Vatican, old synod hall, Monday 20 May. The Pope meets the Italian bishops gathered for their spring assembly. Since the beginning of the pontificate, this has been the moment for an open exchange between Francis and the CEI, questions and answers behind closed doors, fraternal but frank discussion. An opportunity, in this case, to bring up an issue that has been questioning Italian prelates for some time, and on which Bergoglio , according to what some participants reported, gave unnuanced advice: homosexual people should not be admitted to the seminary. In the conversation, which had a very colloquial tone, according to what La Repubblica reports from several concordant sources, the Argentine Pontiff also said, by way of joke, that there is already too much "f*ggotness" in certain seminaries. ...

During the hour and a half meeting with the Pope last week, for the spring assembly, two or three bishops, as far as we know, wanted to return to the issue, and one in particular explicitly asked the Pope what to do when an openly homosexual candidate knocks on the doors of the seminary. And the Pope , who had already expressed his opposition in the past, responded in a firmly negative way: while underlining the respect due to every person regardless of their sexual orientation, Bergoglio would have said that it is necessary to set limits and prevent the There is a risk that someone who is gay will choose the priesthood and end up leading a double life, continuing to practice homosexuality, while also suffering himself from this dissimulation. The Pope, as we understand, seasoned his considerations, to the surprise of more than one bishop, with a joke about a certain "f*ggotness" that already exists in certain Italian seminaries.