Pope Francis dropped what is known as the Italian equivalent of the F-bomb during his Sunday address from the Vatican. While some are likely still sitting aghast at the pope’s potty mouth, this will likely serve to make the pontiff even more popular with young people. It was actually a slip of the tongue–the marring of an Italian pronunciation–that changed the word caso, which means “case,” into the naughty four letter word instead.
Here is the English translation of Pope Francis’s inadvertent slip up.
“If each one of us does not amass riches only for oneself, but half for the service of others, in this f*** [pause], in this case the providence of God will become visible through this gesture of solidarity,” he said.
The pope did an excellent job of ignoring his gaffe and continuing on with his message. It is very important to remember that Italian isn’t the pontiff’s first language. Spanish is his main dialect and despite popular belief, there is a huge difference between the two languages–as the whole world noted on Sunday.
Pope Francis definitely isn’t the first world figure to use such embarrassing language publicly either–and at least to his credit, it was a mistake. NPR cites three such incidents by prominent U.S. figures.
“Vice President Joe Biden was famously heard describing the Affordable Care Act as a “big f—ing deal,” and his boss, President Barack Obama, once told TV journalist Matt Lauer that he was trying to figure out “whose a– to kick” regarding the BP oil spill.”
“And let us not forget former Vice President Dick Cheney, who told Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to “go f— himself” in 2004 after Leahy criticized Cheney over his Halliburton contacts.”
These incidents make you think what Pope Francis said really isn’t any big deal at all–especially since he didn’t mean to say it.
Unfortunately the boo boo will no doubt mean the pope will soon be the butt of late night talk show host’s jokes for the next week or so, and t-shirts with his image and the vulgarity will no doubt soon emerge.
But hey–if that keeps the pontiff and his intended message in the hearts and minds of people around the world–more power to the productions. Some have already referred to Pope Francis as a rock star. This will no doubt rise him to an even higher status.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
