Pope Francis asked, in a closed-door meeting that he had last week in Rome with the bishops gathered at the 79th General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference, that homosexual people be prevented from entering seminaries.
The news was leaked and gained notoriety in the media because of the term that the Pope would have used that May 20, more than because of the depth of the topic: “frociaggine” or faggot, a term that in Spanish has a meaning that changes from one country to another, but in Italian it is derogatory because it comes from the word “frocio”.
“I think there is too much queerness in certain seminaries,” he would have said during the meeting held in colloquial language, although he would also have asked that those who are not admitted to the seminar be “accompanied” with “respect and delicacy” because according to their experience, they could become priests with a double life.
The Holy Father’s indication is by the 2005 Instruction of the Congregation for Catholic Education, which, according to “the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, considers it necessary to clearly state that the Church, although deeply respects to the people in question, cannot admit into the Seminary and Holy Orders those who practice homosexuality, have deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture”, teaching confirmed by the Successor of Peter in 2016.
Vatican: Congregation for Catholic Education
A balanced position suggested by the Church regarding homosexuality, which is frequently misunderstood by the media that knows little about its doctrine. Also because a phrase out of context is easily manipulated, because “there is no text without context.”
Furthermore, the term not very common in Italy, for those who do not speak Italian, could have been interpreted not necessarily as derogatory.
On several occasions Pope Francis spoke on the subject, such as when he said: ‘I am not the one to judge a homosexual person’; When a homosexual couple is blessed, it is not the union that is blessed, but the people; ‘a boy who is homosexual cannot be expelled and has the right to live with his family’, which by some was mistakenly interpreted as ‘they have the right to form a gay family’.
The Pontiff recalled several times that ‘the Church is open to all’, but also specified that ‘there are rules that are respected’.
The same document cited above specifies that “If, on the other hand, homosexual tendencies are only the expression of a transitory problem, such as, for example, that of an adolescence not yet completed, they must in any case be clearly overcome for at least three years.” before diaconal ordination.”
This Tuesday afternoon, responding to journalists’ questions, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, stated the following:
Pope Francis is aware of recent articles about a conversation, behind closed doors, with the bishops of the CIS.
As he has said on several occasions: “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 Pope has never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he extends his apology to those who have felt offended by the use of a term, referred to by others.
