PRESS RELEASE
Pope Francis will meet with figures from the world of comedy from various parts of the world. The Audience will be held in the Apostolic Palace at 8.30 on Friday 14 June 2024.
The event – organized jointly by the Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Communication – proposes to establish a bond between the Catholic Church and artists from the world of comedy.
“Give me, Lord, a sense of humour”, the Holy Father prays every day in the words of Saint Thomas More: “it is a grace that I ask for every day”, he said “because ‘it lifts you up, it makes you see the provisional nature of life and take things with a spirit of a redeemed soul. It is a human attitude, but it is the closest to the grace of God” (interview with Tv2000, 20 November 2016). People of God can be recognized because they are capable of living with a sense of humour: “Though completely realistic, they radiate a positive and hopeful spirit” (Gaudete et exultate, 122).
Francis recognizes the considerable impact that the art of comedy has in the world of contemporary culture. Through the talent for human and the unifying value of laughter, today unique reflections are offered on the human condition and the historical situation. Furthermore, the art of comedy can contribute to a more empathic and solidarity-based world. Besides, the Sacred Scripture itself “is rich in touches of irony, poking fun at presumptions of self-sufficiency, dishonesty, injustice and cruelty lurking under the guise of power and even at times the sacred” (Address to Artists, 23 June 2023).
Francis has expressed the conviction that humorists – actors, artists, cartoonists, writers... - have ‘the ability to dream up new versions of the world’, and that they often do so ‘with irony, which is a wonderful virtue’.
The meeting between Pope Francis and the world's comic actors aims to celebrate the beauty of human diversity and to promote a message of peace, love and solidarity, and promises to be a significant moment of intercultural dialogue and sharing of joy and hope.
ACCREDITATION PROCEDURE
I giornalisti e gli operatori media che intendono realizzare interviste ai partecipanti, presso la galleria Lapidaria dei Musei Vaticani, nel Palazzo Apostolico, devono inviare richiesta, entro 24 ore dall’evento, esclusivamente attraverso il Sistema di accreditamento online della Sala Stampa della Santa Sede, all’indirizzo: press.vatican.va/accreditamenti
Journalists and media workers who intend to interview the participants at the Lapidary Gallery of the Vatican Museums, in the Apostolic Palace, must apply no less than 24 hours before the event, exclusively via the Holy See Press Office online accreditation system, at press.vatican.va/accreditamenti.
The appointment for accredited journalists and media operators for the event: 7.00 at the Holy See Press Office, Via della Conciliazione, 54.
Journalists and media operators admitted to the interviews may follow the audience via special screens.
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LIST OF COMEDIANS: ATTENDANCE CONFIRMED
(UPDATED FROM WEDNESDAY 4 JUNE 2024)
TOTAL: 105 ARTISTS (+ 68 ACCOMPANIERS = 173)
ARGENTINA
1. Malena Guinzburg
BRAZIL
1. Fabio Porchat
2. Cristiane Werson
COLOMBIA
1. Paula Arcila
2. Liss Pereira
3. Maribel Trujillo Botello
EAST TIMOR
1. Rivelino Barro Gonçalves
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
2. Tommy Tiernan
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
SPAIN
1. Cristina Castaño
2. Belen Cuesta Llamas
3. Sara Escudero Rodriguez
4. Victoria Martin
SWITZERLAND
1. Hazel Brugger
UNITED KINGDOM
1. Ian Hislop
2. Stephen Merchant
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
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