Reports from Italian press on Monday claim Pope Francis used a derogatory term in a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops to emphasize his stance against allowing gay individuals to become priests.

Both La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, major Italian newspapers, quoted the pope describing seminaries as already too full of “frociaggine,” a vulgar Italian term that translates roughly to “faggotry” or “faggotness.”

La Repubblica cited several unspecified sources, while Corriere la Sera mentioned a few unnamed bishops who suggested that the pope, being Argentine, might not have realized the offensive nature of the term.

On Tuesday, the Pope apologized for the derogatory language. A statement from the Vatican said the Pope did not mean to offend anyone and apologized to those who were “hurt by the use of a word.”

Political gossip website Dagospia initially reported the incident, which allegedly occurred on May 20 at the start of a four-day assembly of the Italian Bishops Conference, which included a private meeting with the pontiff.

Pope Francis, 87, has previously been credited with leading the Roman Catholic Church toward a more inclusive approach to the LGBT community. In 2013, early in his papacy, he famously remarked, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”

Last year he also permitted priests to bless members of same-sex couples, a move that provoked significant conservative backlash.

Yet the recent incident aligns with a similar message he delivered to Italian bishops in 2018, urging them to carefully scrutinize priesthood applicants and reject those suspected of being homosexual, though without using the offensive term reported this time.