The Pope has said laughing at God is "not blasphemy" but cautioned that humour "does not offend" in a landmark address to comedians and celebrities today.

Speaking at the Vatican to an audience which included hit US stars like Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien, Chris Rock and Stephen Colbert, Pope Francis made the remarks in an address billed as a warm-up to his later meeting with Joe Biden at the G7 conference in Italy.

The Pontiff said: "Can we also laugh at God? Of course, it's not blasphemy, we can, just as we play and joke with the people we love.

"What I am saying now is not heresy: when you manage to draw knowing smiles from the lips of even one spectator, you also make God smile."

The Pope added: "Humour does not offend, humiliate, or put people down according to their flaws," and highlighted "Jewish wisdom and literary tradition" as an example of good comedy.

Elsewhere in his half-hour-long address, the Pope was seen making a joking gesture as he spoke.

The 87-year-old head of the Catholic Church also told the audience that Sarah - the wife of Abraham in the Old Testament - was "nosy like women" as she would spy on her husband to "perhaps" later scold him.

After his speech - delivered in Italian - "Papa Francesco" posed for photo opportunities with a host of global stars including late-night show host Conan O'Brien, who compared lining up to shake the Pope's hand to children waiting to meet Father Christmas.

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O'Brien said: "Well it was brief, he spoke in Italian, so I'm not quite sure what was said," before adding that he had been given an English translation of the speech.

He continued: "I wanted to sit on his lap (and say): 'I want a sleigh for Christmas', you know? 'I want a basketball!'... It was quick... I had a wonderful time."

Later today, Francis travelled south to the Italian region of Puglia, where he met with political figures including the leaders of the US, Ukraine, France and India in what marked the first-ever participation of a Pope at G7 talks.

In a programme for his one-day appearance at the summit, the Vatican said the Pope would have a bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden - a fellow Catholic.

In his landmark address at the conference, the Pope warned world leaders that Artificial Intelligence (AI) must never be allowed to get the upper hand over humanity.

He said AI represented an "epochal transformation" for mankind but stressed the need for close oversight of the ever-developing technology to preserve human life and dignity.

"No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being," he said, adding that people should not let superpowerful algorithms decide their destiny.

"We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people's ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives, by dooming them to depend on the choices of machines," he warned.