God grant Pope Francis the serenity to stop using homophobic slurs in polite company. Pontificating on the subject of gay priests, the pontiff repeated an aggressively pejorative term for young men with queer tendencies while in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, according to Italian media outlets. Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica and ANSA all reported that Francis repeated the term “frociaggine,” a vulgar Italian word that roughly translates as “faggotness,” while speaking before 200 priests at Rome’s Salesian Pontifical University. Last month, the Vatican apologized after reports that the 87-year-old pope had used the same word in a May 20 meeting with bishops. Without confirming those reports, the Vatican said that he “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.” Asked by Reuters on Tuesday about the new incident, the Vatican’s press office pointed to an earlier statement it had issued about the meeting, which explained that the pope had “reiterated the need to welcome and accompany gay men in the Church” but warned of the need for caution in the matter.