Italian media has said that the pope used a highly derogatory slur against LGBTQ+ people at a bishops conference. The remark may sour attempts by the pope to make the church more welcoming.

Pope Francis allegedly used a highly offensive term to refer to LGBTQ+ people during a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops, Italian media reported on Tuesday.

The major Italian daily newspapers La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera both cited anonymous sources as saying that the pope had made the remark while reiterating his position against gay people becoming priests.

The 87-year-old pontiff was reported as saying that the Catholic seminaries were already too full of “frociaggine” — a highly derogatory term in Italian.

  • CatZoomies@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Former Catholic, now atheist. I’m glad the Pope is making some progressive steps in the Catholic Church including the LGTBQ+ community.

    I hope this was a misstep, and the case of a 90-year old man from a different country using language that he was not aware is a slur. I really really hope that, or else all that good will was for nothing.

  • megane-kun@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    There’s this saying “a fish is caught through its mouth,” and this is an illustration of what it means. This pope might present this ‘cool’, ‘modern’ image to the public, but his words spoken in private amongst his peers reveals his real stance about these things.


    Edit:‌ proofreading.

    • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Italian isn’t his first language, so it’s possible, but I’m not giving him the benefit of the doubt.

        • bisby@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          the pope had made the remark while reiterating his position against gay people becoming priests.

          It doesn’t matter what word he used, he was using it in an anti LGBT sentiment.

          The 87-year-old pontiff was reported as saying that the Catholic seminaries were already too full of … gay men.

          Here, I removed the slur. This isn’t any better. Italian fluency wasn’t the problem and didn’t change his argument.

            • bisby@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              You’re right, it’s very likely he wasn’t intending to use a slur. But it seems to me like a lot of the reporting is “he didn’t mean to disrespect people!” when that’s not the case. The pope’s intentions were absolutely to disrespect people, just by his actions, and not by that specific word. the specific phrasing he used to do so doesn’t really matter.

      • nefonous@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        That specific word in Italian has multiple meanings, one of which being something like “excessive/useless detail or addition, especially when done for the cool factor only” and another being “gayness”.

        Without the full context of the sentence, it’s very hard to say what he meant or what he was saying.

        Of course the word is still originating from the slur and shouldn’t be used by the pope, but it’s technically possible that wasn’t even used in relation to any minority (just as much as the opposite)

        Unless I missed some extra info or source that has the full context, it’s hard to say

  • hamFoilHat@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    So, instead of saying, “Catholic seminaries were already too full of [bundle of sticks]” instead he meant to say that “Catholic seminaries were already too full of homosexuals”. I’m not sure fixing the one word helps his message or is actually even the problem.

    The term he used is being censored on here so I used a substitute.

  • Cano@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    For those wondering, the word can be roughly translated in english as ::: spoiler Faggotry :::

    Esit: can’t figure out how to mark something as spoiler correctly

    • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

      He is the “cool pope”… when compared the literal Nazi one before him or the sexual predator protecting one before that. They are all horrible, this one happens to be the least horrible in a long time…possibly ever. Less horrible is still horrible.

  • Gennadios@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    This really isnt any different than Grandpa calling the cashier at the Piggly Wiggly a ‘colored’.