‘The View’: Whoopi Goldberg Jokes She Thought She Would “Burst Into Flames” Walking Into The Vatican To Meet The Pope

Whoopi Goldberg has returned to The View, and she’s sharing all the details of her exciting trip to Rome. The co-host, who missed a few shows last week while visiting the Italian city, revealed to her fellow Hot Topics panelists that she had the pleasure of meeting Pope Francis, who turns out to be a pretty big Sister Act fan.

Goldberg, who teased last week that she was having “the most exquisite experience” in Rome and Vatican City, gave a full run-down of her trip and shared some footage on today’s show.

Describing her trip as “kind of interesting” and “shocking,” Goldberg revealed to The View that she had been trying to visit 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.

“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,'” Goldberg continued. She then struck a lighter note, joking, “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, who starred in the 1992 comedy Sister Act as Deloris Van Cartier, also dished to the panel that she came to Italy bearing gifts, specifically memorabilia from the hit film.

“I brought him some stuff from Sister Act,” she said, but Sunny Hostin jumped in to clarify, “He requested it, right?” to which Goldberg confirmed, “He asked for it.”

She then played footage of their meeting, during which the Pope told Goldberg, “One of the best things you can do for people is to help them have joy and to make them laugh.” After the clip ended, Goldberg joked with the panel, “When he said, ‘You bring joy,’ I wanted to say, ‘Oh no, I forgot her,'” referring to her co-host, Joy Behar, who did not tag along for the Italy excursion.

Later in the segment, Goldberg told the Hot Topics table that the Pope knows “we’re all flawed,” but looks for “the best” in people.

“I don’t know that it’s gonna jump me back into church, but what it did was it gave me good reason to not abandon,” she said, later adding, “I feel like somebody up there likes me.”

The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.