Well, Kim Davis‘ Popetastic homophobic momentum is about to die even more. The same day the Vatican released a statement underplaying the meeting between the infamous town clerk and Pope Francis, it was revealed that the latter first met with a former student and his partner. Yup, his partner, who is also a dude, both of whom enjoyed a friendly embrace from Pope Francis.
Yayo Grassi, who is openly gay, was a student of Pope Francis in the late 1960s when the man formerly known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio was a high school teacher in Argentina. He and the man who would become Pope kept in touch through the years, even after the former teacher became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Once he became Pope Francis, Grassi visited the Vatican and scheduled a visit during the United States tour, but thought his friend might be too busy to meet with him. He was wrong, though:
“Once I saw how busy and exhausting his schedule was in D.C., I wrote back to him saying perhaps it would be better to meet some other time,” Mr. Grassi said. “Then he called me on the phone and he told me that he would love to give me a hug in Washington.”
Well, that hug definitely took place and it was caught on video with Iwan Bagus, Grassi’s boyfriend of 19 years, present; he also received a warm welcome from the pope. Another friend of theirs posted a video of the meeting online:
The meeting with Davis caused many of the pope’s LGBT fans to feel slighted, especially when Davis’s legal team was so enthusiastic about the meeting she (supposedly) took and the seeming vote of support she (supposedly) received. But just this morning, the Vatican walked back the significance of the trip and said that the meeting “should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects.” And clearly, while the “Cool Pope” remains a conservative Catholic, that doesn’t mean he’s going to just ditch his long-time friend and the man who loves him.
(via The New York Times)