Pope Francis is making headlines because of a homophobic statement made during a closed-door meeting last week with some 200 members of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. The event, first reported by the Italian gossip website Dagospia, has since been confirmed in reliable Italian outlets by several bishops who participated in the meeting.
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According to these sources, the Pope said that in Italian seminaries there’s too much frociaggine — a homophobic slur deriving from Roman dialect. Francis also told Italian bishops to keep gay people away from the seminaries, both comments for which he has since apologized.
The statement sparked debate surrounding both the capacity and intentions of the now 87-year-old pontiff. Some suggested that Francis didn’t fully understand the meaning of the slur, because of his Argentinian origins. Use of the word would also contradict what the pontiff told the Associated Press in an exclusive interview last year, when he defined all legislation criminalizing homosexuality “unfair,” adding that “being homosexual is not a crime,” and that all bishops should welcome LGBTQ+ people in church.
That comment is only the latest in a series of controversial takes since Francis' papacy began in 2013. Here are some of the ones that sparked the most outrage.
1. Homophobic tendencies
In 2018, the Pope stated that kids having doubts on their sexual orientation require “psychiatric” help. Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera writes that the comment might have been due to the Pope mixing the terms “psychological” and “psychiatric” in their Italian translation, noting how he once used the word improperly when speaking of himself as well.
Regardless of Francis’ intentions, the comment still prompted a reaction from the Italian Society of Psychiatry, which pointed out on Facebook that homosexuality cannot be considered as a pathology, which has been the case since the World Health Organization declassified it as a mental illness in 1992.
2. Ukrainian white flag
In March, Francis said in an interview to the Swiss public broadcaster in Italian language RSI that Ukraine should “raise the white flag” and show the “courage” to solve the conflict with Russia through negotiations and not through fighting, in order to prevent more human losses. The full-scale conflict started in February 2022, when the Russian Federation unilaterally invaded Ukraine and unlawfully declared the annexation of several of its Eastern territories.
The comment created outrage among Ukrainian officials. The country’s foreign minister replied to the comment on social media, saying that “Our flag is a yellow and blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags.” Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, in turn, compared the ongoing conflict to the Second World War. “Did anybody spoke then seriously about peace talking with Hitler and white flags to satisfy him?” He asked on X.
3. "Mexicanization" of Argentina
Back in 2015, Francis drew major criticism from the Mexican government when he expressed his concerns on the advance of drug trafficking in Argentina. What made Mexico mad was the Pope’s comparison of the Argentinian case to the Mexican one, as Francis wrote in a short email that “hopefully we are still in time to avoid Mexicanisation”. The remark was part of a private email sent by the Pope privately to Buenos Aires legislator Gustavo Vera.
This triggered a diplomatic effort from the Vatican to relax all tensions with the Central American state. In a letter to the Mexican government, the Holy See pointed out that it was not the Pope’s intention to “offend the Mexican people, whom he loves deeply, or ignoring the commitment of the Mexican government in the fight against drug trafficking.”
4. Bad Charlie Hebdo analogy
In 2015, in the wake of of the deadly terrorist shootings at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the Pope was asked what he thought prompted such attacks. Pointing to an aide on the papal plane, France said that if someone insulted his mom then he would punch them, even simulating the action: “If Doctor Gasbarri, who is a friend, bad-mouths my mother, a punch would be coming for him,” he said.
The comment came as the Pope questioned the limits of freedom of expression, condemning those that kill in the name of God, something that he defined as an “aberration.” At the same time, Francis also criticized the practice of making provocative statements towards other religions, something that, according to him, goes beyond the limits of free speech.
5. F-word slip
In 2014, the Pope inadvertently dropped an f-bomb during his Sunday blessing, igniting a wave of reactions on social media. An innocent slip of the tongue, it seems, as Francis intended to use the Italian word "caso" (example) and instead said "cazzo," a very versatile swear world whose meanings include, well, f*ck. Perhaps, at least for this one, the holy father's penitence deserves our forgiveness.