Pope Francis will meet with more than 100 international comedians next Friday, the Holy See reported, citing Vatican News. The meeting will be attended by three Portuguese comedians: Maria Rove, Ricardo Araujo Pereira, and Joana Marques.
The event, scheduled for 8.30 a.m. at the Apostolic Palace, aims to “establish contact” between the Catholic Church and these artists. The meeting aims to “celebrate the beauty of diversity and promote the message of peace, love and solidarity.”
Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, Whoopi Goldberg and Chris Rock will be among the most famous guests around the world, as well as Brazilians Fabio Burchat and Christian Wiersson. The vast majority of comedians attending will be from Italy.
The event is jointly organized by the Department of Culture and Education – led by Portuguese Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça – and the Vatican Department of Communications – led by Italian journalist Paolo Ruffini.
The statement, reported by Vatican News, recalls the words of Pope Francis in an old interview, in which the leader of the Catholic Church asked God for a “sense of humour.”
See the full list of guests:
Germany
Meltem Kaptan
Annette Freer
Michael Mittermeier
Even Reiner
Torsten Strater
Argentina
Malina Ginzburg
Brazil
Fabio Porsche
Christian Wierson
Colombia
Paola Arcilla
Not Pereira
Maribel Trujillo Botelho
Spain
Cristina Castaño
Belen Cuesta Lamas
Sarah Escudero Rodriguez
Victoria Martin
United States of America
Stephen Colbert
Jimmy Fallon
Jim Gaffigan
Whoopi Goldberg
James Martin
Tig Notaro
Chris Rock
Conan O’Brien
France
Radwan Bougherba
François Cluzet
Manu byte
Ireland
Ardal O’Hanlon
Tommy Tiernan
Patrick Quilty
Italy
Max Angioni
Lino Banfi
Federico Basso
Stefano Bellisari
Alessandro Bergonzoni
Don Giovanni Berti
Enrico Bertolino
Enrico Perucci
Alessandro Pesentini
Alessandro Betty
Luca Bizzarri
Massimo Boldi
Luca Bonavi
Enrico Brignano
Jerry Kalla
Roberta Calcagno Baldini
Gabriel Cirelli
Raul Cremona
Gibby Kocchiari
Pio d’Antino
Gianluca De Angelis
Christian De Sica
Maria De Biasi
Pierfrancesco Diliberto
Emanuela Fanelli
Alberto Ferrari
Maurizio Ferrini
Nino Frasica
Andrea Fratellini
Giuseppe Giacobazzi
Gin gnocchi
Valeria Gracie
Amedeo Greco
Caterina Gozzanti
Paulo Kesisoglu
Paolo Labate
Maurizio Lastrico
Roberto Lipari
Luciana Letizito
Brenda Lodigiani
Valerio Londini
Andy Lotto
Leonardo Manera
Marco Marzoca
Paolo Migone
Ilya Mora
Corrado Nozo
Silvio Orlando
Antonio Ornano
Enzo Bassi
Mauro Pallotta
David Banyat
Kochi Bonzoni
Giacomo Boretti
Saverio Raimundo
Luca Ravenna
Riccardo Rossi
Mary Sarnataro
Giovanni Sivoni
Mario Simonotti
Giovanni storti
Carlo Verdone
Giovanni Vernia
Francesco Villa
Michelle Foresta
Giorgio Panariello
Michele La Ginestra
Mexico
Florinda Meza Garcia
Shumil Torres
Poland
Dorota Loscott-Sichuka
Portugal
Ricardo Araujo Pereira
Joanna Marquez
Maria Roff
United kingdom
Ian Hislop
Stephen Merchant
Switzerland
Hazel Brugger
East Timor
Rivelino Barro Gonsalves
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