Making Stands

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis in secret meeting with Pope Francis, report says

by Calla Wahlquist for the The Guardian


Kim Davis, the Kentucky county court clerk who spent five days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, is reported to have had a private meeting with the pope during his historic US tour.

According to a statement posted on the website of Christian lobby group the Liberty Council, Pope Francis met Davis and her husband, Joe, at the Vatican’s Washington DC embassy on Thursday. The statement carries the stamp of the Liberty Council’s founder and chairman, Matt Staver, who is acting as Davis’s lawyer in her dispute with the court.

The statement, which is based on a report from Inside The Vatican, says that the pope thanked Davis for her “courage” and told her to “stay strong”. He then said he would pray for her and presented both her and her husband with a rosary, the Liberty Council claimed.

Davis is then quoted as saying that she was “humbled” by the experience: “I never thought I would meet the pope. Who am I to have this rare opportunity? I am just a county clerk who loves Jesus and desires with all my heart to serve him.”

“Pope Francis was kind, genuinely caring, and very personable,” her statement continued. “He even asked me to pray for him. Pope Francis thanked me for my courage and told me to ‘stay strong’.”

The Vatican has not responded to the reports.

Staver, who founded the Liberty Council in 1989, linked the meeting to the pontiff’s comments about conscientious objection, which prompted a flurry of speculation about whether the pope was referring to Davis.

“Not only did Pope Francis know of Kim Davis, he personally met with her to express his support,” Staver said.