Papal spokesman: Vigano did not fully brief Pope on meeting with Kim Davis

September 03, 2018

Two priests who served as papal spokesmen during the 2015 visit by Pope Francis to the US have said that the Pontiff was unhappy with Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano after a meeting with Kim Davis.

Father Federico Lombardi, the former director of the Vatican press office, and Father Thomas Rosica, who assisted the Vatican with press inquiries during the papal visit, joined in a statement saying that—contrary to the claims by Archbishop Vigano—the Pope was not satisfied with his meeting with Davis. (Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, had become a figure of controversy when she chose to go to jail rather than sign a marriage certificate for a same-sex couple.) Fathers Rosica and Lombardi reported that after the meeting, Pope Francis criticized Archbishop Vigano, who had arranged the encounter, for failing to inform him that Davis had been married four times.

The two papal spokesmen acknowledged, however, that Archbishop Vigano had explained to the Pope, in advance of the meeting, why Kim Davis was a controversial figure. Their statement deflated previous criticisms that the archbishop—who at the time was the papal nuncio in Washington—had caught the Pope off guard by arranging a meeting with a woman who had become a symbol of resistance against same-sex marriage.

 

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Further information:

• Defending Pope Francis, Vatican Allies May Strengthen Viganò’s Hand (New York Times)