Christopher Lamb, CNN
Thu, 13 June 2024
A global gathering of comedians is due to take place Friday in an unlikely venue: the Vatican.
Pope Francis is hosting the equivalent of a “conclave of comedians” by inviting Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, Stephen Colbert, Conan O’Brien and others to Rome. Over 200 people are expected at the audience, with more than 100 comedians from 15 countries.
The 87-year-old pontiff is known for his sense of humor. He likes to crack jokes with people he meets, often telling them with a smile: “please pray for me… not against me!” He has repeatedly emphasized the importance of having a sense of humor, saying it is something that he prays for each day.
“A sense of humor lifts you up, it shows your life is short and to take things in the spirit of a redeemer,” Francis once said in an interview. “It is a human attribute, but it is the closest to God’s grace.”
Francis’ meeting on Friday with “artists from the world of humor” is part of his latest attempt to engage with contemporary culture, with the Vatican explaining in a statement that the meeting underlines how the “art of comedy can contribute to a more empathetic and supportive world.”
It follows on from his landmark visit to the Venice Biennale and his meeting last year with artists and directors in the Vatican. The meeting also comes with the pope facing question marks over his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics after reportedly using a homophobic slur at private meetings.
Others from the US contingent include Tig Notaro, Jim Gaffigan with several Catholics among them: both Gaffigan and Colbert identify as Catholics while Fallon and O’Brien were both raised in the Catholic Church. Also due to attend is Julia Louis-Dreyfus who told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that she had “no idea” what to expect.
Fr. James Martin, a Jesuit priest sometimes dubbed “The Colbert Report’s Chaplain,” will also attend the meeting and Colbert talked about the upcoming papal audience on his show.
“Pope Francis is going to meet me at the Vatican!” he joked. “Am I excited? Is the pope Catholic?”
Colbert then gave a jokey warning to Chris Rock, referring to the incident when Rock was hit by actor Will Smith during the Oscars.
“Chris, please for safety’s sake I would just keep Mary Magdalene’s name out of your mouth. Because the pope wears a big ring!”
He also made reference to the controversy over the pope’s reported use of an anti-gay slur asking: “Why Pope Frankie, why?”
Meanwhile, Whoopi Goldberg, the star of “Sister Act,” has already met the pope during an audience in the Vatican last year.
At that meeting, Goldberg said she offered Francis a cameo in “Sister Act 3,” the film series about a singer who joins a convent.
Playful pope jokes with world's comedians ahead of G7
AFP
Fri, 14 June 2024 at 4:01 am GMT-6·2-min read
The pope stuck his thumb in his ear and wiggled his fingers (Simone Risoluti)
Pope Francis on Friday clowned around with over 100 top global comedians including Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock and Jimmy Fallon before leaving to address a summit of G7 leaders in Italy.
"Instead of reading my speech, I'll just do this", the grinning 87-year-old said, as he stuck his thumb in his ear and wiggled his fingers at a room full of humourists.
Francis met with cheers and applause as he began the day with an audience for comedians from 15 countries, from Argentina to Germany and East Timor.
"Sister Act" star Whoopi Goldberg and Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "Seinfeld" fame waved from the front row as the pope entered the gilded and frescoed room at the Vatican.
The 107 comedians included Britain's Stephen Merchant, from TV show "The Office", US stand-up comedian Chris Rock, and Italy's Silvio Orlando, who played a scheming cardinal in "The Young Pope".
Seconds before Francis arrived, Jimmy Fallon, host of the "Tonight Show" in the US, had the room in fits of laughter as he pranced around at the front.
Goldberg has previously joked about offering the pope a cameo in "Sister Act 3".
Asked if she pressed Francis on it Friday, she quipped that "it wasn't the right moment, I'll probably send him an email", according to ANSA news agency.
Francis then headed to Puglia, to join the heads of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US at a summit also attended by leaders from Brazil, India, Kenya, Turkey and Ukraine.
"Immersed as we are in many social and personal emergencies, you have the power to spread serenity and smiles", the pope told the comedians.
"You are among the few to have the ability to speak to very different people, from different generations, backgrounds and cultures," Francis said.
The Argentine will be the first head of the Catholic Church to attend a G7 summit.
Francis has been asked by host Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to talk about the moral and ethical quandaries surrounding artificial intelligence.
He is also expected to conduct a series of bilateral meetings to discuss pressing global issues, including the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.
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Did you hear the one about the pope? Francis tells audience of comedians it’s OK to laugh at God
Angela Giuffrida in Rome
THE GUARDIAN
Fri, 14 June 2024
Pope Francis said that laughing at God “is not blasphemy” as he met more than 100 comedians from around the world at the Vatican, encouraging them to use their powerful gift of humour to spread laughter “in the midst of so much gloomy news”.
