Pope Francis has issued apologies over his alleged use of a gay slur during a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops last week.
A statement from the Vatican had remarked that the Pope had not meant to offend anyone. The statement then went on to say that the Pope was apologising to those who were “hurt by the use of a word”.
The 87-year-old pontiff was said to have used an offensive term during a meeting with over 250 bishops last week, in an attempt to express his refusal to openly allow homosexual men to join training colleges for priests, even if they WERE to be committed to celibacy.
According to two Italian newspapers, Pope Francis said there was already too much “frociaggine” in seminaries. The word in question is an offensive Roman term which translates to “faggotry”.
The slur had made headlines globally and had sparked reactions from both LGTBQ groups and practicing Catholics, with some of them saying that the Argentine pope did not know what he was saying.
It is noteworthy to mention that the Vatican statement had not confirmed that he used the word but had instead referenced newspaper articles.
