Joy Behar on ‘The View’ discuss about the next Pope to be Conservative and ‘Anti-Gay’

Sunny Hostin said, “This pope changed things for me” after she “struggled with being a Catholic” over the church’s stances on LGBTQ people.

Pope Francis leaves behind a legacy of inclusion in the church, according to the ladies of The View, who hope it continues into the future as Catholics seek to elect a new leader.

One day after Vatican officials announced Francis’ death at age 88, the panelists praised what they felt was the religious figure’s commitment to welcoming all into the fold.

“Yesterday was a tough day,” said Whoopi Goldberg, a friend of the late pope’s who traveled to the Vatican several times to speak with him — and, on one occasion, gift him with merch from her iconic Sister Act movie as well as offer him a cameo in Sister Act 3.

The actress called Francis “one of the great popes” who “called on people to embrace those who are different or who are from different lands, because we’re all children of God,” she said, praising Francis for offering that as his final message before he died.

“When I think of this pope, he was the most Jesus-like,” panelist Sara Haines observed, praising him for his message of “love thy neighbors and do not judge” others who are different. “He also said at one point in 2013, regarding gay priests, if someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”

Comedian Joy Behar quipped, “I don’t know if I love all of my neighbors,” before cohost Sunny Hostin, a staunch Catholic, noted how Pope Francis led her through a period of questioning the church’s teachings.

“I’ve struggled with Catholicism, because so many of the church’s doctrines, especially with regard to the LGBTQ+ community, in terms of the sex scandals, I’ve struggled with being a Catholic,” she said. “But this pope changed things for me.”

Hostin expressed interest in seeing the church continue Francis’ more liberal attitudes, though Behar said, “I wonder though, because there might be a backlash against how good he was and how much humility he has compared to some of the leaders in this world right now.”

She continued: “So, there might be a backlash and they’ll get some conservative guy in there who’s anti-gay and everything else.”

Goldberg closed the Hot Topics discussion with a reflection on Francis’ invitation to 100 comedians from around the world, who descended upon the Vatican in June 2024 to hear from the leader.

“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,’” the EGOT-winning star said, praising him for bringing people back into the church — particularly queer people.

“[He felt that] you love God, I love God, why am I mad at you? 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 legs,” she said.