Florinda Meza, widow of the Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños, known as “Chespirito,” revealed that she told Pope Francis the famous words of “El Chapulín Colorado,” one of the many characters created by her late husband: “I didn’t count on his cunning”.
On June 14, Pope Francis met with more than a hundred comedians from various parts of the world. Among them was the Mexican Florinda Meza, 75 years old, known for playing, among other characters, “Doña Florinda” in “El Chavo del 8”, another of “Chespirito’s” most popular humorous creations.
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In statements to the Mexican press After her meeting with the Holy Father, Florinda Meza said that she gave Pope Francis “the three books of Roberto: the one about Wanting without wanting!which is his biography, Chavo’s diary (of 8), …and also poems”.
Meza then noted: “I approached. It was I who told him ‘I wasn’t counting on his cunning’, because what the Pope is doing is truly surprising. Comedians were always considered a second-rate genre, comedy, a small genre. And the truth is that it is not. For me it has been the greatest of genres.”
“In all times, comedians and comediographers have been feared by the powerful and by politicians, precisely because of their irony. And that is the wonderful thing, that the Pope even in the invitation highlights irony as something very special, far from underestimating it. Conclusion: the Pope is a very special mind, he has to be very intelligent to think that way.”
In an interview with the American network CNNMeza confessed that he felt some “sadness” and “anger” because Gómez Bolaños, who died in 2014 at the age of 85, was not able to participate in the meeting with Pope Francis.
“He deserved it, he deserved so many good things, he always deserved everything good,” he said, although he confessed that “I think he was with me” during the pontifical audience.
“I was there and lived that moment thanks to him. And perhaps the gratitude was so great that I felt accompanied,” she expressed.
David Ramos
Graduated in Communication Sciences from the Universidad Privada del Norte in Trujillo, Peru. With more than 12 years of experience in Catholic journalism working at ACI Prensa, I have been based in Mexico since 2018. I have covered Pope Francis’ trips to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Panama.