How the Outrage Over the Pope's Kim Davis Meeting May Have Paid Off in a Big Way
The Vatican has now spoken out publicly
in response to the international outrage over Pope Francis' meeting
with Kim Davis, saying it was not an endorsement of her stand. And one
unnamed Vatican official even noted to the media that there is a "sense of regret." The Vatican and those close to it described the meeting in
the way that some Vatican-watchers had speculated in recent days, based
on their own sources: Davis' meeting was not arranged by the Vatican,
and it appears she was part of a procession line of people greeting the
pope.
The
pope, according to the Vatican's clarification, knew little of the
particulars of her story. It appears it was not a private meeting to
endorse her. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi even described it
as not "a real audience" -- quite an insult to Davis -- unlike some of
the pope's other meetings. And Fr. Tom Rosica, who assists the Vatican
press office, said Francis
personally approved the clarification, so the rebuke is coming straight
from the top. Whatever the case, it is very rare that the Vatican
offers a clarification of any kind. So this is a slap at Davis and her
lawyers for using the meeting in a political manner.
That
is great, and the fact that the rebuke is coming from Pope Francis
himself is huge. It was absolutely necessary and will go a long way. And
there are two important points that should be taken away from this:
1. The Vatican got itself into this mess, and further exacerbated it.
The
Vatican is saying it didn't organize a meeting with Davis, implying
someone with an agenda brought her there. There have been various
speculative accounts about thisin
recent days, some focusing on the Vatican ambassador to the U.S., who
is described as a long-time Benedict supporter who was perhaps
determined to undermine Francis. Whatever the case, someone either
screwed up royally at the Vatican Embassy by even allowing Davis to get
through, or the Vatican planned the meeting and this is all damage
control for what it now realizes was a big mistake.
And
then, the second screw up was the Vatican's issuing a "neither confirm
nor deny" statement about the meeting only to later issue a "won't deny"
statement. This is really what lit the torch that spread outrage around
the world. The Vatican must learn that it needs to put out a fire with
all the might it has before its spreads. Instead, it poured gasoline on
the fire. The Vatican perhaps thought it could get away with not
insulting Davis and evangelicals even after the meeting was made public
and that it could just sweep this under the rug. It was wrong.
2.
Contrary to those who are demanding apologies from those of us who
spoke out, it is in fact the moral outrage that got the Vatican to issue
its clarification.
The
Vatican rarely clarifies anything, often still clinging to its worn-out
image as a centuries-old mysterious institution that sits above the
fray, even though it is a global empire with websites, social media
accounts and sophisticated p.r. operatives who work for it in dozens of
countries. Had there not been a collective sense of betrayal expressed
in a forceful way by people around the world, the Vatican would have
done nothing.
In
that case, Liberty Counsel, the anti-gay legal firm associated with the
late Jerry Falwell's Liberty University and which represents Kim Davis,
would have gotten away with using the pope and the Catholic Church for
its hateful, hideous, law-breaking agenda. So, actually, we did the pope
a favor in forcing the Vatican to speak out. And more importantly, we
exposed Liberty Counsel and pressured the Catholic Church, in a rare
instance, to slam an anti-gay entity by exposing its lie. In its
now-thwarted master plan, Liberty Counsel expected the Vatican to simply
do what it has done in the past: Put out a vague comment and let it
stand, thus allowing Liberty Counsel to continue to control the
narrative. But the outrage -- and only the outrage, from millions of
people globally -- changed that: Now the church controls the narrative
while Liberty Counsel is rebuked even as it is now trying to continue a war of wordswith the Vatican.
The
damage is still there for Pope Francis, no doubt. This was a bad
incident, and not the punctuation he wanted on his trip. Hopefully he'll
deal with those around him who put him in this position. The Vatican
needed to issue this clarification as a first step. Maybe the pope has
further plans.
To
those who say that we should have given the pope the benefit of the
doubt, I again say that without the outrage there would be no response.
But
more importantly: This is a powerful church that still condemns
homosexuality as "intrinsically disordered," attacks transgender people
and allows its institutions worldwide to discriminate against LGBT
people, with Catholic schools in the U.S.firing gay
or lesbian teachers, for example, after finding out they're exercising
their right to marry . The pope has both refused meetings with LGBT
Catholics on these issues and refused to stop that discrimination.
The
church surely cannot be seen as a "friend" of LGBT people even if we
see a very slight -- in a centuries-long context -- overture by this new
pope. It will need to be treated as a hostile institution for a long
time. In the meantime, it's important to expose hypocrisies and
encourage the pope -- who doesn't want this issue bogging him down and
keeping him from focusing on the issues he's passionate about -- to do
much, much more. The pressure got him to take control of this situation.
That was big. It means that we need to keep the pressure up.
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