Pope Francis has apologized after the use of a term considered in Italian to be vulgar and insulting to homosexuals, according to a statement released Tuesday by the Vatican.
“The Pope never intended to offend or express himself with homophobic remarks and apologizes to those who felt offended by the use of a word,” according to this press release.
This word belonging to the dialect of Rome, “frociaggine”, is difficult to translate. It is a derivative of “frocio”, an insult meaning “faggot” in Roman, and which pejoratively designates an environment conditioned by “fags”.
This word was spoken by the 87-year-old pontiff on May 20 during a closed-door meeting with 250 Italian bishops.
Speaking during the assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), the pope invited bishops not to welcome openly homosexual people into religious seminaries, believing that there was already too much “frociaggine”.
These comments were reported on Monday by several Italian newspapers, notably the leading daily The Corriere della Sera.
“According to the bishops contacted” by the Corriere della Sera, “it is obvious that the sovereign pontiff was not aware of how insulting his remarks were in Italian,” wrote the main Italian daily on its website. “More than embarrassment, his remarks were greeted with some incredulous laughter because the gaffe” of the pope, whose mother tongue is not Italian, “was obvious,” again according to this newspaper.
These controversial remarks were picked up by the media around the world, sparking disappointment and indignation among associations defending LGBTQ rights, which forced the Vatican to react.
The Holy See’s press release does not confirm that the Argentine pope used this term but simply refers to press articles citing it.
The Vatican also takes care to recall that Jorge Bergoglio has assured on numerous occasions that, “in the Church, there is room for everyone, for everyone!” No one is useless, no one is superfluous, there is room for everyone.”