ROME — Pope Francis complained Catholic seminaries are too full of “faggotry” in a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops last week, local media report.
While the pontiff famously asked, “Who am I to judge?” in 2013 in reference to a homosexual monsignor who was trying to live a chaste lifestyle, he has been an outspoken critic of gays in the Catholic priesthood.
In 2018, Francis insisted that it is a mistake to downplay the seriousness of homosexuality, asserting that homosexuals have no place in the priesthood.
Homosexuality is “not just an expression of an affection,” the pope said in a book-length interview. “In consecrated and priestly life, there’s no room for that kind of affection.”
The pontiff reiterated that “people with that kind of ingrained tendency should not be accepted into the ministry or consecrated life. The ministry or the consecrated life is not his place.”
While speaking out against allowing homosexuals into seminaries to train for the priesthood, the 87-year-old pontiff said in the May 20 meeting there was already too much frociaggine in some seminaries, an offensive Italian slur that translates to “faggotry.”
The bishops should “get all the faggots [checche] out of seminary, even those who are only semi-oriented,” the pope reportedly added.
While the meeting took place in Rome last week, it was first reported on Monday by Italian tabloid news website Dagospia and has since been confirmed by several unnamed bishops who were present at the meeting.
Following uproar over the pope’s words, on Tuesday, the director of the Vatican Press Office Matteo Bruni said that 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.”
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