The pontiff reportedly made the homophobic remark in a closed-door meeting last week as he told Italian bishops that gay men shouldn’t be allowed to train for the priesthood.

“The Pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he extends his apologies to those who felt offended by the use of a term, as reported by others,” the Vatican said in a Tuesday statement.

“As he (Pope Francis) has said on several occasions, ‘in the Church there is room for everyone, everyone! No one is useless, no one is superfluous, there is room for everyone. Just as we are, everyone.’”

Seems like they’re playing it off as “grandpa had a woopsie”.

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    Honestly, I buy it. If he was uncontrollably homophobic he wouldn’t have steered the church the way he has.

    That’s not to say he’s an ally; he’s obviously still a firm proponent of the traditional catholic stances on these things, but it seems to me there’s a difference between continuing to believe a homophobic religion and personally hating gay people.