What in the world is the Left going to make of the Vatican’s confession that Pope Francis met privately with the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, Kim Davis? The Vatican confirmed that the meeting took place at its Embassy in Washington after the Pope addressed a joint meeting of Congress. Mrs. Davis is the clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Not only did Francis meet with her, but, according to her account, they hugged, she wept, and the pontiff told her to “stay strong” and said, “Thank you for your courage.”

This is quite a footnote to the visit of the man who sits on the throne of Saint Peter. At every stop he was cheered by a broad array of Americans, but by none more lustily than the Democrats who have been campaigning for government funded birth-control, for subventions for Planned Parenthood, and for not only the idea that same-sex marriage is to be a constitutional right but also for treating those who oppose it as bigots. President Obama, with his wife and daughters in tow, traveled to the airport to welcome His Holiness to American soil (which is fine by the Sun).

All these bien pensant liberals have been thrilled at the way this Pope has sought a softer line on social issues — and a harder line against capitalism. The same ilk was been cheering United States District Judge David Bunning as he clapped Mrs. Davis in the clink. Everyone agrees that the opinion of the Supreme Court must be obeyed. Yet it’s hard to think of anyone on the Left who objected to Mrs. Davis being held behind bars for her demand to be accommodated, even though the Left has been pleading for its own accommodations for years. So what are they going to say now that the pope they’ve been applauding had Mrs. Davis brought in for a hug and encouragement?

Mrs. Davis isn’t the only Christian in the hot seat in the widening campaign for religious accommodation in America, nor is she the only one the pope went out of his way to encourage. He met with the Little Sisters of the Poor, in what a Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, was quoted in the Washington Post as calling a sign of support for the nuns in their legal battle with the Obama administration. Good for the Pope. Nowhere does the First Amendment require Americans to fill out paperwork because they fear God.

As for the pope’s modus operandi, we don’t mind saying that its logic sometimes eludes those of us newspapermen who have to cover the — so to speak — devils as well as the saints. Why sneak Mrs. Davis into a private meeting at the embassy rather than seat her in the balcony for the papal address to the Joint Meeting of Congress? Why not place the Little Sisters in such a seat of honor? But far be it from us to tell His Holiness how to do his job. After all, the message is out: This most liberal of popes calls for religious accommodation of our most pious countrymen, in the spirit of the American founders.