FATHER TED STAR Ardal O’Hanlon, Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty, and Tommy Tiernan will be among a group of comedians to have an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican next week.

A host of international stars will be in attendance, including Conan O’Brien, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Whoopi Goldberg, and Stephen Merchant.

The audience will be held at the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, at 8.30am on Friday, 14 June.

A spokesperson for the Vatican said the event “aims to establish a link between the Catholic Church and comic artists”.

The Vatican added that Pope Francis “recognises the considerable impact that the art of comedy has in the contemporary culture” and that “comedy can contribute to a more empathetic and supportive world”.

The Vatican spokesperson also remarked that the meeting will aim to “celebrate the beauty of human diversity and promote a message of peace, love and solidarity”.

It was also remarked that the meeting “promises to be a significant moment of intercultural dialogue and sharing of joy and hope”.

A Vatican statement announcing the audience also reflected on an interview Pope Francis gave in 2016, where he revealed that he daily prays the words of St Thomas Moore: “Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour.”

“It is a grace I ask for everyday,” said Pope Francis in that 2016 interview.

And last year, when addressing artists in the Sistine Chapel, Pope Francis remarked that humourists have “the ability to dream up new versions of the world,” and often do so “with irony, which is a wonderful virtue.”

Earlier this year, O’Hanlon hosted The Last Priests in Ireland on RTÉ, exploring the role of Catholic clergy in Irish life.

In promotion for the programme, O’Hanlon told The Sunday Times that at one point, the idea of joining the priesthood “was not some mad dream” but “was a real thing” for him.

Tommy Tiernan also told RTÉ that he too considered becoming a priest.

He told the RTÉ guide: “I was on the verge of joining the priesthood.

“I remember walking into the room that they had given me for the weekend and it was just a single bed, a locker, a crucifix and a Bible and I thought, ‘this is perfect, this is all that I need’.

“But somewhere along the line, something instinctively in me went, ‘Actually, I think I’d like to have loads of kids instead’.”