Pontiff tells crowd of comedians it’s OK to laugh at God.
Yesterday, Pope Francis met more than 100 comedians from around the world at the Vatican and encouraged them to use their powerful gift of humour to spread laughter “in the midst of so much gloomy news”.
The pontiff is well known for having a lively sense of humour but when he quipped that a bottle of whisky was “Questa e la vera acqua santa” ('the real holy water'), his Vatican minders didn't think it was remotely amusing, and ensured it was removed from the final cut of a documentary in 2020.
However, on Friday, no such 'editing' was required as the Pope invited comedians including Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Stephen Merchant to the audience at the Apostolic Palace 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,” he 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”.
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.