Page 16 - IAV Digital Magazine #595

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Pope Francis Apologizes For Using A Homophobic Slur During A Meeting With Bishops
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWWGpPvUBaY
By Christopher Lamb and Sharon Braithwaite, CNN
Pope Francis has apologized for using an anti-gay slur dur- ing a meeting with bishops.
The 87-year-old pon- tiff reportedly made the homophobic remark in a closed- door meeting last week as he told Italian bishops that
gay men shouldn’t be allowed to train for the priesthood.
“The Pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he extends his apologies to those who felt offended by the use of a term, as reported by others,” the Vatican said in a Tuesday statement.
“As he (Pope
Francis) has said on several occasions, ‘in the Church there is room for everyone, everyone! No one is useless, no one is superfluous, there is room for everyone. Just as we are, everyone.’”
The Pope’s com- ments came to light on Monday when two Italian newspapers
- the Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica – report- ed on the May 20 meeting, citing sources in atten- dance.
The newspaper arti- cles, which were translated from Italian, claimed the Pope had said there is “frociaggine” – an offensive noun which translates into English approximate- ly as “f*****ry” – in some of the seminar-
ies.
Francis’ comments were made in the context of proposals from the Italian bish- ops to amend guide- lines on candidates to seminaries.
The Vatican ruled in 2005 that the church cannot allow the ordi- nation of men who are actively gay or have “deep-seated” homosexual tenden- cies. Francis upheld the ruling in 2016.
Two years later he told the Italian bish- ops not to accept gay candidates for the priesthood.
During his pontificate, the Pope has sought to offer a more wel- coming approach to LGBTQ+ Catholics, saying “who am I to judge?” when asked about gay priests,
and has also offered the possibility that priests could offer informal blessings for same-sex couples.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper stat- ed that the Argentine pope, who speaks Italian as a second language, may not have been aware of how offensive his lan- guage was, adding that the remark was greeted with incredu- lous laughter by the bishops.
A source close to the Pope told CNN that the phrase could also be understood as there is a “gay cli- mate” in the seminar- ies.
There is no official transcript of the com- ments due to the nature of the closed- door meeting.
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