The pontiff, himself prone to the odd quip, invited comedians including Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Stephen Merchant to the audience at the Apostolic Palace on Friday as part of his attempt to engage with contemporary culture.
“In the midst of so much gloomy news, immersed as we are in so many social and even personal emergencies, you have the power to spread peace and smiles,” Francis, 87, said in a speech issued to the press by the Holy See.
“You are among the few to have the ability to speak to very different people, from different generations and cultural backgrounds. You unite people, because laughter is contagious.”
Francis said he has prayed to God for 40 years and asked him for “a good sense of humour”, before adding that it was not blasphemous to “laugh at God”, in the same way we “play and joke with the people we love”. However, he warned the comics that humour can be used “without offending the religious feelings of believers, especially the poor”.
The pope shook hands with the comedians afterwards, while Father Antonio Spadaro, the Vatican’s undersecretary for culture and education, shared a selfie with Whoopi Goldberg on social media.
The vast majority of the comedians present were Italian, followed by 12 from the US. Three came from Ireland – Ardal O’Hanlon, Tommy Tiernan and Patrick Kielty.
Related: Pope Francis tells priests to keep homilies short as ‘people fall asleep’
Francis told the comics that they managed to make people smile while also “dealing with problems, large and small”. He added: “You denounce abuses of power; you give voice to forgotten situations; you highlight abuses; you point out inappropriate behaviour.”
The Irish comedians were criticised for their attendance in an opinion piece on the Irish news website The Journal. “It seems grossly offensive, at best, that an organisation which presided over and aided in the cover-up of systemic child abuse could have the audacity to suggest it is now time for some laughs,” wrote Simon Tierney, who said that after hearing about the event he recalled another Irish entertainer “who took a rather more defiant approach to a different Pope”.
Tierney was referring to the late Sinead O’Connor, who in 1992 caused a severe backlash after tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II on live TV in protest against child sexual abuse in the Catholic church.
Francis, who in recent years has been blighted by ill-health, had a busy schedule on Friday, including meeting the president of Cape Verde and bishops from Equatorial Guinea before travelling by helicopter to Puglia, where he will be the first pontiff to address a G7 summit. The pope will lead a discussion about AI and has 10 bilateral meetings on the agenda.
Laughter lessons: a comedy watchlist for Pope Francis
Fri, 14 June 2024
Pope Francis said that laughing at God “is not blasphemy” as he met more than 100 comedians from around the world at the Vatican, encouraging them to use their powerful gift of humour to spread laughter “in the midst of so much gloomy news”.
The pontiff, himself prone to the odd quip, invited comedians including Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Stephen Merchant to the audience at the Apostolic Palace on Friday as part of his attempt to engage with contemporary culture.
“In the midst of so much gloomy news, immersed as we are in so many social and even personal emergencies, you have the power to spread peace and smiles,” Francis, 87, said in a speech issued to the press by the Holy See.
“You are among the few to have the ability to speak to very different people, from different generations and cultural backgrounds. You unite people, because laughter is contagious.”
Francis said he has prayed to God for 40 years and asked him for “a good sense of humour”, before adding that it was not blasphemous to “laugh at God”, in the same way we “play and joke with the people we love”. However, he warned the comics that humour can be used “without offending the religious feelings of believers, especially the poor”.
The pope shook hands with the comedians afterwards, while Father Antonio Spadaro, the Vatican’s undersecretary for culture and education, shared a selfie with Whoopi Goldberg on social media.
The vast majority of the comedians present were Italian, followed by 12 from the US. Three came from Ireland – Ardal O’Hanlon, Tommy Tiernan and Patrick Kielty.
Related: Pope Francis tells priests to keep homilies short as ‘people fall asleep’
Francis told the comics that they managed to make people smile while also “dealing with problems, large and small”. He added: “You denounce abuses of power; you give voice to forgotten situations; you highlight abuses; you point out inappropriate behaviour.”
The Irish comedians were criticised for their attendance in an opinion piece on the Irish news website The Journal. “It seems grossly offensive, at best, that an organisation which presided over and aided in the cover-up of systemic child abuse could have the audacity to suggest it is now time for some laughs,” wrote Simon Tierney, who said that after hearing about the event he recalled another Irish entertainer “who took a rather more defiant approach to a different Pope”.
Tierney was referring to the late Sinead O’Connor, who in 1992 caused a severe backlash after tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II on live TV in protest against child sexual abuse in the Catholic church.
