There may be a few American football players giving thanks today after a possible case of divine intervention.

Pope Francis's account accidentally tweeted support for the New Orleans Saints, and the team went on to win their Sunday game with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Pope was intending to tell his followers to give thanks for the new saints, who were being canonised in a ceremony in the Vatican, but Twitter took his "#Saints" message and automatically added the team's logo.

Image: Pope Francis accidentally tweeted support for the NFL team

His message added: "They walked by faith and now we invoke their intercession."

The tweet went viral, with people joking they were unsure which side to put their money on after his apparent blessing of the Louisiana team.


The New Orleans Saints responded on Twitter: "Couldn't lose after this.#Blessed and highly favored."

Couldn't lose after this.#Blessed and highly favored 🙌⚜️ https://t.co/2BoE2oYGqF — New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 13, 2019

The Saints won 13-6 and moved on to 5-1 for the season.

Perhaps it's a good thing they weren't playing the Arizona Cardinals.