Pope meets U.S. priest attacked for ministering to gays.

FILE PHOTO: Jesuit priest father James Martin of the U.S. signs copies of his book at the Pastoral Congress at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin, Ireland August 23, 2018. (REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne)

Pope Francis on Monday gave a high-profile private audience to a prominent American Jesuit priest who has been attacked repeatedly by conservative Catholics and media outlets for ministering to homosexuals.

By meeting Father James Martin during the morning, when the pope’s…