Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of one of his ambassadors who set up a controversial meeting with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, 75, had submitted his resignation in January after he reached the mandatory retirement age for bishops, according to reports. And on Tuesday, Francis accepted the resignation from Vigano, who was his ambassador to the United States.

The French Monsignor Christophe Pierre, his 70-year-old ambassador to Mexico, will replace Vigano.

Vigano had reportedly set up the meeting between Francis and Kim, the now-infamous Kentucky clerk who refused to sign same-sex marriage certificates because of religious reasons. Davis allegedly met with Francis in September at the Vatican Embassy in Washington during the pope's first visit to the U.S., though that meeting has been denied by the Vatican, which said Davis was one of the many people at the Vatican Embassy.

According to the Vatican, Francis met with one person in the U.S. privately: his openly gay former student.

Vigano is best known for his role in the leaking of information in 2011 exposing financial corruption during Pope Benedict XVI's papacy. He was sent to Washington as "punishment" and has been strongly involved in the religious liberty fight within the church ever since.