Vatican says Pope’s meeting with Kim Davis ‘should not be considered support’

The Vatican has attempted to play down the Pope’s recent meeting with Kim Davis, saying that the encounter should not be taken as support for the anti-gay marriage clerk’s position.

It was reported earlier this week that Pope Francis met and “thanked” the Kentucky county clerk, who was recently locked up after violating a federal court order compelling her not to discriminate when issuing marriage licenses, during his recent tour of the US, sparking a widespread outcry among many Americans.

Davis’s lawyer, Matt Stavers, told CBS News that Davis and her husband had been invited to meet the Pope in the wake of the media firestorm surrounding her story, and that the 15-minute private meeting at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, Pope Francis “thanked her for her courage” and told her to “stay strong”.

Despite initially saying they wouldn’t be commented on the meeting, Vatican deputy spokesperson Father Thomas Rosica has now attempted to quell the controversy by revealing that Davis was in fact just one of several dozen people who greeted Francis during an informal audience with the pontiff.

“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”, Rosica said.

Meanwhile, Davis has become a somewhat unlikely pin-up for the United States’ religious right, but has seen her bigoted stance challenged by everyone from a from a Miss America contestant to her own gay friends.

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