Pope Francis draws fire for allegedly using anti-gay slur during closed-door meeting

28 May 2024

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is known for being one of the Catholic Church's more liberal popes. And some of his critics have said that they would prefer someone with a stricter view of Catholicism.

But Pope Francis is now drawing criticism for another reason: allegedly using an anti-gay slur during a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops.

The derogatory Italian word that Pope Francis, now 87, allegedly used, according to Newsweek, was "frociaggine."

The conversation was first reported by the Italian political website Dagospia and was later reported by La Repubblica, La Corriere della Sera and other major publications in Italy.

According to Newsweek's Khaleda Rahman, "Francis reportedly used the term while speaking about why gay men shouldn't be allowed to become priests in a closed meeting with Italian bishops earlier this month."

Rahman notes, however, that according to La Corriere della Sera, Francis may not have realized the term was derogatory. Although Francis, a native of Buenos Aires, speaks Italian, it isn't his native language.

On X, former Twitter, Marcus Walker — a clergyman for the Church of England's London diocese — posted, "So you know how Pope Francis is generally portrayed as a big cuddly liberal? He has just used perhaps the most offensive homophobic term in Italian (basically f*g**t) while calling on bishops not to accept any seminarians who are gay."

Read Newsweek's full report at this link.

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