Stephen Colbert is a devout Roman Catholic and Sunday school teacher, often demonstrating his deep knowledge of scripture on his Late Show program—as during his much-ballyhooed debate on the existence of God with comedian (and avowed atheist) Ricky Gervais. President Donald Trump, on the other hand, is a man who thinks “Two Corinthians” is a thing and conducted an affair with Marla Maples while his first wife took their children to church.
“By 1987, during services at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, Trump was secretly romancing Maples as he found ways to temporarily ditch Ivana and their kids, Donny, now 19, Ivanka, 15, and Eric, 13,” reported People.
So naturally, Colbert had a field day with Trump’s trip to the Vatican on Wednesday to meet Pope Francis, a man Trump called “disgraceful” as recently as last February.
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“Trump visited the Vatican. That’s exciting. It’s one of the few places on earth with more old men than his Cabinet,” joked Colbert during his monologue. “If you remember back during the campaign, Trump butted heads with the pope over immigration, so people were expecting the meeting to be a bit tense. And, based on this picture, it was.”
Colbert then threw to a viral photo of the pope looking absolutely miserable posing with Trump and his first ladies, before jokingly mimicking his voice: “I was wrong. There is no God.”
He then added: “Maybe this is the way he acts when he meets world leaders. Jimmy, do we have a photo of him with everyone else?” cracked Colbert, throwing to a photo of Obama and Pope Francis laughing it up.
As is customary when you meet a world leader, President Trump and the pope exchanged gifts. Trump gave the pope a few books on Martin Luther King Jr.—whether the president has read them is anyone’s guess—while the pope gave Trump a copy of his 2017 peace message and his encyclical on climate change, Laudato si’.
“After receiving the gifts, Trump replied, ‘Well, I’ll be reading them.’ ‘Well, no, you won’t,’” joked Colbert. “Mike Pence, I think I know what you’re getting for Christmas! Re-gift!”
Of course, the comedian also addressed the most hilarious moment of their meeting: when Pope Francis mocked Trump’s portly physique.
“The best part of the visit happened at the end when the pope threw a little shade at Trump’s physique,” said Colbert. “Francis turned to the first lady and said, ‘What do you give him to eat, potica?’ which is a high-calorie pastry served in Slovenia. Oh, snap! The pope!”
“The pope just called the president chubby!” added Colbert. “I cannot believe that the infallible Vicar of Christ just played the dozens on our president.”
