Famed Italian actor and comic stars on Pope’s own stage

ROME – Generally speaking, when a pope presides over a big event in St. Peter’s Square, he’s the unquestioned star of the show. Not so this Sunday, however, when Pope Francis was upstaged by another luminary, famed Italian actor and comedian Roberto Benigni, who not only offered to dance a tango for the Argentine pontiff, but also to run for the papacy together with Francis himself.

Benigni, 71, is best-known to American audiences for his Oscar-winning 1997 film “Life is Beautiful.” In Italy he’s a cultural institution...