‘The View’: Whoopi Goldberg Demands New Pope Follow Pope Francis’ Legacy

Amanda Bell April 22, 2025, 1:28 pm

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The View cohosts took substantial time on Tuesday’s (April 22) new edition of the show to share their thoughts on the death of Pope Francis. Whoopi Goldberg, who once met the pope, was particularly affected by the loss and shared her hopes that the Catholic church will replace him with someone who can build upon the pope’s legacy of acceptance.

“Yesterday was a was a tough day, because Pope Francis, one of the great popes in my opinion, passed away just hours after sharing a very timely Easter message at the Vatican,” Goldberg said to introduce the conversation. “He called on people to embrace those who are different or who are from different lands because we are all children of God.”

Sara Haines called him the “most Jesus-like” pope because, “When you read of Jesus and what his word was and how he walked, this is what I think of a person who lives their life this way.” She also praised Pope Francis for his messaging on LGBTQ priests, quoting him to state, “If someone is gay, and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Of that line, Haines said, “These messages were what resonated with me, not as a Catholic, but just a Christian.”

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Like Goldberg, it was also personal for Sunny Hostin, who is a practicing member of the Catholic faith. “I’ve struggled with Catholicism because of so many of the church’s doctrines, especially when in regards to the LGBTQ community, in terms of the sex scandals, I struggled with being a Catholic, but this Pope changed things for me,” she explained. “I feel like there’s this crisis of empathy in this country that unless it happens to you, you can’t feel the empathy of it happening to somebody else. ‘They’re going to deport that person; it’s not going to affect my family, so I don’t care that it’s affecting others.’ And I was watching a 60 Minutes piece that he was interviewed on, and he said, ‘We have to get over our hearts to feel again. We cannot remain indifferent in the face of such human dramas. The globalization of indifference is a very ugly disease this country is suffering from.’ That’s the kind of pope that he was, and that’s the kind of pope that I hope will replace this pope.”

Joy Behar expressed concern there might be “backlash against how good he was” in his replacement “compared to some of the leaders of this world right now.” She feared, “They’ll get some conservative guy in there who is anti-gay and everything else.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin, who identifies as a protestant, went on to praise Pope Francis for his advocacy for refugees, noting, “He was the first pope to ever visit Iraq and be with Christians who’d been displaced by ISIS. He brought Syrian refugees to Rome. I mean, he was just an incredible person.”

Goldberg then spoke again and remembered the time she had a personal audience with him. “This sounds crazy, [but] he brought 100 comedians from around the world… and what he said was, ‘I want to laugh more. We all need to laugh more.’ And then he looked at the 100 of us, and he said, ‘What you do is very important because, without you, it’s a grayer day.'” She went on to say that while she had a memorable interaction with Pope John XXIII as a child, she still revered Pope Francis the most: “His thing is this, he grew up around refugees. You know? He understood what people needed. He got it. Now, whether you like it or not, refugees are with us around the world. So why be negative? Why not be positive?”

Behar contrasted the pope’s leadership with current political brass, saying, “One thing that stands out pictorially is somebody like [Elon] Musk or [Donald] Trump, who are cutting back on helping children around the world, cutting back on services for sick children, etc. And then you see the pope washing the feet of the poor. The contrast is astounding.”

“Hopefully the Conclave will find a way to continue on his path because what it has done is, it seems, to have brought people back because they’re not afraid of being divorced, because the pope wasn’t mad about it, because you gay folks say, ‘Look, you love God. I love God. Why am I mad at you?'” Goldberg said to conclude the segment. “All of these things went on to bring people back into the church, and if the church is smart, they will not waste this. This is a legacy that has led.”

The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC