Pope Francis caused quite a stir last week when, as part of a documentary, he appeared to come out in favor of dating apps like Tinder. Meanwhile, apparently Taylor Swift’s latest relationship came to an end over the weekend.
So on Monday’s “The Late Show,” Stephen Colbert kicked the show off with a cold open gag that joked about both of those things by revealing what the Pope’s Tinder profile is like.
First though, the context: Francis is the subject of a documentary called “The Pope: Answers,” which features one scene in which he speaks to a group of young people of various religious and cultural backgrounds about dating.
Among other things, during this conversation he said, “Sex is one of the beautiful things God gave to human beings,” and later on, when asked about people using Tinder and other such apps, said, “It’s normal. Young people have that eagerness to meet each other, and that’s very good.”
As for Swift, she has been dating British actor Joe Alwyn since 2016, but People and “Entertainment Tonight” both reported the relationship has ended. Cue much gnashing of the teeth from her fans.
Per usual, the cold open of “The Late Show” began with short clip of news reports summarizing all that. Then came the gag, a repurposed clip of the Pope speaking, but with a new translation.
“My brothers and sisters,” the fake translation of Francis’ speech began, “mankind’s deepest aspiration is to love and to be loved. So I would like Taylor Swift to check out my Tinder profile. I’m available. I’m infallible and I’m celibate. So no presh.”
“It also says that I’m 6’4″, but I included a pointy hat,” the fake translation of the speech continued. “In conclusion, to paraphrase you: It’s me. Hi. I’m the pontiff. It’s me.”
You can watch the whole gag at the top of the page now.
