I had the fortune and honor of being invited by Pope Francis together with many of my colleagues and fellow comedians to an audience where the Pontiff wanted to talk about the importance of irony and comedy.
He was immediately greeted with thunderous applause as he entered the hall limping and leaning on a three-legged cane. He sat down with difficulty and then, showing off a smile of his own, began with a provocation of his own: «As Thomas Merton says in his famous prayer on humour…», he must have realized that not only the majority of comedians but also of prelates present did not know the prayer in question, so he turned and addressed a priest and in strict Argentine he gave a peremptory order «Àndale Àndale»in a fraction of a second the old priest with the prayer book appeared, faster than the Holy Spirit.
Then Francis continued by reminding us of something of capital importance: that we laugh more easily in company than alone, that laughter opens up sharing and that it is the best antidote to selfishness and individualism, that irony corrects our defects because he makes fun of it. Yes, because irony is biting, it unmasks power, it ridicules the powerful, it criticizes with wit and finesse our ulterior motives, our true intentions: in short, irony, if it does not offend, is educational, constructive and could say that he works for the truth. The Pope reminded us that we are not alone Homo sapiens but also Homo ludenswe belong to the game, that playful fun is central in the life of men and women.
To give significance to this passage, Pope Francis quoted a passage from the Bible: «At the origin of the world, while everything was being created, divine Wisdom practiced your art for the benefit of none other than God himself, the first spectator of history. It says thus: “I was with him as a craftsman and was his delight every day: I played before him at all times, I played on the globe, setting my delights among the sons of men” (Proverbs 8,30-31 ). Remember this: when you manage to make intelligent smiles flow from the lips of even a single spectator – what I will say now is not heresy! – make God smile too.” Then he asked: “Can we laugh at God too?”. Of course, it was answered, the Jewish biblical, wisdom and literary tradition is a master in this, the important thing is that religious feelings are not offended, it is not blasphemy to laugh at God because precisely one can joke with people who we love. Finally he gave the blessing and asked us to pray for him, and not without irony, and not against it.
It all seemed over, everyone was ready to selfies to be shown on social, when the Pope said «calm down, sit down, now I will introduce you to T. Merton’s Prayer». Luciana Littizzetto was commissioned to read it in front of everyone. Here it is in full.
«Lord, give me good digestion and also something to digest.
Give me the health of my body and the good mood necessary to maintain it.
Give me, Lord, a simple soul who knows how to treasure everything that is good and is not frightened at the sight of evil but rather always finds a way to put things right.
Give me a soul that doesn’t know boredom, grumbling, sighing, complaining, and don’t allow me to worry excessively about that too cumbersome thing called “I”.
Give me, Lord, a sense of good humor. Grant me the grace to understand a joke to discover a little joy in life and share it with others too.”
Thank you Pope Francis.
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