BREAKING NEWS

Vatican: Pope did not give unconditional support to clerk in gay marriage row

Pope Francis did not ask to meet a Kentucky county clerk who had been jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples secretly and did not offer her unconditional support, the Vatican said on Friday.
Looking to limit controversy after last week's meeting in Washington between the pope and Kim Davis, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said she was one of several dozen people who had been invited by the Vatican ambassador to see Francis.
"The Pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects," Lombardi said in a statement.
A senior Vatican official, who declined to be named, said there was a "sense of regret" within the Holy See over the meeting, which was originally kept secret.