Pope Francis secretly met a Kentucky county clerk, who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples and gave her words of encouragement, her attorney said.
Mat Staver, attorney and founder of the Liberty Counsel, told CBS News on Tuesday night that the Pope met Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and her husband at the Vatican embassy in Washington last Thursday during his visit to the United States.
Vatican chief spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said he would neither confirm nor deny the report and that there would be no further statement.
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The Pope, speaking to reporters as he returned home from his 10-day trip to the U.S. and Cuba on Monday, said government officials had a "human right" to refuse to discharge a duty if they felt it violated their conscience.
Staver, whose client was jailed for five days in September for refusing to comply with a judge's order to issue the licenses in line with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, told CBS his team did not want to disclose the meeting until now to avoid interfering with the Pope's broader message during his visit.
"Because we didn't want the Pope's visit to be overshadowed with Kim Davis," Mr. Staver said in an interview on the network.
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During the meeting, the Pope told Ms. Davis to "stay strong", Mr. Staver said.