Reports are coming out tonight that anti-gay Kentucky clerk Kim Davis met secretly with Pope Francis in Washington DC last week.

Pope Francis met secretly in Washington last week with Kim Davis, the county clerk in Kentucky who defied a court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, her lawyer said in a telephone interview Tuesday night. Francis gave her rosaries and told her to “stay strong,” the lawyer said.

Ms. Davis and her husband, Joe, were sneaked into the Vatican Embassy by car on Thursday afternoon, according to Ms. Davis’s lawyer, Mathew D. Staver. The couple met for about 15 minutes with the pope, who was accompanied by security, aides and photographers. Mr. Staver said he expected to receive photographs of the meeting from the Vatican soon.

At this point, who knows if it’s true? Liberty Counsel is an infamously dishonest bunch, but it would be pretty stupid for them to lie about something so easily checked. I’m withholding judgment until more information emerges, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it turns out to be true.

We’ll know one way or the other soon enough.

A Vatican spokesman has now confirmed that the meeting took place.

On Wednesday, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, confirmed the meeting, but he declined to elaborate. “I do not deny that the meeting took place, but I have no other comments to add,” he said.