On last night’s “Late Show with David Letterman,” the host began by saying Pope Francis is thinking about lifting the celibacy requirement. “That’s right, the pope is saying that priests can be in a marriage with a woman and have sex.” [Women are shown cheering.]
The pope is also shown speaking to bishops and cardinals, his words dubbed over. “When two people love each other very much, they become more than just good friends. Eventually they might even get married and have a baby. The mommy and daddy make the baby together, but it grows inside the mommy.”
Letterman: “So if a priest sees someone out there in the crowd that he likes, he might send over some Communion wine.” [Letterman is shown pointing and winking at someone.] Off camera, band leader Paul Shaffer replies, “That little lady over there.” To which Letterman replies, “Priests having sex, can you believe that?” [The clip of the cheering women is replayed.]
Bill Donohue responds as follows:
Letterman is a sick man who is constantly being treated for his afflictions, so he needs to be very careful about what he says.
Here is the leading sentence from a CBS News story on the married host dated October 2, 2009: “David Letterman admitting on his show Thursday night that he’d had sex with female staffers and revealing he was the subject of a related extortion try could help keep his image from being tarnished, experts agree.”
Here is the leading sentence from an AP story dated January 7, 2013: “Three years after an extortion scandal that led him to bare his infidelities, David Letterman said he sees a psychiatrist once a week to try to be the person that he believed he was.”
Contact Diane Ekeblad, VP Entertainment Communications and Editorial Content at CBS: diane.ekeblad@cbs.com
