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 the continued prayers of Pope Francis.

The Pope – or at least someone in the Vatican communications office – has been inadvertently supporting the Saints since November 1 – All Saints’ Day – even as the team lost another game and fired its coach.

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

The comment sections on a handful of papal #Saint tweets in recent days have exploded, with more than twice as many comments as @Pontifex’s normal tweets.

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

Last week, Saints fans mourned another loss to last-place Carolina, extending the Saints’ losing streak to seven games, their longest since 1999, and raising 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 referred to the unwanted distinction earned last week by Derek Carr: He became the first NFL quarterback to lose against 31 teams. While others, not Saints fans, asked the Pope for equal time.

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

The Rev. Matthew Schneider, a prominent voice on Catholic Twitter, has been trying for five years to get the Vatican communications office to fix the #Saints fleur-de-lis emoji problem, apparently to no avail.

In 2019, he posted a comment on another holy tweet from @Pontifex that automatically referenced the team, urging the Vatican communications office to verify hashtags before posting. He did it again last week, this time directing his request to X.

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

The @Pontifex account, which was opened in 2012, is the Pope’s official Twitter account in English. The Pope tweets in other languages ​​with variations of the mango.

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

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