Pope Francis
Pope Francis apologized today (May 28) for using the term faggotness is a closed-door meeting discussing the church’s ban on gay priests. The meeting was with a group of bishops.
The ban on gay priests has apparently been very successful. The church has never had any gay priests … except for possibly the bishop attending the meeting who was offended by use of the term.
According to a spokesman for the pope, he didn’t mean to express himself in homophobic terms and didn’t intend to offend anyone with his choice of words.
He reportedly used the offending terms to describe “an air of faggotness” in seminaries. Really? Young men living in close quarters who have just sworn off sex with women?
Actually, Francis has a fairly good record on gays in the church. In 2013, when asked about gay Catholics, he responded, “Who am I to judge?” And on other occasions, when asked about LGBTQ Catholics, has said “There’s room for everyone” in the Catholic Church.
— David Taffet