Pope Francis held a comedy show at the Vatican on Friday, hosting Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and more than 100 other comedians and entertainers to celebrate the importance of laughter and humor.
“You unite people because laughter is contagious,” Pope Francis told comedians on Friday. according to the BBC. Other A-List comedians at Vatican Friday included Conan O'Brien, Jim Gaffigan and Whoopi Goldberg.
“You can also laugh at God, of course, and that is not blasphemy, it can be done without offending the religious feelings of believers,” he said.
The meeting came just hours before the Pope was scheduled to attend the prestigious Group of Seven Summit in Italy's southeastern Puglia region. Francis is the first pope to address the summit since it was first held in 1975.
“In the midst of so much grim news, report abuses of power, give voice to forgotten situations, highlight abuses, highlight misconduct,” Francis said. according to the New York Times.
The Pope also met with many of the attendees one-on-one, speaking with them in Italian, regardless of their fluency. “Well, it was short, he spoke in Italian, so I'm not sure what was said,” O'Brien joked to the BBC.
Speaking to a local outlet, O'Brien joked about himself and his fellow comedians being invited to one of the holiest sites in the Catholic faith.
“A lot of these other American comedians have been friends of mine for years, we're all looking at each other thinking 'something's wrong,'” he said. We're in this beautiful venue in the Vatican and for some reason they let comedians in, which is always wrong.”
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