World Pride Month 2024 is in the rearview mirror. Many locations around the globe hosted Pride celebrations with global themes and symbols highlighting local concerns and struggles.
On June 15, the LGBTQ+ Pride parade in Rome, Italy, celebrated its 30th anniversary. A record number of revelers marched through the Italian capital past historic sites, waving flags and carrying signs protesting a range of issues, from the current right-wing government’s stance on gender ideology to the Israel-Hamas war.
The most visible — and creative — displays were in reference to a pejorative anti-gay word that Pope Francis reportedly used in May at two closed-door meetings with members of his inner circle at the Vatican.
As first reported in the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, Francis, while in discussion with bishops about the Catholic Church’s ban on admitting openly gay men to seminaries, used the term “frociaggine” – rough translation: “faggotry.” The full quote was, “Nei seminari c’è già troppa frociaggine,” meaning “There is already too much faggotry in the seminaries.”
At Rome Pride, several signs were seen that played on the word and the full comment. A number of the signs were held by attendees dressed up as the pontiff.
“There is too much frociaggine in this Pride,” read one large sign carried by a faux Francis clad in classic papal regalia of white cassock (robe) and zucchetto (skull cap), accessorized with a rainbow-colored crucifix.
A more somber masquerader, dressed in a black monk’s tunic, carried a sign displaying the word “frociaggine” written in an arc over a pair of hands clasped in prayer entangled in a multicolored rosary.
Two men in white tank tops carried a giant cardboard cutout of Pope Francis around the neck of which they wrapped a rainbow feather boa. Each man carried a sign, one saying, in Italian, “Francy, you are welcome in our parish,” the other, “You can never have too much frociaggine.”
The root of the term frociaggine is “frocio.” It has the same original denotation as its English translation, “fagot” or “faggot,” a bundle of sticks to spark fire. Somewhere along the line, it came to be imbued with homophobia.
Dr. Massimo Frana, author of the book, “Filosofia Gender” (Bonanno editore, 2022), survived a brutal homophobic attack in 2001 in his southern Italian hometown, which left him in need of partial facial reconstruction. During the assault, his attackers hurled the word “frocio” at him. Following a protracted court case, a judge ruled in Frana’s favor, sentencing his assailants to two years in prison and awarding Frana a hefty amount in damages.
“The word ‘frocio’ in common usage carries a strong negative and derogatory meaning,” Frana said, reflecting on his experience as he marched in Rome Pride, noticing the many f-word signs. “There is no homophobic aggression that is not accompanied by the use of this term.”
But, could such hateful, violent language be reclaimed by queer Italians in the same way English speakers have taken back, well, “queer” (“faggot” less so)? What progress might have been made in the 23 years since Frana’s horrific encounter?
“It could prove to be an excellent communication strategy for the LGBTQ+ community to seize the word ‘faggot’ and weaken its value,” he said. “This is what is happening during the Pride 2024 demonstrations, not just here in Rome, but all over Italy. Our Italian LGBTQ+ community implemented a peaceful and ironic protest of Pope Francis’ clumsy use of the term.”
Writing in The Nation magazine, Dr. Michael Pettinger, co-editor of the book Queer Christianities (NYU Press, 2014), who teaches the course, “The Popes of Rome” at John Cabot University in Rome, argues that Pope Francis’ use of the word might have been an instance of “locker room talk.”
“As a bishop among bishops, Francis too lives in a world of highly competitive males,” Pettinger wrote. “We are told that the word frociaggine was introduced into the conversation by other bishops, and that the pontiff was merely echoing them.”
Corriere della Sera reported that “Some bishops explained … that the pontiff’s outburst was received with some incredulous laughter rather than embarrassment, since [his] gaffe was evident…Italian is not his mother tongue…in short it was clear that Francis was not aware of how heavy and offensive the word is in our language.”
On social media, opinions and memes have proliferated. One user on a Reddit thread wrote, “I can’t stress enough how much in my decades of living gayly in Italy I have never ever heard a straight person say, frociaggine. Only the gays say it. Who taught him?”
Indeed, if we don a different pair of glasses — or, earpieces — we might receive a different message about what Francis was communicating to his audience.
Remember when, back in 2016 at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, comedian Larry Whilmore, who is African American, addressed President Barack Obama as “my nigga”? The meaning behind not only Whilmore’s utterance but his chosen audience was simultaneously understandable to some and unfathomable to others. But, the one thing all agreed upon was that the context — live, public, recorded — made all the difference.
Unlike Whilmore, Pope Francis does not share the same history of oppression with men against whom the word frociaggine has been deployed to destroy. But he has been in close company and brotherhood with many. Did they grant him honorary status to use their word? Did he just pick up the slang around the water cooler?
“We’re all missing the important question here,” argued the Reddit user. “Who in the Vatican has taught the Spanish-speaking pope how to say ‘faggotry’ in Italian? How on Earth did it come up?” It’s a question for the ages. Conceivably, Francis, being among the 47% of Argentinians who are of Italian origin, has long been familiar with the term frociaggine. However, there is a profound gap between knowing a word and knowing when, how and among whom to use it.
Nicholas Boston, Ph.D., is associate professor of media sociology at Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY), and visiting professor at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy.
