“When you manage to bring intelligent smiles to the lips of even a single spectator, you also make God smile.”
Has a pope ever addressed this particular group of people like this before?
Comedians are among the most well-loved and applauded entertainers, Pope Francis said on Friday morning, because they “have and cultivate the gift of making people laugh.”
With so much “gloomy news,” in the midst of both public and personal crises, comedians are able to spread “serenity and a smile,” and are among the few who can speak “to very different people, of different generations and different cultural backgrounds.”
Precisely because “laughter is contagious,” it can “break down social barriers and create connections,” the Pope said, noting that comedians remind us that “playful fun and laughter are central to human life.”
Pope Francis told comedians they are in possession of “a precious gift,” that can spread peace “within hearts and between peoples, helping us to overcome difficulties and cope with daily stress.”
The Holy Father went on to highlight another “miracle” of comedians, the ability to make people smile even when tackling serious issues. “You denounce the excesses of power, give voice to forgotten situations, highlight abuses, point out inappropriate behaviour… but without spreading alarm and terror, anxiety or fear,” he told them.
Taking a mystical turn, Pope Francis pointed out that in creation, “Divine Wisdom practised your art for the benefit of none other than God Himself, the first spectator in history,” with God delighting in the works that he had made.
“Remember this,” he told comedians. “When you manage to bring intelligent smiles to the lips of even a single spectator, you also make God smile.”
He emphasized that thinking and speaking with a sense of humour help us understand and get a sense of human nature. Humour, the Pope said, “does not offend, does not humiliate, does not ‘nail’ people to their faults.” Unlike other forms of communication, he argued, humour is “never ‘against’ anyone, but is always inclusive and proactive, and arouses openness, sympathy, and empathy.
In fact, the Pope said, “we can even laugh at God, just as we play and joke with those we love.” But, he said, this must be done without offending the religious feelings of believers, especially the poor.”
Pope Francis took the stage in front of over 100 comics, stand-up comedians, and humorists, including Americans Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Conan O’Brien June 14, in the largest, and possibly only, gathering of comics in the Vatican since Pope Pius V eliminated the role of the papal jester in the 1500s.
U.S. comedians Jim Gaffigan, Chris Rock, Tig Notaro, Mike Birbiglia, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kathleen Madigan, and Whoopi Goldberg also took part, as well as American humorist writer David Sedaris and British TV writer and comedian Stephen Merchant.
Improvising, the pontiff said he had been told that morning that there is an Italian saying that “smiling brings good health.” The phrase in Italian, “il sorriso fa buon sangue,” is a variation of an Italian proverb: “Il vino fa buon sangue,” in English, “wine brings good health.”
Stephen Colbert told EWTN News after shaking hands with the pope that the connection between faith and humor is “in the back of my mind all the time.”
“I mean, not in the front of my mind, in the front of my mind is what the joke is. But at a certain point in the back of the mind you have to say, ‘Do I want to tell that joke? And does that go with everything else that you are besides a comedian?’”
“Especially doing political satire, you’re kind of dancing around with a knife in your hand a lot and you want to be careful who and what you cut,” the host of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” added. “So it was lovely to hear the pope acknowledge that there’s a value in that for people’s hearts and it made me think a little bit harder about how I want to use it.”
Colbert also said he occasionally watches Mass on EWTN.
Jim Gaffigan came to the Vatican with his wife, Jeannie, and 11- and 12-year-old sons, Patrick and Michael, who asked the pope to bless their rosaries.
Fr. James Martin posted this short video of some familiar faces meeting the Holy Father:
Read the full text of his remarks.
