compared birth control/contraceptives to weapons?
If it wasn’t for gay men there would be no priests for centuries!! Half of that room of bishops and cardinals must have looked at each other wondering “um does he not know?” Even the last pope Benedict is widely assumed to be gay (that information was given to me by a Roman who said he was called il gatto for how he slinked around the alleyways at night looking for male companionship). Not to be confused with pedophiles, which the church is full of too. Anyway saying this pope is liberal is ridiculous as the bar was set so low it barely left the floor.
All he has been doing lately is disappoint. We were all hyped to have a “modern” pope but he’s the same as the other ones.
Also, as an Italian, what he said is really offensive and there is no way he didn’t know it was a derogatory slur.
I didn’t know Valentino made a rockstud pope!