The Pope used a highly offensive word towards gay men as he reaffirmed his stance that they should not be priests, Italian media has reported.
Pope Francis is believed to have made the remark in a closed-door meeting with bishops, according to the country’s largest daily newspapers La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera.
Both quoted the Pope as describing priesthood colleges as already too full of “frociaggine” – a highly offensive Italian slur.
The Vatican has not commented on the reports.
The incident is said to have happened on 20 May, as first reported by political gossip website Dagospia, when the Italian Bishops Conference held a private meeting with the Pope.
La Repubblica based its story on several unspecified sources, while Corriere cited unnamed bishops, who suggested the Pope, an Argentinian, might have not realised the Italian term is offensive.
“It’s all the fault of some bishop who broke his mandate of silence to report the gaffe that occurred last week,” reported Il Messaggero, a national paper based in Rome.
According to the paper, the Pope’s comments came during an informal Q&A session at the annual bishops’ meeting which was attended by over 200 members of the clergy.
The Pope, 87, has been credited with leading the Roman Catholic Church into taking a more welcoming approach towards the LGBT+ community.
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At the start of his papacy in 2013, he said: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”
Last year, he allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, triggering significant conservative backlash.
But in 2018, he told Italian bishops to carefully vet priesthood applicants and reject anyone suspected of being gay.
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In a 2005 document, during Benedict XVI’s papacy, the Vatican said the church could admit into the priesthood those who had overcome gay tendencies for at least three years.
The document said those with “deep-seated” gay tendencies and those who “support the so-called gay culture” should be barred.