Clerk jailed over gay marriage says pope encouraged her

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Defiant Kentucky clerk Kim Davis met briefly with Pope Francis during his historic U.S. visit, an encounter she said validates her crusade against gay marriage.

"He held out his hand to her and she grasped his hand," her attorney, Mat Staver, told The Associated Press. "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 essentially confirmed it: The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, declined an opportunity 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, became a protagonist in America's divisive culture wars when she defied the federal courts by refusing to license same-sex marriages after the Supreme Court effectively legalized them nationwide. She spent five days in jail, until her deputies agreed to issue licenses without her approval.

Davis and her husband met with Francis alone for less than 15 minutes Thursday at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, D.C., 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.