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“HELLO, HOLY FATHER”, said one of the doctors to Pope Francis during his hospitalisation.
“Hello, Holy son,” came the reply from Francis.
Dr Sergio Alfieri, the head of the team who took care of the pope from Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said this was one of examples of Francis’s continued humour in the face of much adversity.
And when Francis was last month presented with a special bottle of bourbon to commemorate the Church’s Jubilee Year, he quipped: “Ah, more Holy water.”
A prominent example of Francis’s humour was exhibited last summer when he invited comedians from all over the world to the Vatican for a Conclave of comedians.
A host of international stars were in attendance at the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, including Conan O’Brien, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Whoopi Goldberg and Stephen Merchant.
A spokesperson for the Vatican said last June’s event was about “establishing a link between the Catholic Church and comic artists”.
In a strange meeting of worlds, Father Ted star Ardal O’Hanlon was also among the comedians to visit the pope in the Vatican, as was Tommy Tiernan and Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty.
Both O’Hanlon and Tiernan had previously held desires to become priests.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, O’Hanlon revealed that at one point, the idea of joining the priesthood “was not some mad dream” but “was a real thing” for him.
And Tiernan previously told RTÉ that he too considered becoming a priest.
“I was on the verge of joining the priesthood,” he told the RTÉ guide.
“I remember walking into the room that they had given me for the weekend, and it was just a single bed, a locker, a crucifix and a Bible, and I thought, ‘this is perfect, this is all that I need’.
“But somewhere along the line, something instinctively in me went, ‘Actually, I think I’d like to have loads of kids instead’.”
In his recently published memoir, Hope, Francis reflected on the event and said: “One of them quipped that it’s good trying to make God laugh… except that, being omniscient, He will know all the jokes in advance… and will ruin your punch line.”
Speaking at the event last June, Francis praised the comedians for possessing the “precious gift of making people laugh”.
“In the midst of so much gloomy news, you have the power to spread peace and smiles.
Francis remarked how he prays daily “with the words of Saint Thomas More: ‘Grant me, O Lord, a good sense of humour’.”
He also lauded the comedians for how they “denounce abuses of power”.
“You give voice to forgotten situations; you highlight abuses; you point out inappropriate behaviour,” said Francis.
“You do this without spreading alarm or terror, anxiety or fear, as other types of communication tend to do; you rouse people to think critically by making them laugh and smile.”
O’Hanlon was a guest on The Late Late Show in October and remarked to Kielty that the event “still sounds utterly implausible to me”.
“That did happen, didn’t it? That wasn’t just a dream?”
O’Hanlon added: “What happens inside the Vatican stays inside the Vatican”.
O’Hanlon got a pair of rosary beads blessed by Francis on behalf of his parents, who he said are “very devout Catholics”.
He also remarked that the “weirdest” part was the invite, and that his name on the invitation was misspelled “Hardal”.
When Father Ted met the Pope. Ardal O’Hanlon gets something blessed by Pope Francis during an audience between the Pope and comedians from around the world, including Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Fallon. pic.twitter.com/ZafQbjXC5d
— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) June 14, 2024
“Instantly you think someone is taking the piss here,” said O’Hanlon, “this is revenge for Father Ted and all the standup I have done satirising the Church.
“You’re thinking, ‘there is just no way this is real’, so I completely ignored it.”
However, O’Hanlon then got a text from Tiernan confirming the validity of the invite.
O’Hanlon went on to say that he had “serious reservations” about accepting the invite and said it was “about the novelty of seeing behind the magic curtain”.
“I certainly respect individual priests, and I respect the pope as a man, but it’s very hard to see beyond the crimes of the institution and the abuse scandals and the cover-ups.
“So I’m conflicted, like most Irish people of my generation, but at the same time, I’m flattered to be part of the team.
However, O’Hanlon said it was an “absolutely joyful occasion” and added: “He said things about comedians that nobody else says.
“Say what you like about the pope, but no one has ever spoken so glowingly about comedians and the importance of comedy, it’s like we were the most important people alive.”
Comedian and talk show host Stephen Colbert, a practising Catholic, said afterwards that it was “lovely to hear the pope acknowledge that there is a value in comedy for people’s hearts”.
Colbert added that his faith is “in the back of my mind all the time” when he performs.
“Doing satire, you’re kind of dancing around with a knife in your hand and you want to be careful who and what you cut,” said Colbert to EWTN.
“So it was lovely to hear the pope acknowledge that there is a value in that for people’s hearts and that made me think a little bit harder about how I want to use it.”
Reflecting on the event on his late night TV show, Colbert said he had “spent a lot of my career wondering if the work that I do is compatible with my faith”.
Conan O’Brien meanwhile revealed that Chris Rock was listening to NWA’s ‘Straight Outta Compton’ in his headphones at one point because he “liked the juxtaposition”.
O’Brien added that he was “raised very Catholic so there was a lot of meaning in going to the Vatican” and added that it was “sweet” to be together with comedians of all statures.
And Kielty previously remarked that the experience was “surreal”.
“That was sort of like a weird fever dream, if I’m being honest with you,” he said.
“There’s a point when that call came in and as a comedian, you’re always reasonably sort of… is this for real? I thought it was a joke.
“It was very weird. Then you see Ardal [O’Hanlon] is there and like you’re going, right Father Ted.
“So just when you’re thinking Father Dougal’s going to meet the Pope, then Whoopi Goldberg arrives in a car, who was by far the most popular person in the Vatican that day. Sister Act, apparently, at the Vatican.”
In his memoir, Francis lamented: “Sometimes, we unfortunately come across bitter, sad priests who are more authoritarian than authoritative, more like ‘old bachelors’ than wedded to the Church, more like officials than pastors, more supercilious than joyful, and this too is certainly not good.”
However, he said that “generally, we priests tend to enjoy humour and even have a fair stock of jokes and amusing stories, which we are often quite good at telling, as well as being the object of them”.
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