PATRICK KIELTY HAS revealed he thought he had given Pope Francis shingles after meeting him at the Vatican over the summer.

The Late Late Show host travelled to the Vatican in June and was among an audience of 100 international comedians and artists who met the Pope.

As the comedian and presenter prepares for his second stint presenting one of Ireland’s biggest talk shows, the Co Down man described meeting the Pope as “surreal”.

“That was sort of like a weird fever dream, if I’m being honest with you,” he said.

“There’s a point when that call came in and as a comedian, you’re always reasonably sort of… is this for real? I thought it was a joke.

“It was very weird. Then you see [actor] Ardal [O’Hanlon] is there and like everybody else, you’re going, right Father Ted.

So just when you’re thinking Father Dougal’s going to meet the Pope, then Whoopi Goldberg arrives in a car, who was by far the most popular person in the Vatican that day. Sister Act, apparently, at the Vatican.”

Kielty said that during his trip to Rome, part of his face had swollen up, which he had blamed on DIY work he had carried out at home.

“When meeting the Pope, I took off my sunglasses and could sort of see him physically recoiling, ‘what’s going on with this fella’?,” he recalled.

“It was only afterwards that I actually found out I had shingles. So there was a chance that I had given the Pope shingles, but I was never so glad to actually see him the week after in full health, giving the blessings. It was a surreal experience.”

Keilty, who is the first host to hail from Northern Ireland and is originally from Dundrum, Co Down, said there was a curiosity about him during the first series.

He said that he will take “the rough with the smooth” as he gets ready to host the next series.

“I’ve had a long enough career to know that you take the rough with the smooth. We’re still just starting out here. So whatever comes our way comes our way,” he said.

“I think you just have to try to make the best show you can.

If you make a good show and somebody likes it, that’s good. If you make a show that somebody doesn’t like and they honestly don’t like it, they’re telling you the truth and they say they didn’t think that was up to much. I don’t think he can be offended about that.”

Kielty is married to TV presenter Cat Deeley and the pair have two sons.

Cat presents ITV’s This Morning show alongside Ben Shephard.

The family live in London, with Kielty travelling between London and Dublin for his gig.

Asked would he consider moving to Ireland, he said: “At the minute, we sort of got the best of both worlds.

“I’ve got the house up in Dundrum for 25 years now and so I’ve always been back and forth.

“The kids are in school in London. Cat’s working in London. She’s there four days a week. I can just about come back and spend the time I need to do this. But she’s there four days a week, so I can’t see it happening anytime soon.

“I always called Dundrum home.”

The first guests to appear on the Late Late Show will be four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, the Olympic and Paralympic athletes and comedian John Bishop.

Audiences can tune in to The Late Late show at 9.35pm on Friday September 13.