Inside the Vatican Magazine by Dr. Robert Moynihan
# 38 - September 29, 2015, Tuesday — Kim and Francis
"For there is not any thing secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known and come to light." —Luke 8:17
"Holy Father, you visited the Little Sisters of the Poor and we were told that you wanted to show your support for them and their case in the courts. And, Holy Father, do you also support those individuals, including government officials, who say they cannot in good conscience, their own personal conscience, abide by some laws or discharge their duties as government officials, for example in issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples? Do you support those kinds of claims of religious liberty?" —Terry Moran, ABC News, asking a question to Pope Francis on the papal airplane during an impromptu airplane press conference, on the evening of Sunday, September 27, just after the Pope left the United States to return to Rome
"Holy Father, you visited the Little Sisters of the Poor and we were told that you wanted to show your support for them and their case in the courts. And, Holy Father, do you also support those individuals, including government officials, who say they cannot in good conscience, their own personal conscience, abide by some laws or discharge their duties as government officials, for example in issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples? Do you support those kinds of claims of religious liberty?" —Terry Moran, ABC News, asking a question to Pope Francis on the papal airplane during an impromptu airplane press conference, on the evening of Sunday, September 27, just after the Pope left the United States to return to Rome
"Conscientious
objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a
right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious
objector, he denies a right. Conscientious objection must enter into
every juridical structure because it is a right, a human right.
Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a
right, saying 'this right that has merit, this one does not.' It
(conscientious objection) is a human right." —Pope Francis, answering Terry Moran's question on the papal flight on September 27
"Would that include government officials as well?" —Followup question by Moran
"It is a human right and if a government official is a human person, he has that right. It is a human right." —Pope Francis, answer to the followup question
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"Would that include government officials as well?" —Followup question by Moran
"It is a human right and if a government official is a human person, he has that right. It is a human right." —Pope Francis, answer to the followup question
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The Secret Meeting of the Papal Trip
Washington, D.C., September 29, 2015 — One meeting during Pope Francis' whirlwind trip to America has remained secret.
Washington, D.C., September 29, 2015 — One meeting during Pope Francis' whirlwind trip to America has remained secret.
Until now.
It was, arguably, the most significant meeting, symbolically, of the entire trip.
It should, therefore, be brought to the attention of the public, both in the Church, and in the secular world.
That
the meeting occurred may, perhaps, spark controversy. This is evidently
why it was kept secret. The Vatican evidently feared the
"politicization" of a "pastoral trip" which clearly wished to emphasize
the encounter with Jesus Christ, with the poor, with the faithful, with
the handicapped, with children, and with all Americans of whatever
background.
But there was also, evidently, a desire to meet with a person who has taken a controversial stand out of conscience.
The
meeting is a fact, and facts are the material of which reality is
composed, and human beings, though they cannot, as T.S. Eliot said, bear
very much reality, strive nevertheless to live in reality. And reality
cannot be understood without knowledge of the facts. Of what really
happened.
(Here is a picture of Pope Francis on Sunday evening, September 27, on the airplane during his airplane press conference, after leaving the United States)
On
Thursday, September 24, in the afternoon after his historic address to
Congress, just a few minutes before flying to New York City, Pope Francis received, spoke with, and embraced Kim Davis
— the Kentucky County Clerk who was jailed in early September for
refusing to sign the marriage licenses of homosexual couples who wished
to have their civil marriages certified by the state of Kentucky.
Also present was Kim's husband, Joe Davis.
Kim
and her husband had come to Washington for another purpose -- Kim was
to receive a "Cost of Discipleship" award on Friday, September 25, from
The Family Research Council at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.
"Thank you for your courage"
Pope Francis entered the room.
Kim greeted him, and the two embraced.
There is no recording of this conversation, or photographs, as far as I know. But "there is not any thing secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known and come to light." (Luke 8:17)
Kim Davis gave me this account of the meeting shortly after it took place.
"The Pope spoke in English," she told me. "There was no interpreter. 'Thank you for your courage,' Pope Francis said to me. I
said, 'Thank you, Holy Father.' I had asked a monsignor earlier what
was the proper way to greet the Pope, and whether it would be
appropriate for me to embrace him, and I had been told it would be okay
to hug him. So I hugged him, and he hugged me back. It was an
extraordinary moment. 'Stay strong,' he said to me. Then he gave me a
rosary as a gift, and he gave one also to my husband, Joe. I broke into
tears. I was deeply moved.
"Then
he said to me, 'Please pray for me.' And I said to him, 'Please pray
for me also, Holy Father.' And he assured me that he would pray for me."
Joe
told Kim that he would give his rosary to her mother, who is a
Catholic. And Kim then said that she would give her rosary to her
father, who is also a Catholic.
Vatican sources have confirmed to me that this meeting did occur; the occurrence of this meeting is not in doubt.
Those
who have seen the images of the film of the Pope answering the
questions of the journalists on the airplane, on the matter of
individual conscience, his determination and passion, are persuaded that
he had in mind not a theoretical issue of conscience, but a specific
person, someone he had met and embraced — someone whose burden, as a
loving pastor, he had taken on his own shoulders.
He was thinking of this person when he answered those questions.
Why Did the Pope Meet Kim?
What was the purpose of this meeting?
Pope
Francis met with Kim, embraced her, encouraged her, and, on the papal
airplane, when asked the question cited at the outset, he stated, very
strongly, that "conscientious objection" is "a human right."
It
is not surprising that the Holy Father met Kim Davis. The Holy Father
is considered by many to be the father of all Christians, and is a man
of compassion, a man ready to listen to and to comfort all who have
suffered for their faith.
It
was the Holy Father's explicit request to visit a prison in
Philadelphia, and he took the time to speak with each of the 100
prisoners he met on that occasion.
This is the attitude that prompted the Holy Father to receive Kim, who had been in jail.
And
her response, from the very first moment of the meeting, showing great
affection toward the Holy Father, showed that she responded to this
desire of his to comfort her.
The meeting with the Holy Father was a moment of consolation for Kim.
It strengthened her conviction, she told me, to obey the law of God, before the law of man.
It is the teaching of the Catholic Church that, when the human law contradicts the natural law, it is not a valid law.
This
encounter between Pope Francis and Kim Davis takes on new importance
since the ACLU (the American Civil Liberties Union) has asked that Kim
be held in contempt of court.
This means that, should the judge agree with the ACLU, Kim could again in coming days be ordered to be held in prison.
In
this sense, the Pope on September 24 clearly "wrapped his protective
mantle" around Kim Davis, discreetly, in private, in a way completely
hidden from the world, but in a way that was deeply moving for her
personally, as a person of conscience