Attorneys for Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis say the pope met privately with her and her husband, Joe, during the pope's visit to the United States last week.
Pope Francis met with the couple at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, according to a news release issued by the Liberty Counsel on Tuesday.
The pontiff thanked Davis for her courage and encouraged her to "stay strong." He held out his hands and asked her to pray for him. Davis held his hands and said, "I will. Please pray for me," and the Pope said he would, according to the release.
The Pontiff presented Kim and Joe Davis each with a Rosary that he personally blessed. Kim's mother and father are Catholic, and Kim and Joe will present the Rosaries to her parents, the release said.
"I was humbled to meet Pope Francis. Of all people, why me?" Davis said in a statement. "... I am just a county clerk who loves Jesus and desires with all my heart to serve him."
During the pope's return trip to Rome, reporters aboard his plane asked him about Davis' case.
While he responded that he did not know the details of the case, he affirmed the right to conscientious objection.
"It is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right," Francis said.
Davis, an Apostolic Christian, was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses after the Supreme Court ordered that same-sex couples be afforded them.
"The challenges we face in America regarding the sanctity of human life, marriage, and religious freedom are the same universal challenges Christians face around the world. Religious freedom is a human right that comes from God. These values are shared in common by people of faith, and the threats to religious freedom are universal. Kim Davis has become a symbol of this worldwide conflict between Christian faith and recent cultural challenges regarding marriage," said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel.
(c)2015 The Daily Independent (Ashland, Ky.)
