A name Kentuckians may recognize — Kim Davis — popped up in a recent report about infighting in the Roman Catholic Church that's followed an archbishop's claim that Pope Francis helped cover up clerical sex abuse.

A New York Times story published this week says the backstory behind some of the drama involves the Rowan County clerk, who famously spent five days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in violation of court orders.

What's she got to do with it?

The newspaper's reporting suggests the rift between Francis and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who wrote a bombshell accusatory letter about Francis' knowledge of the abuse, could have been exacerbated by Viganò arranging a meeting between Francis and Davis during his 2015 trip to the United States.

The invitation "directly challenged Francis' inclusive message and prompted a controversy that nearly overshadowed the trip," the Times reported. An abuse survivor who had spoken to Francis at length told the newspaper that Francis told him Viganò nearly sabotaged the trip.

"I didn't know who that woman was, and he snuck her in to say hello to me — and of course they made a whole publicity out of it," Juan Carlos Cruz recalled Francis saying, according to the New York Times.

"And I was horrified and I fired that nuncio," Francis said, according to Cruz.

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After the 2015 visit, Davis' attorney told the Associated Press that Francis thanked her for her courage in the meeting and told her to "stay strong."

But the Vatican distanced Francis from Davis, describing their meeting as one of dozens the pope had as he left Washington. A spokesman said at the time that the encounter shouldn't be "considered a form of support of her position."

Viganò was then removed from his position of nuncio to the United States in 2016, according to The Times.

On Sunday, Viganò released an 11-page letter accusing a list of U.S. and Vatican officials, including the pope, of covering up for ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington who's accused of sexually abusing seminarians, according to the Associated Press.

Members of the church are split on the allegations contained in Viganò's letter. For conservatives, it's a denunciation of sex abuse cover-up and corruption, according to the AP, but for Francis' supporters, it's an "angry diatribe from a homophobic bishop embittered that he never got the cardinal's red hat he so craved."

In it, Viganò calls on Francis to resign.

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Davis, meanwhile, is running for re-election in Rowan County. She was unopposed in the Republican primary in May and will face Democrat Elwood Caudill Jr.

Caudill, a 20-year employee of the county's property valuation office, defeated an English teacher who was denied a marriage license by Davis and was hoping to get the chance to take her job.

Davis no longer objects to issuing marriage licenses because Kentucky dropped a requirement that the licenses bear the clerk's signature. But she has maintained her opposition to same-sex marriage, visiting the Eastern European nation of Romania last October to urge it to amend its constitution to prohibit it.

Darcy Costello: 502-582-4834; dcostello@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @dctello. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/darcyc.

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