The “Sister Act 3” cast wouldn’t be complete without the Holy Father himself.
Whoopi Goldberg revealed that she offered Pope Francis a role in the upcoming Disney+ film when they met in October 2023.
The Oscar winner, 68, made this holy revelation when she appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” Wednesday.
“I wanted to thank him,” she told Jimmy Fallon after the talk show host showed a photo of Goldberg with Francis, 87. “I’ve been trying to meet up with him for about 10 years. Every time I say ‘OK, we’ll do it’ I’d step in something and then I couldn’t do it and they’d cancel the appearance. But I stayed really good and I didn’t get in any trouble.”
Goldberg explained that she really likes Francis because of his progressive leadership.
“This is supposed to be the guy that you talk to. I like him,” she said. “He’s annoyed a lot of people because he said some things that people don’t think are correct, but I do. You’re the Pope. You say, ‘We welcome everybody. We want everybody at our party. We’re not going to judge you. Only God judges you.’ “
As for when the pair officially met, Goldberg revealed, “I went to see him and he actually seems to be a bit of a fan. ‘Sister Act’, hello!”
Fallon, 49, asked if Francis will be in the third film, and Goldberg responded, “I offered one. He said he’d see what his time was like.” It’s unclear if she was really joking.
Goldberg — who plays a nightclub singer who disguises herself as a nun to hide from the mob in the “Sister Act” franchise — first talked about meeting the pope on “The View” last year.
She said she told Francis, “You know, we’re trying to help bring the sisters into the 21st century.” While she referred to “Sister Act 3” as “silly”, she said Francis interjected to say, “One of the best things you can do for people is to help them and to have joy and to make them laugh.”
Francis actually isn’t the first person to be offered a role in “Sister Act 3” by Goldberg herself. In February, the EGOT winner brought “Abbott Elementary” star Sheryl Lee Ralph to tears by asking her to reprise her role as Florence Watson from the second film.
“I would love to,” Ralph, 67, told Goldberg on “The View.”
“Sister Act” was released in 1992 and was followed by its sequel, “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit,” the next year. The films starred Goldberg as Deloris Van Cartier / Sister Mary Clarence, alongside Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Jenifer Lewis, Wendy Makkena and Harvey Keitel.
“Sister Act 3” was confirmed in December 2020 with Goldberg returning and Tyler Perry joining the project as a producer.
In November 2021, Perry, 54, said that Goldberg is “really excited” to film “Sister Act 3.”
“I think that this is just what the country needs,” he told the Hollywood Reporter. “We need that feel-good moment in the movies where you go, ‘Oh my God, I left there singing.’ That’s my hope.”
“Sister Act 3” does not have a release date.
