Pope apologizes after being quoted using vulgar term about gay men in talk about ban on gay priests

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis apologized Tuesday after he was quoted as using a vulgar term about gay men to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s ban on gay priests.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a statement acknowledging the media storm that erupted around Francis’ comments, which were delivered behind closed doors to Italian bishops on May 20.

Italian media on Monday cited anonymous Italian bishops in reporting that Francis jokingly used the term “faggot” while speaking in Italian during the meeting. He had used the term to reaffirm the Vatican’s ban on allowing gay men to enter seminaries and be ordained priests.

Bruni said Francis was aware of the reports and recalled that the Argentine pope, who has made outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics a hallmark of his papacy, has long insisted that there is “place 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 the training of Italian seminarians. The document, which has not been published pending review by the Holy See, supposedly sought to open some room for maneuver in the Vatican’s absolute ban on homosexual priests.

The Vatican ban was articulated in a 2005 document from the Congregation for Catholic Education, and then repeated in a later 2016 document, which said the church cannot admit to seminaries or ordain men who “practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture.”

Francis forcefully reaffirmed that position in his May 20 meeting with Italian bishops, joking that “there is already an air of faggot” in the seminaries, Italian media reported, following initial reports from the gossip site Dagospia.

Italian is not Francis’ native language, and the Argentine pope has made linguistic errors in the past that drew attention. The 87-year-old Argentine pope often speaks informally, jokes using slang and even curses in private.

However, he has been known for his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics, starting with his famous “Who am I to judge” comment in 2013 about a priest who allegedly had a gay lover in his past?