Pope Francis to hold audience with comedians

Image: Vatican Media

Source: Vatican News

Household names including Whoopi Goldberg, Ardal O'Hanlon, (who played Fr Dougal in the Father Ted series), stand up comic Tommy Tiernan (Gerry in Derry Girls), Ian Hislop ( Satirist and editor of Private Eye), Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brian and Chris Rock, will be among the international comedians and comic artists Pope Francis will meet this Friday, 14 June at the Vatican.

The audience, jointly organized by the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education and Dicastery for Communication, with more than 100 entertainers from 15 different countries, will take place in the Apostolic Palace at 8.30am, and is intended to "establish a link" between the Catholic Church and such artists, the press release noted.

The upcoming meeting, it notes, aims to "celebrate the beauty of human diversity ... and promote a message of peace, love and solidarity." It "promises to be a moment of meaningful intercultural dialogue and sharing of joy and hope."

While there will be comedians from all around the world, including from the UK and Ireland, the largest group - will be from Italy.

The statement recalls that during an interview with Italian TV channel TV2000 Pope Francis said that he prays daily in the words of St. Thomas More, asking the Lord to grant him a sense of humour.

In the past the Holy Father has acknowledged the power that comedy has to contribute to a more empathetic and sympathetic world. During his meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel in June 2023, last year the Pope pointed out that Scripture itself is rich in moments of irony.

On that occasion, the Pope told the artists gathered under Michelangelo's frescoes, his belief that humorists, including actors, artists, cartoonists, and writers, have "the ability to dream up new versions of the world," and often do so "with irony, which is a wonderful virtue."

The full list of artists taking part in the event follows:

ARGENTINA
1. Malena Guinzburg

BRAZIL
1. Fabio Porchat
2. Cristiane Werson

COLOMBIA
1. Paula Arcila
2. Liss Pereira
3. Maribel Trujillo Botello

FRANCE
1. Redouane Bougheraba
2. François Cluzet
3. Manu Payet

GERMANY
1. Meltem Kaptan
2. Annette Frier
3. Michael Mittermeier
4. Till Reiners
5. Torsten Sträter

IRELAND
1. Ardal O'Hanlon (Fr Dougal in the Father Ted series)
2. Tommy Tiernan (standup comedian who played Gerry in Derry Girls)
3. Patrick Kielty

ITALY
1. Max Angioni
2. Lino Banfi
3. Federico Basso
4. Stefano Belisari [Elio]
5. Alessandro Bergonzoni
6. Don Giovanni Berti [Gioba]
7. Enrico Bertolino
8. Enrico Beruschi
9. Alessandro Besentini
10. Alessandro Betti
11. Luca Bizzarri
12. Massimo Boldi
13. Luca Bonafé
14. Enrico Brignano
15. Jerry Calà
16. Roberta Calcagno Baldini
17. Gabriele Cirilli
18. Raul Cremona
19. Geppi Cucciari
20. Pio D'Antino
21. Gianluca De Angelis
22. Cristian De Sica
23. Maria Di Biase
24. Pierfrancesco Diliberto
25. Emanuela Fanelli
26. Alberto Ferrari
27. Maurizio Ferrini
28. Nino Frassica
29. Andrea Fratellini
30. Giuseppe Giacobazzi
31. Gene Gnocchi
32. Valeria Graci
33. Amedeo Grieco
34. Caterina Guzzanti
35. Paolo Kessisoglu
36. Paolo Labati
37. Maurizio Lastrico
38. Roberto Lipari
39. Luciana Littizzetto
40. Brenda Lodigiani
41. Valerio Lundini
42. Andy Luotto
43. Leonardo Manera
44. Marco Marzocca
45. Paolo Migone
46. Elia Morra [Elianto]
47. Corrado Nuzzo
48. Silvio Orlando
49. Antonio Ornano
50. Enzo Paci
51. Mauro Pallotta [Maupal]
52. Davide Paniate
53. Cochi Ponzoni
54. Giacomo Poretti
55. Saverio Raimondo
56. Luca Ravenna
57. Riccardo Rossi
58. Mary Sarnataro
59. Giovanni Scifoni
60. Mario Simonotti
61. Giovanni Storti
62. Carlo Verdone
63. Giovanni Vernia
64. Francesco Villa
65. Michele Foresta
66. Giorgio Panariello
67. Michele La Ginestra

MEXICO
1. Florinda Meza García
2. Chumel Torres

POLAND
1. Dorota Łoskot-Cichocka

PORTUGAL
1. Ricardo de Araujo Pereira
2. Joana Marques
3. Maria Rueff

UNITED KINGDOM
1. Ian Hislop
2. Stephen Merchant

SPAIN
1. Cristina Castaño
2. Belen Cuesta Llamas
3. Sara Escudero Rodriguez
4. Victoria Martin

UNITED STATES
1. Stephen Colbert
2. Jimmy Fallon
3. Jim Gaffigan
4. Whoopi Goldberg
5. James Martin
6. Tig Notaro
7. Chris Rock
8. Conan O' Brien

SWITZERLAND
1. Hazel Brugger

TIMOR LESTE
1. Rivelino Barro Gonçalves