According to a book I am currently reading (Between Heaven and Mirth by James Martin, SJ), Pope John XXIII, who served from 1958 to 1963, had a notable sense of humor.
Some examples:
- When a journalist innocently asked him, "Your Holiness, how many people work at the Vatican?" John paused, thought it over, and said, "About half of them."
- In the 1940s, when John was still an archbishop and the papal nuncio, or ambassador, in Paris, he was at an elegant dinner party, seated across from a woman wearing a low-cut dress that exposed a good deal of cleavage. Someone turned to him and said, "Your Excellency, what a scandal! Aren't you embarrassed that everyone is looking at this woman?" And he said, "Oh no, everyone is looking at me, to see if I'm looking at her."
- The pope was visiting a Roman hospital called the Hospital of the Holy Spirit. Shortly after entering, he was introduced to the sister who ran the hospital. "Holy Father," she exclaimed, flustered by his surprise visit, "I am the superior of the Holy Spirit." "Well, I must say, you're lucky," said the pope, delighted. "I'm only the Vicar of Christ!"
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Truth is..."A happy heart is good medicine and a joyful mind causes healing" Proverbs 17:22 in the Amplified Bible
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