Pope Francis has issued a rare apology after word broke that he allegedly

used an offensive and derogatory Italian slur referring to gay men while

reaffirming his position against their admission to seminaries and the priesthood.

The Pope made the remark in a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops last week.

Reactions have been divided over whether the Pope's use of the slur was intentional or a linguistic

gaff. To discuss the implications of this, we're joined by Mary Ann Duddy Burke, Executive

Director of Dignity USA. It's an organization that focuses on LGBT

rights and the Catholic Church. Thank you for being with us.

Glad to be here. In issuing the apology a Vatican

spokesperson in a statement said the Pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms and he

apologizes to those who felt offended by the use of a term reported by others.

How does all of this strike you, the use of the word, and we should note there's some debate

about the intent, but also the underlying point that gay men shouldn't be allowed to train in

seminaries as priests.

Well, the reality is there are literally tens of thousands, if not millions, of gay men who are priests or gay men who are in seminary's training to be priests.

And our church and the service to the people of God that the church provides just could not happen without those who serve currently and without the priests, bishops, and perhaps even popes who were gay who have served our church in the past.

So, you know, Gays in the priesthood is a reality.

God calls whom God wants to call to ordained ministry and to other ministries in our church.

The fact that a slur was used, whether intentional or not, really points to the fact that our church is still

conflicted to a great degree about the issues of gender and sexual orientation,

whether in the priesthood or beyond.

And sometimes that just comes to the fore,

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