CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Yayo Grassi, the gay guy who met the Pope

Oh the irony is just so delicious. For several days there was much discussion about a private meeting between Pope Francis and religious fanatic Kim Davis where it was implied that the Pontiff was endorsing her message that religious-based views about marriage can serve as reason not to folloq  federal or state laws on marriage equality.

Today came word that not only did the Vatican firmly clarify that the meeting with Davis was NOT an endorsement of Davis' crazed crusade against marriage equality in Kentucky, but that the only person the Pope did have an official audience with was his openly gay former student Yayo Grassi.

The Washington Post reports:

“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, DC,” the Rev. Thomas Rosica, an English-language spokesman for the Vatican, said in a statement. “As noted in the past, the Pope, as pastor, has maintained many personal relationships with people in a spirit of kindness, welcome and dialogue.”

which should be contrasted with how they describe the meeting with Davis:

On Friday, the Vatican said Davis was among “a number of guests” who were “invited by the Nuncio,” a church term for the ambassador, to greet the pope. “Very brief greetings,” Rosica told the Associated Press. “And in the pope’s characteristic kindness and warmth and hospitality, he shook people’s hands and gave them rosaries. We should understand it as that. In terms of why this person was invited, you have to ask those questions of the nunciature.” 

“The only real audience granted by the Pope at the Nunciature was with one of his former students and his family,” Rosica said. 

As an atheist I could care less what the Pope thinks or who he meets but this was a huge story in the media and LGBT blogosphere this week.