While attending a closed-door meeting at the Italian Bishops’ Conference discussing the admission of gay men into Catholic seminaries on Monday, May 20, Pope Francis allegedly used a homophobic slur while stating that gay men should not be allowed to train for the priesthood, as there’s already too much “ frociaggine (f**gotry)” in the Church. News of the discussion was first reported on Dagospia , an Italian tabloid website, but has since been confirmed by a number of other Italian news agencies. The Pope’s alleged use of the homophobic slur came as a shock to many Catholics who have, since Pope Francis’ appointment in 2013, believed to see a change in the Church’s attitude towards the LGBTQ+ community.
Indeed, Pope Francis has certainly been more receptive to LGBTQ+ issues than previous Popes. In 2022, he urged Catholic parents not to condemn their queer children. In 2023, the Church leader similarly approved Catholic blessings for same-sex weddings , as well as confirmed that trans people can be baptised and act as godparents in the Catholic Church.
While the Vatican has yet to respond to these recent allegations, the global LGBTQ+ community, as well as some members of the Catholic Church, have since come out in droves to respond to the Pope’s alleged use of the “extremely derogatory” Italian slur. One X/Twitter user responded to the Pope’s comments writing: “ Any #Christian who uses slurs to refer to the #LGBTQIA community, including #PopeFrancis ,.