Reports that Pope Francis has corresponded with a young man who claimed he was rejected from seminary for being gay have gained resonance due to recent controversy over the Pope’s reported remarks about their being too much “faggotry” in seminaries.
According to Italian media, Pope Francis recently responded to Lorenzo Michele Noè Caruso, 22, who said he was rejected from seminary for being gay, <a href="https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2024/06/after-gay-gaffe-pope-francis-attempts-to-mend-fences"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">reports</mark></a> <em>Crux</em>.
Pope Francis recently caused a wave of controversy after a report was published in Italian blog <em>Dagospia</em> saying the pontiff had <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/pope-appears-to-use-crude-slang-to-criticise-gay-culture-in-seminaries/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">used a derogatory slang term for homosexuals</mark></a> during a recent session with members of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI). During the meeting the Pope remarked, in Italian, that there’s already too much <em>frociaggine</em> in seminaries, which translates roughly to “faggotry”.
Subsequently, according to Italian newspaper <em>Il Messaggero</em>, after hearing about the the Pope’s use of the slang term, Caruso wrote a three-page email to the pontiff explaining his own story, and how he was bitter at being turned away from the seminary, and also disappointed by the Pope’s remark.
Caruso apparently told the Pope that he and many others like him “live on the margins of the Church, often forced to hide because they are excluded from the community or forced to pay the high price of rejection for their sincerity”.
He spoke of his work as a catechist, the deep call he had felt to the priesthood, and his disappointment at being rejected over the fact that he was gay.
Referring to the ongoing Synod on Synodality, during which the inclusion of LGBT+ Catholics has been a major talking point, Caruso reportedly said he trusts the process as “a turning point to walk together under the light of Christ, where no one is rejected and everyone is an expression of God’s plan for our Church”.
Caruso also asked that Italian bishops review “the ban on admission to the seminary of homosexual people”, saying many young people “feel lost in a Church that often seems to be tied to a toxic and elective clericalism, where only some deserve to be welcomed and where others are excluded as false Christians”.
According to <em>Il Messaggero</em>, Pope Francis wrote a handwritten letter that was scanned and attached to an email responding to Caruso’s own email on 1 June, in which the Pope thanked Caruso for reaching out, saying he was struck by the phrase “toxic and elective clericalism”.
“It’s true! You know that clericalism is a plague? It’s an ugly ‘worldliness’ and as a great theologian said, ‘worldliness is the worst that can happen to the church, even worse than the era of concubinary popes',” the Pope reportedly said, referring to the writings of Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar.
Francis also reiterated his position that “Jesus calls everyone, everyone", while telling Caruso to “go forward with your vocation" and "I pray for you, please do it for me (I need it)”.
Following the resulting furore over the <em>frociaggine</em> comment, the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/vatican-issues-apology-on-popes-behalf-over-offence-caused-by-reports-of-faggotry-slang-use/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Vatican issued an apology on the Pope’s behalf</mark></a>.<br><br>“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, as reported by others,” the statement said.<br><em><br>Photo: Pope Francis kisses a baby during the weekly general audience at St Peter's square in The Vatican, Italy, 29 May 2024. (Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images.)</em>
