Pope Francis has reportedly repeated a slur against gay people just weeks after apologising for using the offensive term during a meeting with senior clerics.
The 87-year-old pontiff used the term on Tuesday in a meeting with Roman priests, the ANSA news agency reported.
It was reported he said there was an air of “frociaggine” in the Vatican, and allegedly suggested young men with a homosexual tendency should not seek to join the priesthood.
The vulgar Italian term describing homosexuality was used by the Pope last month in a meeting with bishops when discussing young men entering seminaries.
Following the incident in May, it was reported that some bishops had claimed the pontiff used the term as a joke.
The Vatican issued a statement claiming 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”.
The Vatican had yet to comment on Wednesday on the latest reported use.
In the 2020 documentary film Francesco, directed by Israeli filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky, Pope Francis said of gay people: “They are children of God and have a right to a family.”
“Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it,” he said.
After becoming Pope in 2013, he was quoted as stating: “If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?”
