Pope Francis has allegedly used a gay slur during a meeting with his Bishops.

The pontiff is accused of dropping the slur during a discussion on allowing gay men into seminaries. The closed-door meeting was discussion the topic, but word of the Pope’s choice of language has leaked and been reported in several Italian newspapers.

It is said that during the discussion one of the bishops asked the Pope what his approach would be if he suspected a potential priest may be a homosexual.

The Pope is said to have responded by vicing a concern that a gay person wanting to be a priest may end up living a double life, and then added that there was already too much “frociaggine” in some seminaries.

The Italian word is considered a slur in the gay community, and roughly translates as “faggotness”.

Some of the unnamed bishops anonymously quoted in the news reports said they were surprised to hear the Pope make the comments, thought he was making a joke, and stated that he was probably unaware that the word is considered offensive.

During his reign the Pope has made several major statements about LGBTIQA+ people including saying it’s not his place to judge people and allowing priests to bless unmarried and same-sex couples.

While The Vatican initially declined to comment on the reports, on Tuesday they issued an apology.

“Pope Francis is aware of the articles recently published about a conversation, behind closed doors, with the bishops of the CEI.” they said in a statement.

“As he stated on several occasions, ‘In the Church there is room for everyone, for everyone! Nobody is useless, nobody is superfluous, there is room for everyone. Just as we are, all of us.’

“The Pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he apologises to those who felt offended by the use of a term reported by others.”