The Republic And Corriere della SeraItaly's largest circulation newspapers on Monday both quoted the pope as saying that seminaries or priesthood colleges were already overcrowded with “frociaggine,” a vulgar Italian term that roughly translates as “faggot.”
The Vatican did not respond to a request for comment.
The Republic attributed his story to several unspecified sources, while Courier said it was supported by a pair of unnamed bishops, who suggested that Francis, as an Argentinian, might not have realized that the Italian term he used was offensive.
Political gossip website Dagospia was the first to report on the alleged incident, which is said to have occurred on May 20 this year, when the Italian Bishops' Conference opened a four-day meeting with a non-public meeting with the pope.
Francis, who is 87, is so far credited with leading the Roman Catholic Church toward a more welcoming approach to the LGBT community.
In 2013, at the beginning of his pontificate, he famously said: “If someone is gay, seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”, while last year he allowed priests to marry members of same-sex couples to bless the generation. , which led to significant conservative backlash.
Nevertheless, he delivered a similar message to gay seminarians — minus the reported invective — when he met with Italian bishops in 2018, telling them to carefully vet priesthood applicants and reject suspected homosexuals.
In a 2005 document released under Francis' late predecessor Benedict XVI, the Vatican said the Church could admit to the priesthood those who had clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years.
The document states that practicing homosexuals and people with “deep-rooted” homosexual tendencies and those who “support so-called gay culture” should be excluded.