Kim Davis Didn't Get a Private Meeting With the Pope, But a Gay Couple Did

The more we learn about the audiences Pope Francis held on his recent trip to the United States, the clearer the shocking depths of Kim Davis' campaign for self-aggrandizement becomes. Earlier today, the Vatican issued a statement, contrary to earlier insistence that there would be no further comment, distancing the pope from the formerly jailed Kentucky Clerk. A Vatican spokesman insisted that, contrary to claims by Davis and her lawyers, the pope did not express an endorsement for "her position in all of its particular and complex aspects" and theirs was not a private meeting, but a "brief greeting" in the context of the religious leader meeing with dozens of people. Now, CNN reports that the pope did indeed hold one private audience in Washington D. C., initiated personally, with a gay couple.

CNN reports that the day before Davis and others met with the pope, Yayo Grassi and his partner Iwan were invited to the Vatican embassy for a private audience. As we reported earlier, Rev. Federico Lombardi's earlier statement said:

"The only real audience granted by the pope at the Nunciature [embassy] was with one of his former students and his family."

That former student was Grassi, who was taught literature and psychology by Francis at an Argentine high school, and his family was his partner of 19 years, Iwan. Grassi and the pope have remained close over the past five decades, and Grassi says that Francis reached out to him three weeks before his visit saying "he would love to give me a hug."

Grassi says that Francis has long known about his sexuality, and has never condemned it or him, personally expressing his belief in a 2010 letter that there was no place for homophobia in the church. Grassi told CNN:

"He has never been judgmental. He has never said anything negative."

"Obviously he is the pastor of the church and he has to follow the church's teachings. But as a human being he understands all kinds of situations, and he is open to all kinds of people, including those with different sexual characteristics."

It is perhaps not surprising to learn that Davis and her lawyers would deliberately distort the truth to serve their needs, and boost their ego. Recently, Davis' lawyer was forced to admit that he had been dishonest in his assertion that 100,000 people had gathered in Peru in support of the clerk.

Watch a video of the pope embracing the couple below: