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MARISA MARCHITELLIIn this still from a video taken by Marisa Marchitelli, Yayo Grassi, left, and his partner Iwan Bagus, center, can be seen greeting Pope Francis, right, at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C.
Pope Francis privately met with a gay couple last week while visiting Washington, D.C., according to several news reports Friday.
Yayo Grassi, an openly gay Argentine-American caterer who lives in the Washington area and is a former student of the pope’s, met with Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature one day before the pope met Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who has been at the center of a national controversy over her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The Vatican has also confirmed that the only “real audience” Pope Francis had while he was in Washington last month was with a gay former student and his longtime partner – a day before the pontiff met Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who was jailed for refusing to grant same sex couples marriage licenses for religious reasons.
On Friday, the Vatican sought to distance itself from Davis, saying in a statement that her encounter with the pope did not represent an endorsement of her opinions or actions.
Hours later, it confirmed that the only “real audience” Francis had while he was in Washington was with a former student, his partner, mother and his friends.
“Mr Yayo Grassi, a former Argentine student of Pope Francis, who had already met other times in the past with the Pope, asked to present his mother and several friends to the Pope during the Pope’s stay in Washington,” said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.
Grassi, 67, a caterer in Washington has known the pope since Francis taught him literature and psychology at a Buenos Aires high school in the 1960s.
Grassi told the New York Times that he had contacted the Vatican for an audience but then reconsidered when he realized how busy the pope would be. Francis then called Grassi personally, saying he wanted to give him a hug.
“It was a private meeting, for about 15 to 20 minutes, in which I brought my boyfriend of 19 years,” he said. A video that was posted online showed Francis hugging Grassi and others.