Don’t expect to see Whoopi Goldberg on The View for the rest of this week. While the longtime moderator is typically off on Fridays, she was noticeably absent on this morning’s episode of the hit daytime talk show as well.
The co-hosts strutted out to the show’s catchy theme song as Joy Behar settled into Goldberg’s chair, kicking off the episode by explaining the EGOT recipient’s whereabouts.
“So, as you might notice, Whoopi is not here because she’s with the Pope at the Vatican,” Behar said, joking, “Is she gonna get canonized? Please don’t tell me we have to call her St. Whoopi.”
The comedian asked, “What’s going on with her and the Pope?” to which Sunny Hostin replied, “They have a relationship. They like each other.”
Behar noted that this “is not the first time” Goldberg has traveled to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis.
Goldberg previously missed a few episodes of The View to visit Vatican City in October 2023. When she returned to the talk show, she described her trip to Rome as the “most exquisite experience,” telling the audience that she had been trying to meet the Pope for 11 years.
“This is something I’ve tried to do … and the next thing I knew I was in Rome, talking to him,” she said. “He was quite amazing. He is exactly what I hoped he would be, which is a Pope for all people, regardless of religion, which I really appreciated.”
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She continued, “I wanted to thank him, for all of my gay friends and for all of my divorced friends, because he basically has said, ‘Listen, God loves you no matter what. Come back to the church.’ … I thought, I’m gonna walk into this building and I’m going to burst into flames. But as it turns out, I did not.”
Goldberg also revealed that the Pope is a big fan of Sister Act. The star said she brought him memorabilia from the hit film because “he asked for it.”
Perhaps she’s there this time to recruit him for the long-awaited Sister Act 3. We’ll just have to find out when she returns to The View next week.
