Vatican: Pope Francis apologizes and affirms that he never intended to express himself in homophobic terms

The Vatican has issued a statement regarding the statements by Pope Francis during a private audience with the bishops of Rome on May 20, in which he assured that “there is too much faggot in certain seminars.

In a brief message broadcast on the afternoon of this May 28, the director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, stated that Pope Francis “is aware of the recently published articles about a conversation, at the door closed, with the bishops of the CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference).”

Bruni also points out that Pope Francis “has never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and extends his apologies to those who have felt offended by the use of a term, referred to by others,” implying that it may have been used previously. by someone present in the audience and repeated later by the Pontiff.

Furthermore, the Holy See reiterates the phrase cited by the Holy Father on more than one occasion: “In the Church there is room for everyone, for everyone! Nobody is useless, nobody is superfluous, there is room for everyone. “Just as we are, all of us”.

The controversial expression of Pope Francis is framed in the opening of the 79th CIS General Assembly, in which he reflected together with the bishops of the European country on various topics, such as the decrease in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, the situation of Italian youth and migration.

During the audience, Pope Francis asked the Italian bishops not to ordain priests or admit homosexual people to the seminary.

According to the Vatican’s response, the Pontiff would not have been aware of the derogatory connotation of the term ““faggot” (froughness in Italian), used to answer the question of an Italian bishop, who asked how to proceed if an “avowedly homosexual” man applies to enter the seminary.