Francis, who in recent years has been blighted by ill-health, had a busy schedule on Friday, including meeting the president of Cape Verde and bishops from Equatorial Guinea before travelling by helicopter to Puglia, where he will be the first pontiff to address a G7 summit. The pope will lead a discussion about AI and has 10 bilateral meetings on the agenda.
Laughter lessons: a comedy watchlist for Pope Francis
Catherine Shoard
Fri, 14 June 2024
Giving the audience a grin … Eric Idle and Graham Chapman in Life of Brian.Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy
A hundred top comedians are generally considered a tough crowd, but Pope Francis had them rolling in the aisles at the Vatican on Friday, with jovial praise for their profession.
To “laugh at God” was fine, he explained, in the same way “we play and joke with the people we love”.
“While communication today often generates conflict,” the pontiff continued, “you know how to bring together diverse and sometimes contrary realities. How much we need to learn from you!”
The church has been the source of a great deal of humour over the ages – not all of it welcomed at the time by believers. Here we look at some of the most successful comedies for Pope Francis – and his disciples – to contemplate.
Life of Brian
All study of religious irreverence must begin with Monty Python’s satire about Brian (Graham Chapman), born to Mandy (Terry Jones), in the stable next door to Jesus – prompting considerable confusion. Now considered one of the finest films ever made, it was banned for blasphemy in 1979 across much of the world, including Ireland and Italy. This proved commercially invaluable. In Sweden, its posters read: “So funny it was banned in Norway.”
Father Ted
Among the pope’s congregation was Ardal O’Hanlon, best known as endlessly bewildered Father Dougal in Channel 4’s surreal sitcom about three priests exiled to remotest Craggy Island. Despite their almost total lack of faith, both Dougal and Ted (Dermot Morgan) share a benign decency (money resting in bank accounts notwithstanding) which made them that rare thing in the mid-90s: much-loved high-profile priests.
Now a key comfort watch for many (Maurice Gibb was buried with the boxset), Ted has long since overcome its early controversy. Plus, as its creators once reassured a real priest, it was never intended to be representative. “Lads,” he told them, “you don’t know the half of it.”
Derry Girls
Also in attendance on Friday was Tommy Tiernan, who features in Lisa McGee’s show set in a girls’ Catholic school during the Troubles. The headmistress is the withering Sister George Michael (Siobhán McSweeney), who drips contempt for pupils and priests alike, and only became a nun for the free accommodation.
Sister Angela’s Girls
If that all proves too pointed for the pontiff, he might prefer this soapy Italian series in which an ex-con nun doles out frank advice to young hotties lodging in her convent. Angela’s faith is sincere, though her methods – think slapping local playboys – less conventional.
Sister Act
Whoopi Goldberg is a regular visitor to the Vatican: last year she petitioned Pope Francis to cameo in the third Sister Act film, continuing the adventures of a nightclub singer who seeks refuge from the mob sequestered in Maggie Smith’s nunnery. Goldberg reported that despite being “a bit of a fan”, Francis said he’d have to check his schedule.
The Pope Must Die
Released in the US as the marginally less sacrilegious The Pope Must Diet, this surprisingly tame comedy sees maverick priest Robbie Coltrane accidentally installed in the Vatican. It was released a year after Nuns on the Run, with Coltrane and Eric Idle struggling to suppress their criminal tendencies and heterosexual stirrings beneath enormous habits.
Bruce Almighty
Nothing to trouble the devout in this jolly Jim Carrey romp about an avaricious anchorman offered the chance to play God for a week. Amusing moments conclude with a respectful moral about converting sin into an appreciation of life’s small joys.
The Invention of Lying
This smart and subtle Ricky Gervais comedy is set in an alternative reality in which fibs don’t exist. But when one man works out how to lie, he cooks up the concept of religion to comfort his dying mother: “It’s not an eternity of nothingness. You go to your favourite place in the whole world and everyone you’ve ever loved will be there. And there’s no pain.”
Good Omens
The series based on Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s novel about a bickering angel (David Tennant) and demon (Michael Sheen) teaming up to avert Armageddon portrays heaven and hell as petty bureaucracies and flawed humanity as the universe’s only hope. A mixed message for Christianity, but uplifting seen through the right lens.
The Vicar of Dibley
“You were expecting a bloke: beard, Bible, bad breath. Instead, you got a babe with a bobcut and a magnificent bosom,” declares Dawn French at the start of Richard Curtis’s sitcom. Forged in the heat of the Anglican church agreeing to ordain women, it has since become one of their most effective weapons. Geraldine Granger’s language may be irreverent but you could never doubt her commitment – three consecutive Christmas dinners included.
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