Pope Says Journalists Risk 'Becoming Ill From Coprophilia'

In an interview with La Stampa's Vatican Insider reporter from last year, the new Pope Francis, then just Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, was asked a question about the Vatican's sometimes-controversial bureaucratic wing, the Curia.

The interview came in the wake of the VatiLeak's scandal, where leaked documents had apparently exposed infighting and perhaps even financial corruption within the Vatican.

Here's Pope Francis's response to a question about the Curia:

“I see it as a body that gives service, a body that helps me and serves me. Sometimes negative news does come out, but it is often exaggerated and manipulated to spread scandal.

“Journalists sometimes risk becoming ill from coprophilia and thus fomenting coprophagia: which is a sin that taints all men and women, that is, the tendency to focus on the negative rather than the positive aspects.

“The Roman Curia has its down sides, but I think that too much emphasis is placed on its negative aspects and not enough on the holiness of the numerous consecrated and lay people who work in it.”

If you are unfamilier with the words "coprophilia" and "coprophagia", here are definitions from Merriam Webster:

COPROPHILIA : marked interest in excrement; especially : the use of feces or filth for sexual excitement — cop·ro·phil·i·ac - noun

COPROPHAGOUS : feeding on dung — co·proph·a·gy - noun

So basically, Pope Francis is saying that journalists who talk s--- about the Catholic Church's bureaucracy run the risk of eating s---. Perhaps a fair point.