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Alan Cumming Is Ready for the First Gay Pope

Pope Benedict XVI waves to the faithful as he arrives at the St. Peter's Basilica for a mass with newly appointed cardinals on November 25, 2012 in Vatican City, Vatican.
Not gay. Photo: Franco Origlia/Getty Images

Pope Benedict XVI’s impending resignation prompted rumors yesterday that his successor could be black. Alan Cumming thinks that’s not a bad idea for the Vatican, but he has a better one: “If I was going to rebrand the Catholic Church, as much as I despise what it stands for, I would say get a black person — well, first I would say get a woman or a gay — but then I’d say get a black person or a Hispanic person,” he told us at last night’s premiere of Safe Haven hosted by Self Magazine. “That would be great.” His gripe with the current Pope, whom he thinks “fucking should resign,” is that he’s “homophobic and self-deluding.”

Also, he’s scary: “I’m horrified by this Pope,” Cumming said. “I’m horrified by his stance on gays. And I just love — I was reading today that the Pope arrived in a Christian Dior cape with red Dorothy shoes and blah blah, and he tells us that it’s wrong to be gay. And, I don’t know, I’m really intrigued by it; there’s more to this than meets the eye. It’s not just because he’s old and sick [that he’s resigning]. I hope there’s some more skeletons in his closet, because this violent bigotry that he’s been exposing … and he’s the head of a church that a very large portion of the world belongs to, and they’re still condoning him by going to church every week. I think it’s time they sorted it out and got a new one.” Amen, Alan Cumming.

Alan Cumming Is Ready for the First Gay Pope