Pope Francis said there was “an air of faggotry” inside the Vatican just weeks after he had to apologise for using the homophobic term, according to leaks from the Holy See.
The pontiff used the offensive term during a meeting with priests in Rome on Tuesday, sources told Ansa, Italy’s national news agency.
“In the Vatican, there is an air of faggotry,” he said, using a slang word, “frociaggine”, which is regarded as derogatory in Italian.
It is an open secret that many Catholic priests are gay but the issue is rarely addressed publicly and certainly not in such direct language.
Francis reportedly said that if a young man wanting to become a seminarian, or trainee priest, was homosexual, then it would be better for him to choose a different career.
Apology in May
The Pope caused offence last month when he said there was “too much faggotry” among trainee priests during an address to 200 bishops, saying too many young seminarians were gay.
The Vatican had to issue an apology, saying the Pope “never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms” and that he “apologises to those who felt offended”.
There were claims that the Pope, whose mother tongue is Spanish, had not appreciated how offensive the term is considered to be.
That defence has now been thrown into question by his repetition of the word.
Early in his papacy, Francis indicated an expansive and welcoming attitude towards gay Catholics, famously asking in 2013 “who am I to judge?”. But his use of the slur sharply counters that stance.
He said gay people should never be shunned or ostracised, telling journalists on his return flight from a visit to Brazil: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”
Last year, he allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, sparking a backlash among conservative Catholics.
He has, however, stuck to the official dogma line that gay sex is a sin.
It is not clear who leaked the Pope’s controversial remarks to the Italian press. It may have been a conservative out to hurt the Argentinian pontiff, or it could just be a priest – or priests – shocked and unhappy with his choice of language, a Vatican expert said.
‘Very hurtful’
Robert Mickens, a decades-long observer of the Catholic Church, said: “People are alarmed. Can you imagine Bill Clinton, the president who was so pro-black and did so much for African-Americans, privately using the N-word?
“It is the same with the Pope – he said ‘who am I to judge?’ in relation to gays in the Catholic Church and yet he is using this word ‘frociaggine’.
“There are gay priests who struggle with their sexuality and this is very hurtful to them.”
It was particularly striking that the Pope used the word for the second time in less than a month, said Mr Mickens, who spent four years in seminaries in the US and Italy but did not ultimately become a priest.
“If you have been told a word is offensive, you stop using it. This will only embolden the homophobes and those who are against gays in the Church,” he said.
“It will drive gay seminarians into the closet even more and that is not helpful.
“There are lots of gays in seminaries and in the priesthood and the issue should not be dealt with using this kind of locker room talk. It is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with.”