VATICAN CITY — The Vatican turned the tables on the Kim Davis affair Friday: Not only did it distance Pope Francis from her claims that he endorsed her stand on same-sex marriage, it said the only “real audience” Francis had in Washington was with a small group that included a gay couple.

The revelations, doled out during the course of the day, put a new twist on Francis’ encounter with Davis after she and her lawyers insisted that her invitation to meet the pope on Sept. 24 amounted to an affirmation of her cause.

The Davis case has sharply divided the United States, and news of Francis’ meeting with the Kentucky clerk, who went to jail after refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, had upended his six-day U.S. tour. During the visit, Francis had tried to steer clear of such hot-button issues, only to see the Davis affair dominate the post-trip news cycle.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, sought to give the Vatican’s take of events in a statement early Friday, saying Francis had met with “several dozen” people at the Vatican’s embassy before leaving Washington for New York.

Davis was among them and had a “brief meeting,” he said. Lombardi said such meetings are common during papal trips and are due to the pope’s “kindness and availability.”

“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,” Lombardi said.

Advertisement

“The only real audience granted by the pope at the nunciature was with one of his former students and his family,” Lombardi added.

The man, Yayo Grassi, was later identified by The New York Times and CNN as an openly gay Argentine caterer who lives in Washington. In a video posted online, Grassi is shown entering the Vatican’s embassy, embracing his former teacher and introducing Francis to his longtime partner, whom Francis recognized from a previous meeting, as well as an elderly Argentine woman and a few friends from Asia.

Lombardi later confirmed that Grassi had “asked to present his mother and several friends to the pope during the pope’s stay in Washington.”

“As noted in the past, the pope as pastor has maintained many personal relationships with people in a spirit of kindness, welcome and dialogue,” Lombardi said.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Grassi’s mother was in the audience: Grassi introduced the elderly woman named Salome as “an Argentine friend.” The Vatican couldn’t immediately explain the discrepancy.

Grassi declined to be interviewed Friday, citing a dinner he was catering.

Advertisement

The disclosures completely changed the narrative of Davis’ encounter, making clear that Francis wanted another, more significant “audience” to come to light: that of his former student, who happens to be gay, and his longtime partner.

An audience is different from a meeting, in that it is a planned, somewhat formal affair. Popes have audiences with heads of state; they have meetings and greeting sessions with benefactors or other VIPs. So the fact that Lombardi stressed Grassi’s encounter as the only “real audience” in Washington made clear that Francis wanted to emphasize it over Davis’ “brief meeting” along with several dozen other people.

Earlier this week, Davis said the pope met with her and her husband and thanked her for her courage and encouraged her to “stay strong.”

“Just knowing that the pope is on track with what we’re doing and agreeing, you know, it kind of validates everything,” she told ABC.

The Vatican statement made clear the pope intended no such validation. However, Davis’ lawyer, Mat Staver, said the Vatican arranged the meeting as an affirmation of her right to be conscientious objector.

“We wouldn’t expect the pope to weigh in on the particulars of any case,” Staver said Friday. “Rather, the meeting was a pastoral meeting to encourage Kim Davis in which Pope Francis thanked her for her courage and told her to ‘Stay strong,”’ Staver said in a statement. “His words and actions support the universal human right to conscientious objection.”

He said an unnamed Vatican official initiated the meeting on Sept. 14, the day Davis returned to work after being jailed, saying the pope wanted to meet her.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.