New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton must have friends in high, high places. His team caught a stray mention in a tweet from Pope Francis early Sunday morning, in which the supreme pontiff expressed thanks for new saints while looking to them for guidance — adding a hashtag to “saints,” likely in hopes of getting it trending to reach new followers. While the leader of the Catholic Church likely did not mean to associate his tweet with the professional football team that plays in New Orleans, his support is probably appreciated.
The NFL has introduced official hashtags for each of its teams in recent years, typically pairing a unique emoji geared towards each team’s specific brand (the Jacksonville Jaguars, for example, get #DUVAAAL, referencing the local county and a popular call-and-response chant with its fans). Saints fans got the short straw this year, drawing the very simple #Saints hashtag accompanied by the team’s fleur-delis logo. So Francis’s use of it (and its association with the team) is purely accidental.
Still, some members of the team enjoyed the support. Saints linebacker Alex Anzalone laughed it off on Twitter, and many fans responded to Francis’s message in hopes of earning a prayer for injured quarterback Drew Brees. It’s all in good fun, of course, but it’s not every day Catholic Saints fans get to directly address the leader of their faith.
