Mark Wahlberg Asks for Pope’s Forgiveness for Raunchy Movies

By Gary Nguyen --
05 Oct 2015 --

Eva Rinaldi [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Catholic Mark Wahlberg was one of the speakers at Philly’s World Meeting of Families and took the opportunity to crack a joke at some of the risque movies he’s been involved with.

The Pope’s visit to the United States was monumental and historic. Hundreds of thousands of people followed him along his parade routes, heard his powerful messages that he shared to the nation’s leaders, its people, and the rest of the world. Videos of Pope Francis in America went viral, with one in particular, showing a little girl from a crowd of onlookers being allowed to give the Pope a ribbon and watching him whisper something to the girl. Now, with mixed reports on Kim Davis and her team meeting privately with the Pope, souring the end of his trip for many excited Americans, it’s a good time to reflect on one of the more comical things that happened during the Pope’s visit the United States.

Mark Wahlberg asks Pope's forgiveness for his movies (but won't be returning the money he was paid). Pope grants… http://t.co/I43ZK0cogl
— Calpernia Addams (@calpernia) September 30, 2015

The Pope visited Washington, D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia all in the span of just a few days. But it was in Philadelphia where one of the world’s most famous movie stars was able to ask Pope Francis for forgiveness in response to one of the movies he made. Think about how many other movie stars would’ve taken the same opportunity to apologize and ask forgiveness for some of the bombs they’ve made in the past.

Mark Wahlberg, responsible for some of the biggest movies in the world (Transformers: Age of Extinction alone has grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide and his films have grossed a total of nearly $2.4 billion) and one of the oddest reality shows on television (Wahlburgers on the A&E channel was nominated for two Primetime Emmys), was asked to emcee the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, GQ reported.

“Holy Father please forgive me. I’ve always hoped that the good Lord has a sense of humor…” -@Mark_Wahlberg[/tweetthis]

The World Meeting of Families is a Catholic Festival that happens each year, and this year stood out, largely because it coincided with the Pope’s visit. Many famous musicians and singers performed at the event, including Aretha Franklin, Andrea Bocelli, Juanes, and The Fray.

Apparently, at some point during the event, “A young soloist…told Wahlberg that he really liked Ted, prompting Wahlberg to observe that the movie may not be appropriate for someone his age.”

Then, Mark Wahlberg seized the opportunity to make a joke and directly address the Pope about a movie that the Pope has certainly never seen, and it seems incredibly unlikely that he’d ever heard of Wahlberg’s R-rated comedy about a raunchy teddy bear and his exploits, which was written, directed, and starred the voice of Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show.

“Holy Father please forgive me. I’ve always hoped that the good Lord has a sense of humor when it comes and pertains to many of the movies I’ve made,” Wahlberg said. The Pope remained expressionless during and after the joke, while the American audience cracked up. The Pope’s response could’ve been the result of a language misunderstanding, the Pope’s lack of knowledge about R-rated comedies starring talking bears, or perhaps Pope Francis was really just hoping that Wahlberg would instead apologize for the Entourage movie.