The Vatican put out a statement about Pope Francis' recent meeting with defiant Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, issuing an important caveat: The encounter "should not be considered a form of support of her position."
"The pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects," read the Vatican statement from the Rev. Federico Lombardi, according to the Associated Press.
The Catholic Church released the statement after days of debate over whether the meeting had actually taken place on September 24 at the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., and whether Pope Francis was aware of the details surrounding Davis' case, with the Vatican affirming that the pontiff met with "several dozen people" that day.
This Thursday, Aug. 3, 2015 photo made available by the Carter County Detention Center shows Kim Davis. (Image source: Carter County Detention Center via AP)
After Catholic officials confirmed that the meeting did, indeed, take place, many began to wonder what was discussed during the encounter.
The Vatican provided few details, though Davis — the Kentucky clerk who made headlines for refusing to issue gay marriage licenses in her name — provided her own account through attorneys at the Liberty Counsel.
A statement issued by the legal firm on Tuesday night said that Pope Francis met with Davis and her husband, Joe, on September 24, and that the pontiff spoke to the couple in English.
“Thank you for your courage,” the pope told Davis, according to the Liberty Counsel. “Stay strong.”
The statement said the two “embraced” and each asked for prayer. Expressing his gratitude to Davis, Francis also gave both Kim and Joe Davis each a rosary that he had blessed.
“I was humbled to meet Pope Francis. Of all people, why me? I never thought I would meet the pope,” Davis said in a statement. “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.”
Davis described Pope Francis as “kind, genuinely caring, and very personable.”
As TheBlaze previously reported, while the Vatican cautioned that the meeting should not be evidence of Pope Francis' position on all aspects of Davis' case, the pontiff uttered some words on Monday about the issue more generally that had many contending that he does, indeed, support her general right to refuse service based on her religious perspective.
When asked aboard the papal plane whether he supports individuals who refuse to violate religious conscience as in the cases of those who decline to grant gay marriage licenses, the pontiff seemingly offered up support for people like Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, NBC News reported.
Pope Francis waves to school children as he walks towards them after arriving at the Apostolic Nunciature, the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015, after an address to a joint meeting of Congress. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
“I can’t have in mind all the cases that can exist about conscientious objection … but yes, I can say that conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a right,” he said in remarks that were translated by pool reporters. “And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right.”
Pope Francis also expressed his belief that such protections should be built into judicial systems.
“Conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure because it is a right, a human right,” he said. “Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying, ‘this right that has merit, this one does not.’”
The pontiff did not name Davis or anyone else for that matter in making these remarks, though he did extend them to government workers.
“It is a human right and if a government official is a human person, he has that right,” he said. “It is a human right.”
Davis was in Washington last week to receive an award from the conservative Values Voter Summit. In an interview with TheBlaze, the clerk, who spent five days behind bars earlier this month, said that going to jail for refusing to comply with a court order to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because of her religious beliefs was “a joy.”
