That’s a laugh: Pope Francis meets with comedians Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris Rock and more in warm-up act to his sitdown with Biden
Pope Francis hosted more than 100 comedians in Vatican City on Friday morning as a warm-up act for his meeting with President Joe Biden at the G7 later in the day.
The conclave of comedians included Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris Rock, Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien.
“You unite people, because laughter is contagious,” the pope told the gathered group, adding that he has been praying for a good sense of humor for 40 years.
‘Although communication today often causes conflict, you know how to bring diverse and sometimes contradictory realities together. How much should we learn from you!’ said the Pope, 87.
The Vatican said the comedians were invited to “celebrate the beauty of human diversity” and that the pope “recognizes the significant impact that the art of comedy has on the world of contemporary culture.”
The audience with the comedians was organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Communications of the Vatican.
Jimmy Fallon greets Pope Francis
The comedians seemed cheerful and excited to be there.
Goldberg and Louis-Dreyfus waved from the front row as the pope entered the room.
Fallon entertained the crowd before the Pope arrived and was told to quickly take his seat as the Pope approached.
Goldberg told Reuters last month that she had offered the pope a cameo in “Sister Act 3,” in which she will reprise her comedic role of a singer who takes refuge in a convent and organizes a choir.
“He said he would see what his time would be like,” Goldberg said jokingly.
After delivering his speech, Francis greeted all the comedians individually and shared laughs and jokes with several of them, including Rock, Fallon and Colbert, as he left the audience hall.
Later on Friday, the Pope will travel to Puglia to attend the G7 leaders’ summit. He is the first pope to address the G7 and will discuss stronger AI guardrails following the boom in generative artificial intelligence fueled by OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni invited Pope Francis to attend. She greeted him as he flew in on his PopeMobile.
Whoopi Goldberg offered the Pope a cameo in ‘Sister Act 3’
Conan O’Brien met with the Pope
The Pope takes a selfie with some comedians
Stephen Colbert was one of the comedians in attendance
The pope will hold a separate meeting with Biden at the summit, but it will be a private event behind closed doors.
The Pope will also meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as invited leaders from Algeria, Brazil, India, Kenya and Turkey. And he will sit at the table with G7 leaders, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Biden last met the Pope in October 2021. Biden is the second Catholic president in American history.
