Pope Francis has been accused of using a highly offensive homophobic slur again, just a few weeks after the Vatican apologised over the use of the word.
The initial outcry came after the head of the Catholic Church used the Italian slur “frociaggine” at an Italian bishops’ conference on 20 May, where one of the topics being discussed was whether to allow celibate gay men to undergo training for priesthood at Catholic seminaries.
The Pope was reported to have said that there was already too much frociaggine – which translates as “f*****ness” – in some seminaries, in response to proposals to allow gay men to undergo training for priesthood at Catholic seminaries. The 87-year-old pontiff is said to have spoken against the idea, saying that while it was important to embrace everyone, it could risk the person leading a double life.
An apology later issued by the Vatican insisted “the Pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms”, with several bishops in the room at the time claiming to Italian newspapers that the pontiff might not have realised the term was offensive.
Now Francis has now been accused of repeating the slur in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.
According to Italy’s Ansa news agency and the Catholic website Silere Non Possum, – which claimed to have a recording of his meeting with 200 young priests – Francis told the priests that “there is an air of frociaggine in the Vatican”.
Asked about the latest report, the Vatican’s press office made reference to a statement it had issued regarding Tuesday’s meeting with the priests, in which the Pope reiterated the need to welcome gay people into the Church and the need for caution regarding them becoming priests.
The Pope has previously been regarded as taking a somewhat less hostile approach towards the LGBT+ community than his predecessors.
In 2013, Pope Francis said gay people should not be marginalised and told reporters: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”.
Last year, the pope approved a ruling allowing priests to bless same-sex couples – but not in the context of marriage, civil unions or regular church rituals. The Vatican has said the Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions because God cannot “bless sin”.
However, the Pope said in a letter in 2023: “We cannot be judges who only deny, push back, exclude.”
Asked about Francis’s initial use of the slur on 20 May, a spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales previously said: “Echoing the consistent message of the Synod and this papacy, the Catholic Church is a place of welcome for all.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
