Kim Davis. When will it stop?
The headline near the top of every newscast this morning was “Kim Davis Meets With Pope.” Apparently the Rowan County Clerk’s attorneys (yes, they are always expressed in the plural; I’ve never needed more than one at a time) have notified the press that while Francis was in Washington last week he spent 10 minutes behind closed doors with Ms. Davis. It was very personal and inspiring, they said, and went so far as to divulge that The Pontiff told Kim to “stay strong.” When asked by reporters later, though, Francis refused to commit himself to anything but “conscientious objection is a basic human right.”
Well, OK — but those who choose conscientious objection must deal with the consequences, especially if they break the law. That’s another conversation. But there’s a more interesting issue.
When contacted by CNN and asked pointedly whether the story of a Papal audience for the new face of American homophobia a Vatican spokesman responded “We will neither confirm nor deny. There will be no statement.”
Uh, ‘scuse me?
One of two things is going on here. First, Davis’s lawyers made the whole thing up. Or second, the meeting did actually happen and now Francis — having determined for himself that Davis is a total nutbag — is attempting to distance himself as far from Rowan County as humanly possible. There’s no way of knowing for sure, and there may be another option I have not considered. But that’s how it looks to me.
Either way, it appears that we are not going to be done with Ms Davis as long as her attorneys can keep finding ways to keep her alive in the media. And that could be a long, long time.