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WASHINGTON, D.C., September 30, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis met with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis.

“I do not deny that the meeting took place, but I have no other comments to add,” Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi told The New York Times. The Times says Davis was “sneaked” in to the Vatican Embassy to meet the pope for approximately 15 minutes.

On Tuesday, Inside the Vatican reported that the pope met Kim Davis shortly before Pope Francis departed Washington, D.C. The embattled Kentucky clerk told the publication that Francis thanked Davis “for your courage,” and they exchanged hugs.

“Stay strong,” the pontiff told Davis, giving both her and her husband a rosary. “Please pray for me,” he requested, a request Davis says she also made — and the pope “assured me that he would pray for me.”

While Davis and her husband, Joe, are not Catholic, they both have living parents who are; Inside the Vatican says the rosaries will go to Joe's mother and Kim's father.

Pope Francis drew international attention for his verbal support of Davis as he returned to Rome, when he said that “conscientious objection” to redefining marriage “is a part of every human right.”

“Would that include government officials as well?” asked ABC's Terry Moran.

It is a human right, and if a government official is a human person, he has that right. It is a human right,” said Francis, who had also visited the Little Sisters of the Poor in D.C. to show support for their fight for liberty against the federal government's abortifacient and contraceptive mandate.