Pope apologises after homophobic slur

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis, widely quoted as having used a highly dero­g­atory word to describe the LGBT community, did not intend to use homophobic language and apologises to anyone offended by it, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

“The Pope never intended to offend or exp­ress himself in homophobic terms, and he apologises to those who felt offended by the use of a term reported by others,” Vatican spokesman Mat­t­eo Bruni said in an emailed statement.

Italian media had reported on Monday that Francis used the Italian term “frociaggine”, roug­hly translating as “faggotness” or “faggotry”, as he told Italian bishops he remained opposed to adm­i­tting gay people into the priesthood.

Italian political gossip website Dagospia was the first to report the alleged incident, said to have happened on May 20 when the pontiff met Italian bishops behind closed doors.

Bruni said Francis was “aware” of the reports. The Vatican spokesman reiterated that the pope remained committed to a welcoming Church for all, where “nobody is useless, nobody is superfluous, (where) there is room for everyone”.