When comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in a 2024 episode of her podcast “Wiser Than Me,” recounted the details of a recent event she had attended, it made her guest, actor Catherine O’Hara, “very jealous.”

It was not a glitzy awards gala or some exclusive party; it was a trip to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis that summer, alongside about 100 other comedians.

“You should have been there; it’s silly that you weren’t,” Louis-Dreyfus tells O’Hara, who wasn’t invited.

“Yeah, come on, I’m Catholic,” she responds, before asking, excitedly, if Louis-Dreyfus, the “Seinfeld” and “Veep” star, got to speak with him.

“I shook his hand, and I said, ‘God bless you’ and he said, ‘God bless you, too,’” Louis-Dreyfus shared.

Though the Catholic Church has sometimes struggled to attract youth and modernize its religion, and has grappled with sexual abuse allegations, in recent years, it has experienced a resurgence in cultural cachet, particularly among Generation Z.…