Kim Davis/Pope Francis

URL: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/pope-francis-added-to-religious-liberty-debate-by-meeting-with-kim-davis/2015/09/30/4a5fb380-679c-11e5-9ef3-fde182507eac_story.html

Pope Meets with Kim Davis -- Pope Watchers are asking what did Francis mean?

This news article is about the Pope meeting "secretly" with the Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis during the Pope's recent visit to the USA. Kim Davis made other news recently because she went to jail for refusing to sign same-sex marriage licenses, and signing marriage licenses was her job as a government employee. The article interviews different people who have different opinions about this meeting and are wondering why the Pope met with Kim Davis and her husband. Unlike the Pope's other public appearances, the meeting with Davis was private and the Pope's representatives have said very little about it.

Pope Francis has been called the "People's Pope" because he acts very humble, for example, he decided to live in an apartment instead of living in a Vatican mansion. He is also vocal on many social issues like immigration when he spoke before the US Congress. A lot were surprised when they learned that he met with Kim Davis because some people think that Kim Davis is a criminal because she is a government employee who did not obey the Supreme Court and she is an enemy of social justice, but is she? The pope most likely met with her because he supports her right to "conscientious objection"as a Christian and she is just upholding her religious conviction which is also her right. The pope was said to say something like "Stay strong" to Kim Davis. After all, the pope is a Christian first and in fact he is a church leader who is sworn to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

This article is about the civil liberties of the right to conscientious objection and the right to religious expression versus the duty of government employees like Kim Davis to follow what the Supreme Court ruled about same-sex marriage.