Pope Francis faces backlash over offensive language towards LGBTQIA+ community

A student from the Philippines wearing a rainbow armband during Pope Francis' meeting with young people on Thursday, streamed live on the internet, made a special plea. He asked the Holy Father to stop using offensive language towards the LGBTQIA+ community. In response, Francis opposed discrimination but did not address the accusations of using homophobic language.

The Pope is facing accusations of intolerance following a leak of information from the May Conference of the Italian Bishops' Conference. Francis reportedly made unfortunate remarks in his speech to about 200 bishops gathered at the event.

He called for greater selectivity in admitting candidates to seminaries. However, while commenting on this issue, Francis used unfortunately chosen words.

He allegedly said that too many gays are coming into the church structure. He decided to use a strong Italian term. To the surprise of those present, he mentioned "frociaggine," which translates to the highly offensive "faggotness" or "faggotry."

As reported by Reuters, which covered the Pope’s Thursday meeting online, student Jack Lorenz Acebedo Rivera from the Philippines wanted to explain to the Holy Father how harmful it is to use such language towards the LGBTQIA+ community. He said he personally experiences painful exclusions and bullying.

This referred to the May incident, which is said to have harmed Francis' image as a reform-friendly Pope and ally of the "rainbow" community.

"Stop using offensive language against the LGBTQIA+ community, this leads to immense pain. I myself I am outcasted and bullied due to my bisexuality, my gayness, my identity, and being a son of a single parent" - said Acebedo Rivera.

After the Papal speech leaked to the media, the Vatican issued an official apology. The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, reported that the Pope is aware of recent articles about the closed-door conversation with bishops from the Italian Bishops' Conference.

The church official said that the Pope did not intend to offend anyone. He also did not want to use homophobic terms. He also apologised to those who felt offended by the use of such a term.

Among the comments following this leak, there were also suggestions that Pope Francis, as an Argentinian, might not have realised that the Italian term he used was offensive—Matteo Bruni, who apologised to the Pope after the incident.

"No-one is useless, no-one is superfluous, there is room for everyone. Just as we are, everyone" – he said.

Jack Lorenz Acebedo Rivera from the Philippines, who spoke to the Pope during the YouTube broadcast panel discussion on building bridges in the Asia-Pacific region, is a psychology student at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. "I myself I am outcasted and bullied due to my bisexuality, my gayness, my identity, and being a son of a single parent" – he said.

The student also urged the Pope to take action to facilitate divorces in the Philippines. In response, Francis spoke of his opposition to discrimination, especially against women, but did not address Acebedo Rivera's plea regarding his alleged homophobic language.