The Pope and Kim Davis

Now that the pageantry, adulation and hoopla over the Pope’s visit have dropped off the news cycle radar, we learn the inconvenient truth that Francis and his church still endorse bigotry against gays and the idea that his god’s law supersedes civil law.

How else can you interpret his secret meeting (revealed after his departure) with an obscure Kentucky county clerk, an elected official who gained national attention by breaking the law because her god (and the Pope’s) hates homosexuals?

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, an advocacy group for gay Catholics was quoted in the New York Times as saying: “The news 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 during his U.S. visit last week.” He’s absolutely right although I might have used a less gentle term than “wet blanket.”

I was almost beginning to buy into that “good will” idea but then, as Yogi said, it was “déjà vu all over again.”  Oh, by the way, wasn’t Francis quoted as saying about gays, “Who am I to judge?”  Evidently, the Pope considers an Evangelical county clerk eminently more capable than he is of judging gays.

 According to news reports, Francis told Davis to “stay strong,” and, “Thank you for your courage.”  That sounds to me like a pretty emphatic endorsement of her denying gay marriage licenses.

Some pundits have opined that after tossing some barbs at conservatives with his views on climate change, capitalism, poverty and immigration in his televised speeches and declarations, he decided to sneak through the backdoor of a secret meeting with Ms. Davis to toss the Evangelicals and the social conservative right a little bone to pick on.

Whatever.   

You’ve probably heard the term “Papal Bull”--an official document or proclamation issued by the Pope.  I have a new definition in mind.