Here's Who Whoopi Goldberg Offered a Cameo Role for 'Sister Act 3'

For over a decade, Whoopi Goldberg has been on a mission— to meet Pope Francis and hopefully convince him to make a heavenly cameo in the highly-anticipated movie, Sister Act 3. After years of canceled attempts, the Oscar winner finally got the chance to meet with His Holiness last October, and in typical Goldberg fashion, she didn't simply express her admiration— she shot her shot and extended a most unconventional invite to the leader of the Catholic Church.

During an appearance this week on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Goldberg recounted her long road to making the papal meet-and-greet a reality. "I've been trying to meet up with him for about 10 years, but every time I'd say, 'OK, we'll do it,' it was like I'd step in something and then I couldn't do it, they'd cancel the appearance," she explained to Jimmy Fallon.

However, she remained determined, sharing "[This time] I stayed really good and I didn't get into any trouble." When Fallon asked if Francis was indeed a fan of Goldberg's beloved 1992 comedy, Sister Act, as she had previously claimed, the actress responded "Sister Act, hello?" suggesting his admiration was given.

She then revealed that she not only gifted the Pope the film's soundtrack on vinyl, but she also floated the idea of him doing a cameo role in the threequel. "I offered one," Goldberg said with a sly smile. "He said he'd see what his time was like." Goldberg seemed gratified simply to extend the invitation, having long admired Pope Francis' relatively progressive leadership. "I like this man, because...he's annoyed a lot of people because he said some things people don't think are correct, but I do," she told Fallon.

Goldberg elaborated that the Pope's message of inclusivity resonates with her values of acceptance. "You're the Pope. You say, 'Listen, we welcome everybody. We want everybody at our party...We're not going to judge you. Only God judges you,'" she explained, as per Entertainment Tonight. 

Goldberg's acting roles, including the Sister Act franchise often celebrate community, tolerance, and finding one's inner strength. In the original 1992 film and its 1993 sequel, Goldberg starred as Deloris Van Cartier, a lounge singer who enters witness protection by disguising herself as a nun. The comedies grossed nearly $200 million worldwide in the early 90s, as per HuffPost.

While Goldberg's meeting with Francis made for an entertaining anecdote, she has been quite serious about finally bringing Sister Act 3 to fruition after years of delays. She has partnered with producer Tyler Perry, who recently shared his frustrations with the protracted development process. "I'm a little annoyed with how long this has taken me. It's taking so long like I've done four movies since we started talking about this," Perry said. However, he expressed optimism when he added, "[We] finally got a great pitch...a great story we're working on that Whoopi's excited about, I'm excited about."