Pope Francis Accidentally Cursed During His Sunday Blessing

 By 
Neha Prakash
 on 
Pope Francis Accidentally Cursed During His Sunday Blessing
Pope Francis waves at the crowd before his general audience in St. Peter's Square on Feb. 26. Credit: Felipe Dana

Oh, bless his heart. Pope Francis had a slip of the tongue in front of his audience during the weekly Vatican blessing on Sunday.

The Argentinean Pope was delivering his blessing in Italian -- a language he is not used to speaking -- when he said cazzo instead of caso, which means "example" or "case." Cazzo is the equivalent of "f*ck" in Italian, but can also be interpreted as "c*ck" or "d*ck."

“If each one of us does not amass riches only for oneself, but half for the service of others, in this f*ck [pause], in this case, the providence of God will become visible through this gesture of solidarity,” Francis said to the audience in St Peter’s Square, according to Italian newspaper The Local.

According to The Daily Mail, the mistake is a common one among non-native Italian speakers. Francis, whose blessing was regarding the crisis in Ukraine, quickly realized his mistake and corrected himself. But the moment would be remembered forever.

The Vatican has not commented on the flub.

Luckily for Francis, the error only adds to his image as the "people's pope." Popes, they're just like us -- they curse!

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