Who else has the Pope met with? Conan O’Brien tears into secret Kim Davis meeting

Talk show host Conan O’Brien has torn into the Pope’s controversial secret meeting with Kim Davis.

The Vatican admitted yesterday that the Pope had secretly met with anti-gay clerk Kim Davis during his US tour last month.

Davis, the clerk for Rowan County Kentucky, was briefly jailed for contempt of court after ignoring direct orders from courts to stop blocking gay weddings.

The clerk has been married four times, but claims God doesn’t want gays to marry.

She said of the meeting: “I was humbled to meet Pope Francis. Of all people, why me?”

“Pope Francis was kind, genuinely caring, and very personable. He even asked me to pray for him. Pope Francis thanked me for my courage and told me to ‘stay strong.”

Talk show host Conan O’Brien ripped into the Pontiff, joking: “Earlier today the Vatican did confirm that during his visit to the US, the Pope held a secret meeting with Kim Davis.

“It turns out she was not the only controversial person the Pope met with in private while he was here.”

He joked that the Pope had shared a sandwich with alleged child pornographer Jared Fogle, rode a roller-coaster with alleged murderer Robert Durst, and “hunted lions with that Minnesota dentist”.

Despite repeatedly refusing to comment on the claims, the Vatican has now confirmed that a meeting between Davis and the Pontiff did take place.

Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told the New York Times that he “did not deny that the meeting took place, but I have no other comments to add”.

It is surprising the Pope found time out of his busy schedule to meet with a notorious homophobe, given he was apparently too busy to visit LGBT homeless people.

New York’s Ali Forney Centre took out an open letter to the Pope in the New York Times last April, inviting him “to meet our abandoned youths and see for yourself how their lives have been devastated and made destitute by religious rejection”.

The Pope made multiple appearances in New York and took part in pre-planned photo opportunities with homeless people – but shunned the invite to visit the Centre or condemn homophobia.

He instead warned lawmakers that “the very basis of marriage and the family” is being called into question, and claimed that Kentucky clerk Kim Davis has a “human right” to block same-sex weddings.

The centre has released a heartbreaking video showing the harm done by religious homophobia – after the Pope shunned an invitation to speak out on his US tour.

Watch the Conan clip below:

• Nov 29 2023

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