(Monday Vatican. ANDREA GAGLIARDUCCI ).
There is no need to cry conspiracy, blame anti-Francis lobbies, or claim there’s work afoot to push for a conclave. The fact is, no one should be surprised that the Pope’s vulgar descriptor for the gay environment often found in Italian seminaries leaked from the new synod hall and made it before the broad public.
It happens when one speaks to more than a hundred people, even if it is behind closed doors. Especially when it is behind closed doors. The incident must make us reflect on an even more important question: what Pope Francis really thinks and how he manages to maintain coherence between thoughts and actions. First of all, a little background. The Pope’s words occurred in a closed-door meeting with the bishops of the Italian Episcopal Conference. These are sometimes tense moments in which Pope Francis lets himself go verbally. The Pope was responding to a question on the criteria for admission to seminaries. Now, the Ratio fundamentalis for admission to seminaries, updated in 2016, already said no to aspiring priests who were homosexual or, above all, who openly supported gay culture. That Ratio must now be implemented by the Italian bishops, who have been discussing national rules for admission to seminaries for some time. The text approved in the general assembly of November 2023 is still awaiting approval by the Congregation for the Clergy. It seems the CEI text includes the possibility of access to sacred orders for people with “non-rooted” homosexual tendencies.