{"id":74250,"date":"2024-06-16T14:42:12","date_gmt":"2024-06-16T14:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/16\/italians-respond-to-popes-slur-by-taking-francis-to-pride\/"},"modified":"2024-06-16T14:42:12","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T14:42:12","slug":"italians-respond-to-popes-slur-by-taking-francis-to-pride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/16\/italians-respond-to-popes-slur-by-taking-francis-to-pride\/","title":{"rendered":"Italians Respond to Pope\u2019s Slur by Taking Francis to Pride"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/16\/multimedia\/16rome-pride-01-zfvg\/16rome-pride-01-zfvg-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Italians Respond to Pope\u2019s Slur by Taking Francis to Pride\" title=\"Italians Respond to Pope\u2019s Slur by Taking Francis to Pride\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At Rome\u2019s Pride celebration, bare-chested men in pink angel wings danced to Abba songs, women wrapped in rainbow flags kissed, and shimmering drag queens waved from parade floats. And then there was Pope Francis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The pontiff\u2019s image was everywhere. On cardboard cutouts adorned with flower necklaces, on glittery banners, on stickers. Romans came to the Pride parade on Saturday dressed like Francis, wearing papal hats and T-shirts that read, \u201cThere is never too much frociaggine,\u201d a reference to an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/28\/world\/europe\/pope-apology-slang-gay-men.html\" title=\"\">offensive slur against gay men that the pope has been accused of using<\/a> twice in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The slur \u201cis the slogan of the 2024 Pride,\u201d said Martina Lorina, 28, an actress who was holding up a banner bearing the word.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After Italian media reported that Pope Francis used the slur at a meeting with priests to complain that there was too much \u201cgayness\u201d in the church, the Vatican apologized.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Rome\u2019s Pride attendees took a different tack to respond to the insult: They made it their own. Pride participants symbolically invited the pope and his slur to the party, using a longtime tactic of the L.G.B.T.Q. community to turn insults into words of pride.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cLet\u2019s make him feel how beautiful this frociaggine is,\u201d a participant shouted in the crowd as men dressed as unicorns sang a Britney Spears song and children held hands with their two mothers, their faces covered in glittery rainbows.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Daniele Lacitignola, 34, who is Christian and gay, was carrying a cardboard cutout of Francis. He said that even though the pope\u2019s recent word choice might convey that \u201cgay people are not welcome in the church, he is always welcome to Pride.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFrancy you are welcome in our parish,\u201d a banner read. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cLet me pose with his holiness,\u201d Alessio Sposato, 31, in a tank top and cowboy hat, said as he took a photograph with a cardboard cutout of Francis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Emiliano Sisolfi, 22, a director, carried a banner with a photograph of Francis with his thumb up and the words, \u201cI bless this frociata,\u201d another usage of the slur. Mr. Sisolfi said that he printed the insult in rainbow letters to neutralize it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf I laugh about the word,\u201d he said, \u201cthey have no more words to offend us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Giacomo Canarezza, 31, said that even if the slur was derogatory, \u201cIf I take ownership of the word, I can use it as a marker of my identity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He added, \u201cIt makes you immune from any insult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Another Pride attendee, with a pink sparkling beard, wore a papal hat as he danced to \u201cGreased Lightnin\u2019\u201d on top of a parade float.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are the frociaggine and we are proud of it,\u201d a banner read. Participants distributed stickers with doctored photographs of Francis in a furry pink scarf or in pink sunglasses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But behind the jokes and the fanfare, some Romans have expressed concerns that the pope\u2019s words could further marginalize the L.G.B.T.Q. community in a country that together with Hungary, the Czech Republic and a handful of others is among the only European ones that have not legalized same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last year, the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/04\/04\/world\/europe\/italy-surrogacy-same-sex-couples.html\" title=\"\">ordered Italian mayors to obey a court ruling and stop certifying foreign birth certificates<\/a> of children born abroad to Italian same-sex couples through surrogacy, which is illegal in Italy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMany in Italy listen to the pope and church, and this can hurt families who have gay children,\u201d said Basilio Petruzza, 33.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A 20-year-old artist who goes by the name Dolly Deville said he ordered a papal robe online a few days ago to wear at Pride. He held a banner with a hand-drawn portrait of Francis and the words, \u201cVia Frocis\u201d \u2014 a reference to Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, a Christian procession. He said the pope\u2019s words had caused him pain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe shouldn\u2019t have dared to say this word,\u201d said his boyfriend, Edoardo Camillucci. \u201cEspecially as a straight holy man.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/16\/world\/europe\/rome-gay-pride-pope-francis.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At Rome\u2019s Pride celebration, bare-chested men in pink angel wings danced to Abba songs, women wrapped in rainbow flags kissed, and shimmering drag queens waved from parade floats. And then there was Pope Francis. The pontiff\u2019s image was everywhere. On cardboard cutouts adorned with flower necklaces, on glittery banners, on stickers. Romans came to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/16\/multimedia\/16rome-pride-01-zfvg\/16rome-pride-01-zfvg-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18714,67833,40147,23634,27973,47126],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74252,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74250\/revisions\/74252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}