Stephen Colbert talks about Catholicism and faith, with his usual humor and with seriousness, says the Religion News Service. Colbert has taught Sunday School, and guests on “The Colbert Report” have included the Reverend James Martin, a Jesuit priest (“his official chaplain,” according to the RNS).
In this latest sit-down, with the Rev. Thomas Rosica, English-language attache to the Vatican press office and head of the Toronto-based Salt and Light media network, Colbert’s answers range from the silly (Favorite saint: “St. Arugula … that’s the saint I worship. Okay? Delicious!”) to the serious: how the Holy Spirit forms one’s conscience.
Colbert has been trying to snag some time with Pope Francis when he visits the U.S. What would he ask him?
“I would ask him how love leads him to joy, or does love lead him to joy?” Colbert says. And he would ask him about being “a fool for Christ” — a role he sees Francis playing, as well as Colbert himself.
And he sees, perhaps not surprisingly, a connection between humor and faith:
“Doing something joyfully doesn’t make something any easier, it only makes it better. And, also it makes it communal — that we’re all doing it together. When you work in fear, or when you work in distress, you often feel alone. But jokes, laughter, humor, joy, whatever you want to call it … it connects people. And as I said earlier, what do we want to be? Not alone.”