“So the pope walks into a bar …”
Pope Francis welcomed a star-studded group of comedians to the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican on Friday — and they only had to wake up at “the butt crack of dawn” to meet him.
“So, we’re on our way over to see the pope,” Whoopi Goldberg, 68, said in an Instagram Story she shared early in the morning in Rome. “It is the butt crack of dawn, okay, but this is the time we’ve been told to come over. And I mean, who minds walking down these streets? Nobody. It’s beautiful.”
The Oscar winner has met the pope, 87, before. Last month, she revealed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” that she offered him a role in “Sister Act 3” when they met in October 2023.
“I wanted to thank him,” she told host Jimmy Fallon at the time. “I’ve been trying to meet up with him for about 10 years. Every time I say ‘OK, we’ll do it’ I’d step in something and then I couldn’t do it and they’d cancel the appearance. But I stayed really good and I didn’t get in any trouble.”
The “View” co-host was joined by Fallon, 49, Chris Rock, Mike Birbiglia, Stephen Colbert, Jim Gaffigan, Conan O’Brien and more. At one point, the group all looked elated standing in front of the pope with their hands out, as if they just told him a funny joke.
In other photos, each star shook hands and had an exchange with him separately.
The event was livestreamed by Vatican News, with the pope praising the comedians for their “power to spread peace and smiles” amid current world events.
“You manage to make people smile, even while dealing with problems and events, large and small,” he went on. “You denounce abuses of power. You give voice to forgotten situations. You highlight abuses. You point out inappropriate behavior.”
“While communication today often generates conflict, you know how to bring together diverse and sometimes contrary realities. How much we need to learn from you!” he concluded. “Please pray for me in favor, with a smile, not against!”
O’Brien, 61, for his part, was shocked by the invite.
“We are all looking at each other thinking, ‘something’s wrong,’” he said in a video captured on X, formerly Twitter. “We are in this beautiful, beautiful space in the Vatican and for some reason, they’ve let comedians in, which is always a mistake.”
Gaffigan, 57, meanwhile, teased that he received the highest praise from Pope Francis.
“The pope told me I was his favorite comedian,” he joked. “Such an incredible experience. It felt like a meeting of everyone who couldn’t behave in church.”