Pope Francis used the term while reaffirming the Vatican's ban on allowing gay men to enter seminaries and be ordained priests.
Pope Francis apologized Tuesday after he was quoted using a vulgar term about gays 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 “f*****ness” 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. Francis was addressing an assembly of the Italian bishops conference, which recently approved a new document outlining training for Italian seminarians. The document, which hasn’t been published pending review by the Holy See, reportedly sought to open some wiggle room in the Vatican’s absolute ban on gay priests.
Francis strongly reaffirmed that position in his May 20 meeting with the Italian bishops, joking that “there is already an air of f*****ness” in seminaries, the Italian media reported, after initial reporting from gossip site Dagospia.
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