The Pope and 100 Comedians Get into the Room: Watch Pope Francis meet Colbert, Conan, Whoopi and more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Before heading to the southern Italian region of Puglia to meet world leaders at the Group of Seven summit, Pope Francis hosted a very different audience at the Vatican on Friday to celebrate the importance of humor.

The Pope received more than 100 comedians from 15 countries, including American celebrities Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien.

“In the midst of so much bleak news, immersed in so many social and even personal emergencies, you have the ability to spread peace and smiles,” Francis told the comedians.

“You unite people, because laughter is contagious,” he continued jokingly, asking jokingly: “Please pray for me: for, not against!”

Francis noted that in creation, “divine wisdom exercised your art for the benefit of no one but God himself, the first spectator in history,” with God delighting in the works he had made.

“Remember this,” he added. “When you can put clever smiles on the lips of even one spectator, you make God smile too.”

Francis also said it was okay to “laugh at God” in the same way “we play and joke with the people we love.”

After his speech, Francis greeted all the comedians individually, and shared laughter and jokes with each other.

“He was great, really fast and really likeable, and he made me happy,” Goldberg said afterward.

O’Brien noted that the pope “spoke in Italian, so I’m not entirely sure what was said.”

“Being in that room and being with all my fellow comedians, some of whom I’ve been good friends with for many years, in that environment, was very surreal,” the TV presenter added. “We were all thinking, ‘How did this happen? Why are we here, and when are they going to kick us out?’”

Colbert admitted that his Italian is “really bad, and I wish I could speak it better.” But he managed to remind the Pope that he had prepared the audiobook of his memoirs.

“It was great,” he joked. “He will never forget me.”