Before flying to attend the G7 summit in Italy, Pope Francis hosted a different crowd on Friday marking the importance of humour. Over 100 comedians from around 15 nations, including US celebrities, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock and Conan O'Brien were welcomed by the Pope.
While pointing out the real-world issues, Pope stressed that they (comedians) had the power to spread smiles. "Amid so much gloomy news, immersed as we are in many social and even personal emergencies, you have the power to spread peace and smiles," the Pope told the comedians.
"You unite people because laughter is contagious," he added. "When you manage to bring intelligent smiles to the lips of even a single spectator, you also make God smile," said the Pope while delivering a speech at the cultural event hosted by the Vatican.
The pontiff also stressed that the Divine Wisdom practised the art of laughter for the benefit of none other than God himself, with God delighting in the works he made. Pope Francis also said it was OK to laugh at God in the same way we play and joke with the people we love.
Francis greeted all the comedians individually, sharing laughs and jokes with some of them.
Speaking after the speech, comedian Whoopi Goldberg said it was great, it was very fast and loving and made me happy.
O'Brien (chuckling) noted that the pope spoke in Italian, so I'm not quite sure what was said.
“To be in that room and to be with all my fellow comedians, some of whom I've been good friends with for many years, in that environment, was quite strange," the TV host added. "All of us were thinking, how did this happen? Why are we here, and when are they going to throw us out?,” he said.
Colbert admitted his Italian is really bad, I would like to speak it better. But he managed to remind the pope that he had done the audiobook for his memoir.
(With PTI inputs)