Pope Francis accidentally tags NFL’s Saints in X post after coach’s firing

Pope Francis appeared to accidentally tout an NFL team in a Tuesday social media post shortly after the squad dismissed its head coach.

In a Tuesday morning post on X, the pope encouraged his followers to take lessons from the lives of Catholic “#Saints” — “precious pearls,” he wrote, who “are always living and relevant, because they provide a fascinating commentary on the Gospel.”

X, however, automatically adds the logo of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints — a black and gold fleur-de-lis — next to “#Saints” in posts. The social media platform has similar automatic logo additions for other NFL teams, though they are often tied to phrases or nicknames unique to those teams.

The pope’s post prompted several light-hearted replied from X users, many of whom noted that the Saints fired their head coach Monday after starting the season with a 2-7 record.

Francis has frequently used social media to share passages of scripture, reflections on his faith and his opinions of world events since becoming the head of the Catholic Church in 2013.

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