TV host makes joke about Pope Francis dying day after meeting JD Vance: 'Relatable'

Late-night TV host John Oliver joked about the Pope dying the day after meeting US vice president JD Vance.

Pope Francis died on Easter Monday (21 April) from a stroke and heart failure, with his funeral on Saturday (26 April) attended by world leaders, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and US president Donald Trump.

In one of his final acts before his death, Pope Francis skipped an official meeting with JD Vance, but did meet briefly with him on Easter Sunday, just one day before his death.

Opening his Sunday night show, Last Week Tonight, TV host Oliver talked about the death of the 88-year-old.

Oliver pointed out that the Pope died “just a day after meeting with JD Vance – which, honestly, relatable”.

The host also addressed speculation around who the Pope’s successor will be, referencing one potential candidate in particular, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa.

“His name in Italian literally means pizza dance,” Oliver said. “And I know that it sounds almost offensively Italian, but do keep in mind every last name in Italy means pizza dance.”

He continued: “Now, would electing a ‘Pope Pizzadance’ instantly repair the reputation of the Catholic Church? Obviously, the answer is we won’t know until we try.

“So J.D. Vance, you stay the f**k away from Cardinal Pizzadance. You don’t meet him, you don’t go near him, you don’t even think about him. Sure, he might be a terrible Pope, but don’t take away Papa Pizzaballa from us. The way the world is, we need this right now.”

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