Pope Francis apologized Tuesday after he was quoted using a vulgar term about gay men to reaffirm the Catholic Church's ban on gay priests.
by NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press Pope Francis meets with volunteers of the Italian Red Cross in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican , Saturday, April 6, 2024. Pope Francis apologized Tuesday after he was quoted using a vulgar term about gay men to reaffirm the Catholic Church 's ban on gay priests .
Italian media on Monday had quoted unnamed Italian bishops in reporting that Francis jokingly used the term "faggotness" while speaking in Italian during the encounter. He had used the term in reaffirming the Vatican's ban on allowing gay men to enter seminaries and be ordained priests. "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.
The Vatican ban was articulated in a 2005 document from the Congregation for Catholic Education, and later repeated in a subsequent document in 2016, which said the church cannot admit to seminaries or ordain men who "practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture."
Vatican Anti-Gay Slur Apology Gay Priests Italian Bishops LGBTQ+ Catholic Church
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