Another notable attendee is the Roman street artist Mauro Pallotta, who goes by the name “Maupal,” and is known for his 2014 depiction of Pope Francis as superman, “Super Pope.”

In its announcement of the papal meeting with comedians, the Vatican highlighted the words of Pope Francis in a 2016 interview with the Italian Catholic television channel TV2000.

On that occasion, the pontiff said: “A sense of humor is a grace that I ask for every day, and I pray that beautiful prayer of St. Thomas More: ‘Give me, Lord, a sense of humor,’ that I know how to laugh at a joke … it’s beautiful, that prayer, isn’t it? Because a sense of humor lifts you up, makes you see the temporariness of life and take things with a spirit of a redeemed soul. It is a human attitude, but it is the closest to God’s grace.”--CNA