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“I can’t have in mind all cases that can exist about conscience objection,” the pope told reporters on the plane. “But, yes, I can say the conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a right.”

The meeting with Davis was not the only private meeting the Pope held with Americans involved in religious liberty cases. In Washington, Francis met with the Little Sisters of the Poor. The visit was intended as a sign of support for the nuns in their legal battle against a contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

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The Vatican revealed that meeting at a U.S. news conference on the evening of the meeting. The meeting with Davis was kept private until late Tuesday.

Davis, an Apostolic Christian, has said that her refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses was “a Heaven or Hell decision” and that she is refusing to issue the documents “under God’s authority.”

“I was humbled to meet Pope Francis,” she said in a statement. “Of all people, why me?”

She added: “I never thought I would meet the Pope. Who am I to have this rare opportunity? I am just a County Clerk who loves Jesus and desires with all my heart to serve him.”

The pope, she said, “was kind, genuinely caring, and very personable.”

Davis’s experience, her lawyer said, speaks to everyone.

“Kim Davis has become a symbol of this worldwide conflict between Christian faith and recent cultural challenges regarding marriage,” Staver said. “The challenges we face in America regarding the sanctity of human life, marriage, and religious freedom are the same universal challenges Christians face around the world. Religious freedom is a human right that comes from God. These values are shared in common by people of faith, and the threats to religious freedom are universal.”

The pope’s schedule on Sept. 24 seemed to have had enough time to accommodate a private meeting. Davis was in Washington at the Value Voters Summit last week on the day after the pontiff’s departure for New York City.