Describing him as “highly regarded within the NFL,” Saints owner Gayle Benson said of Allen ... which means “lily flower” in French and is long associated with New Orleans, as their logo since the franchise’s inception in 1967.

The New Orleans Saints have an accidental fan in Pope Francis. The 87-year-old pontiff is an active user on X (formerly known as Twitter), but it appears that he — or whoever is managing his account — is unfamiliar with the app's feature that adds emojis alongside certain hashtags.

Pope Francis has inadvertently thrown his support behind the NFL's New Orleans Saints for the second time this week through social media posts. The pontiff's recent messages on X, formerly Twitter, have included the hashtag '#Saints',

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 in the Vatican communications office – has been inadvertently rooting for the Saints since Nov. 1 – All Saints Day – even as the team lost y