Pope Francis hilariously tweets support for NFL franchise
Pope Francis inadvertently endeared himself to American Football fans this weekend after accidentally tweeting support for the New Orleans Saints.
The 82-year-old religious figure appeared to announce to his 18 million Twitter followers that he is a fan of the NFL franchise by hashtagging the word ‘Saints’.
Today we give thanks to the Lord for our new #Saints. They walked by faith and now we invoke their intercession.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) October 13, 2019
Before any Saints fan starts imagining the Pope riding in the Super Bowl parade, the reality of the tweet is far less exciting. Rather than demonstrating his apparent love of American Football, he was referring to actual saints when he accidentally tagged the team.
Pope Francis canonised five new saints at the Vatican on Sunday: Cardinal John Henry Newman, Giuseppina Vannini, Mariam Thresia Chiaramel Mankidiyan, Dulce Lopes Pontes and Marquerite Bays.
It seems he didn’t realise that hashtagging “Saints” on Twitter would make the NFL team’s logo appear, since Catholic saints have been around for more than 1,000 years.
It’s not terribly surprising that Pope Francis didn’t know about Twitter giving the “Saints” hashtag to the football team. The man is over 80, doesn’t watch television and spends most of his days praying and visiting the Catholic faithful.
On top of all of that, he’s from Argentina, a country where association football is the most popular sport.
In fact, Pope Francis is an avid fan of that sport, and has found ways to follow the sport despite making a promise to the Virgin Mary in 1990 to never watch television.
The obvious mistake didn’t stop football fans from sending Pope Francis replies asking for his intercession on NFL matters, and from just plain having fun with his Twitter mistake.
You misspelled "interception."
— trick-or-treater (@neontaster) October 13, 2019
The Hail Mary doesn't generally work in football, so I don't see why advice from the Pope would.
— Nat Ghoulsen 🧟♂️ (@nat_paulsen) October 13, 2019
God is not a Jets fan
— PS©🥩🏈🏋️♂️ (@GodKbsJets60) October 13, 2019
The Pope’s blessing may have been unintentional, but the Saints thanked him anyway after their 13-6 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Couldn't lose after this.#Blessed and highly favored 🙌⚜️ https://t.co/2BoE2oYGqF
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 13, 2019
With Yahoo Sports US
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