On today's first anniversary of Francis's death, the homosexual activist James Martin SJ shared a memory from 2024. At the time, Francis had made some negative remarks about homosexual priests using the Italian slur "frociaggine" (faggotry) in a meeting with Italian bishops.
A few weeks later, Francis received Fr Martin and discussed the expression. Francis said then that he knew "many holy, faithful, celibate gay priests and seminarians".
When Fr Martin suggested proclaiming this publicly, Francis replied, "Oh, but I think I have. And in any event, you can say that!"
According to Fr Martin, Francis asked back: "So you're saying that I can say you know many holy, faithful, celibate gay priests and seminarians?" Francis shrugged and said, "Of course. Because I do!"
[In reality, the Church has suffered from many unholy, unfaithful, sexually active gay priests.]
A few days later, during an audience with comedians, Fr Martin greeted Francis again. The Pope said, "Thank you for our meeting the other day. It was helpful for me. I really needed to hear that."
Francis smiled and gave Fr Martin a "thumbs-up". Not long after this meeting, Francis once again used the word "frociaggine".
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