Can we put the lid back on the teapot now?

Liberty Counsel insists this picture proves Kim Davis met with the Pope privately. 

 Notice anybody missing?

It looks like the skinny on this has finally come down, so let's consider this case "closed":

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Francis met with "several dozen" people at the Vatican's embassy in Washington just before leaving for New York.

 Lombardi said such meetings are normal on any Vatican trip and are due to the pope's "kindness and availability." He said Francis really had only one "audience" in Washington: with one of his former students and his family.

"The pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects," Lombardi said.

Details in these matters tend to be important, so let's stipulate the lawyers for Davis insist it was a "private meeting" with the Pope.  Well, not according to the Vatican:

The Vatican on Friday distanced Francis from Davis, saying his encounter with her was by no means an endorsement of her cause. In the same statement, the Vatican said the only real audience the pope had was with a former student.

A Vatican assistant spokesman, the Rev. Thomas Rosica, confirmed the student was [Yayo] Grassi [an openly gay Argentine who visited Francis with his longtime partner and some friends]. A video posted online shows Grassi embracing the pope and introducing him to his partner, as well as an Argentine woman and some Asian friends.

I kinda wondered how a 15 minute audience with the Pope yielded only "Stay strong" (or "courageous," I read both phrases in different stories over the past two days) and "Pray for me."  And then he gave her some rosaries.  And that took 15 minutes?

I think the credibility of Kim Davis' lawyers (who had to admit the "100,000 praying in Peru" story was bogus, and pushed this story for all they were worth) should be about zero by now.  And was the Papal Nuncio to America involved in chicanery?  Aw, who really gives a crap?  The whole thing was always a tempest in a teapot.

Time to let it go, and consider the source more carefully the next time.

Why is this man laughing?