Vatican observers raise questions over Ky. clerk's pope visit

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The private meeting Pope Francis held with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis is a strong papal endorsement of religious resistance to gay marriage, but it doesn't necessarily mean he approves of how she has waged her fight, experts said Wednesday.

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said the encounter in Washington last Thursday was private. Out of deference to the Vatican, Davis' attorney, Mat Staver, would not say how it was arranged. The Vatican essentially confirmed the meeting, without further comment.

Davis said she grasped the pope's outstretched hand and he told her to "stay strong."

Davis has refused to issue any marriage licenses in Rowan County rather than comply with the Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized gay marriage nationwide.

"Just knowing that the pope is on track with what we're doing and agreeing, you know, it kind of validates everything," Davis told ABC News.

Observers say that's reading too much into the visit.

"You can't take his presence with somebody as his affirmation of everything that they stand for," said Cathleen Kaveny, a theologian and legal scholar at Boston College.

The meeting helps "refute the mistaken idea that the pope was somehow trying to put distance between himself and the current, on-the-ground religious freedom controversies and challenges that the American bishops and others are facing," said Rick Garnett, a University of Notre Dame law professor.

Davis and her husband were called to the Vatican Embassy on Thursday. They met with the pope for less than 15 minutes, but left inspired as the pope thanked her for her courage and told her to "stay strong," Staver said.

That's puzzling to Francis DeBernardo, who runs the New Ways Ministry, which seeks acceptance for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Catholics. The pope had turned away a crush of advocacy groups lobbying to see him; that he carved out even a few minutes for Davis was noteworthy.

"It throws a wet blanket on the goodwill that the pontiff had garnered during his U.S. visit last week," DeBernardo said.

Kaveny said none of the pope's comments give any indication that Francis understands the details of Davis' case, nor do they show how he would balance the rights of a religious objector with the duties of a public official.

"Religious liberty is an important value," Kaveny said, "but it's not a value that sits above everything else."