LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis said she met briefly with Pope Francis during his U.S. visit, in an encounter that validates her opposition to gay marriage.
"He held out his hand to her and she grasped his hand," her attorney Mat Staver said. "He asked her to pray for him and she said she would; she asked the pope to pray for her, and he said he would."
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, declined to deny the encounter and said he would have no comment. The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said the meeting was private and that no photos would be released.
Davis, an Apostolic Christian, defied the federal courts by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage nationwide. She spent five days in jail, until her deputies in the Rowan County clerk's office agreed to issue licenses without her approval.
Davis and her husband met with Francis alone for less than 15 minutes Sept. 24 at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, Staver said. He wouldn't say how the meeting was arranged, citing a desire to be "deferential to the Vatican."
They chose to keep it secret until the pope left the U.S., to avoid overshadowing his visit, Staver said.
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, referred questions to the Vatican.
"It was really very humbling to even think that he would want to meet me or know me," Davis told ABC News. "Just knowing that the pope is on track with what we're doing and agreeing, you know, it kind of validates everything."
The pope has upheld church teaching that a marriage is between a man and woman, but he didn't emphasize the issue during his trip because he wanted to offer a "positive" message about families to the U.S., Lombardi told reporters.
While he repeatedly endorsed religious freedoms, some of his calls to action have been interpreted as a repudiation of Davis' insistence on keeping her job even as she refuses to violate her conscience by treating all marriage applicants equally, as the courts required.
Speaking to Congress, Francis said "it is imperative that the followers of the various religions join their voices in calling for peace, tolerance and respect for the dignity and rights of others."
Davis was in Washington to get an award at the Values Voter Summit, where she announced that she is switching to the Republican Party because she feels abandoned by Democrats.
On his flight back to the Vatican, reporters tried to press Francis to clarify his position on the religious freedoms of government officials. Without mentioning Davis, the pope responded that conscientious objection is a human right.
"It is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right," Francis said.
For some, the pope's decision to meet with Davis sullied the legacy of his celebratory visit.
DignityUSA, an advocacy group for gay Catholics, called the meeting "deeply disappointing" and said it could transform the public perception "from a largely successful pastoral visit to the endorsement of an exclusionary political agenda."
"That Pope Francis met privately in Washington, D.C., with Kim Davis throws a wet blanket on the good will that the pontiff had garnered," wrote Francis DeBernardo, who runs New Ways Ministry, another Catholic organization advocating for gay rights. "The time for vagueness, ambiguity, and secret meetings is over. Pope Francis needs to state clearly where he stands in regard to the inclusion of LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] people in the church and society."
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, released a statement Wednesday about Davis' meeting with Francis.
"While the media elites were slobbering all over themselves because Pope Francis commented on climate change, the Pope held a quiet and powerful meeting with a humble Apostolic county clerk from Kentucky," Huckabee said. "The Pope recognized something the chattering class in Washington and Wall Street will never understand: That Kim Davis followed her conscience and convictions. The Pope thanked Kim for doing so and congratulated her for her stand."
The former governor who now lives in Florida said the news media "mocked and derided" those who supported Davis, adding, "It may just be a visit from the Pope that pushes the out of touch political class in Washington to finally stand up to judicial tyranny and stand for religious liberty."
Huckabee and fellow GOP presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, visited Davis while she was in jail and were on hand for a rally after her release. Huckabee later said that clerks such as Davis should follow their convictions if their beliefs conflict with state law.
The judge released her from jail with strict instructions not to interfere. Once she got out, she altered the marriage licenses, replacing her name with the phrase "pursuant to federal court order."
Attorneys for the couples who sued her then questioned the validity of the altered licenses and asked the judge to order her to reissue them or consider punishing her again. That request is pending.
Information for this article was contributed by Nicole Winfield, Darlene Superville and Rachel Zoll of The Associated Press; and by staff members of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 10/01/2015