Fans flood @Pontifex account after it accidentally quotes New Orleans Saints during terrible season

On November 9, 2024By Pranco

ROME (AP) — The New Orleans Saints may be one of the worst teams in the NFL this season, but at least they can count on continued prayers from Pope Francis.

The Pope – or at least someone from the Vatican communications office – has been unintentionally supporting the saints since November 1 – All Saints Day – even as the team lost another game and fired their coach.

Thanks to an automatic feature on X, formerly Twitter, the team’s fleur-de-lis emoji is automatically added to the hashtag #Saints. That has given the impression that the @Pontifex account on alive and relevant.”

The comments sections on the handful of papal #Saint tweets in recent days have blown up, with more than twice as many responses as normal @Pontifex tweets.

“They need more than what you can do Pope Francis. They need to consult the big man,” @DaBears_26 wrote on November 2.

In the past week, Saints fans have once again lamented a loss to last-place Carolina, which extended the Saints’ losing streak to seven games – the longest since 1999 – and pushed their record to 2-7. And they welcomed the firing of coach Dennis Allen on Monday.

“Even the Pope is excited that we fired Dennis Allen,” wrote @JonoBarnes.

Some pointed to the unwanted distinction Derek Carr earned last week: He became the first NFL quarterback losing to 31 teams. While others, non-Saints fans, asked the Pope for equal time.

“Any chance the @HoustonTexans could receive a blessing too?” asked @DustyLeeCook

The Rev. Matthew Schneider, a prominent voice on Catholic Twitter, has been trying to get the Vatican communications office to resolve the #Saints fleur-de-lis emoji issue for five years, apparently in vain.

In 2019, he posted a response to another saintly tweet from @Pontifex that automatically referenced the team, urging the Vatican communications office to check the hashtags before posting. He did that again last week, but this time he addressed his request to X.

“It was cute the first time, but it’s getting tiring,” he wrote.

The @Pontifex account, opened in 2012, is the pope’s official English-language Twitter account. The Pope tweets in other languages using variations of the handle.

The Vatican spokesman did not respond to a request for comment late Thursday. For the record, Francis is a lifelong fan of the San Lorenzo football club from his native Buenos Aires.

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