Pope Francis seemed to inadvertently bless the New Orleans Saints — which couldn't come at a better time, as the NFL team just excommunicated their head coach.

The Saints have lost seven straight, including Sunday’s 23-22 defeat against the Carolina Panthers. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back as the New Orleans Saints would go on to fire head coach Dennis Allen. Pope Francis may have accidentally blessed the team after that move.

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,

The saints hashtag he used is also the official team hashtag for the New Orleans Saints, so the team's logo showed up after the hashtag. The #Saints are formed by the Beatitudes: