Donald Trump must be so jealous. Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue a same-sex couple a marriage license and subsequently went to jail earlier this month, claims to have had a private audience with Pope Francis during his recent trip to the U.S.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi is not denying the meeting took place, but has not commented any further.
“The Holy See is aware of the reports of Kim Davis meeting with the Holy Father,” Father Benedettini said in a statement. “The Vatican does not confirm the meeting, nor does it deny the meeting. There will be no further information given.”
Davis, on the other hand, first recalled her 15-minute meeting with His Holiness to the conservative magazine Inside the Vatican.
She said Pope Francis thanked her for her courage, hugged her, and told her to “stay strong.” The Kentucky native was in Washington, D.C. — where the Pope addressed Congress last week — to receive a Cost of Discipleship award at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit, NPR reports. 
“I never thought I would meet the Pope,” Davis told NPR in a statement via her legal team. “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 added to ABC: “I was crying. I had tears coming out of my eyes. I put my hand out and he reached and he grabbed it, and I hugged him and he hugged me. And he said, ‘thank you for your courage.’ Just knowing that the pope is on track with what we’re doing, it kind of validates everything to have someone of that stature.”
The Liberty Counsel, a group representing Davis during her legal struggles, claims that Pope Francis met both her and her husband and gifted her with two rosaries, which she plans to give to her Catholic parents.
