At the Vatican, actor Roberto Benigni steals the show from Pope Francis

Italian actor and director Roberto Benigni stole the show from Pope Francis with a humorous half-hour monologue during the closing mass of the first World Children’s Day at the Vatican.

Roberto Benigni, triple Oscar winner in 1999, brought, on Sunday May 26, a touch of lightness to the end of an essentially religious ceremony, first greeting “all the important people” and pretending to have forgotten the Pope. To immediately turn to the sovereign pontiff and say to him to the laughter of the public: “I would like to come and kiss you, to dance a tango here, since you are Argentinian.”

“Before entering, two Swiss guards came closer to me and said to me: Mr. Benigni you can do whatever you want, except one thing, you cannot touch the pope. A kiss, a kiss I can give it, what good are kisses if you can’t give them?”, continued the actor before approaching the Pope and kissing him on both cheeks.

He continued in the same tone for half an hour, alternating humor and advice to the children, proposing to the sovereign pontiff to be his running mate for the next election of the pope or telling the children to cultivate their dreams because among them there may be hidden being the first African pope, or Asian pope or the first female pope. Pope Francis had previously closed the first World Children’s Day with a classic mass in Saint Peter’s Square in the presence of tens of thousands of faithful, children and parents.

The Argentine pope, 87, began the mass, which was also attended by the head of the Italian government Giorgia Meloni, by asking the children to “pray above all for peace” and replacing a long homily at the last minute with a mini catechism lesson.