She shared an emotional tribute shortly after the Vatican confirmed his passing on Easter Monday.

Whoopi Goldberg is paying tribute to her special friendship with Pope Francis following his death at 88 years old on April 21. Shortly after the Vatican confirmed the religious leader’s passing early Monday, The View host took to social media to share an emotional message reminiscing on her relationship with the late pope.

Dressed in a black cardigan with a white T-shirt and silver hoop earrings, Goldberg could be seen grinning at Pope Francis in a throwback photo from one of her many visits to Vatican City.

Meanwhile, the pontiff—who wore his traditional all-white papal dress and cap—appeared to be deep in conversation with Goldberg as he stood in front of an ornate gold chair with red silk pillows.

“He was the closest in a long time that seemed to remember that Christ’s love enveloped believer and [non] believer,” the Academy Award-winning star captioned the photo, adding that the late pope reminded her of his predecessor Pope John “who made belief real.”

Goldberg closed out her emotional tribute with a final goodbye, writing, “Sail on Pope Frances with your love of humanity & laughter.”

Pope Francis meeting with Whoopi Goldberg in Vatican City in 2024
While Goldberg didn’t share which one of her many Vatican visits the photo was taken from, she previously revealed that she and Pope Francis bonded over a shared love of her 1992 film Sister Act even before their first official meeting—and she even offered him a cameo in a potential third film.

During an October 2023 visit to the Vatican, The Color Purple actress packed a special gift for the pope inspired by her Sister Act character Deloris Van Cartier. “I brought [Pope Francis] some stuff from Sister Act that he asked for,” she revealed on The View, joking, “I thought, I’m going to walk into this building and I’m going to burst into flames.”

Paula Lobo/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

Whoopi Goldberg has a Sister Act reunion on The View
In addition to the Sister Act merch, Goldberg later revealed during a May 2024 appearance on The Tonight Show that she also offered Pope Francis the opportunity to star in a third Sister Act installment. “I offered one. He said he’d see what his time was like,” Goldberg—who last visited Pope Francis in June 2024 along with a group of 10 other comedians—told host Jimmy Fallon.

Getty Images

Pope Francis, who died on Monday, April 21 at 88
All jokes aside, she explained that the pope’s welcoming and inclusive nature played a big part in their close friendship, telling Fallon, “This is supposed to be the guy that you talk to. I like him. He’s annoyed a lot of people because he said some things that people don’t think are correct, but I do.”

Goldberg’s emotional post, which she shared shortly after Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell announced Pope Francis’s death on Easter Monday, also joins tributes from King Charles, Eva Longoria, Russell Crowe, Antonio Banderas, and Sarah Ferguson.