Pope Francis Blesses the Atlanta Hawks on MLK Birthday

Pope Francis has officially blessed the Atlanta Hawks on the 92nd birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. 

The Hawks say the Pope wanted to acknowledge the stand #NBA players took in support of #BLM. Vatican reached out 1/7 asking for MLK Hawks jerseys the Pope could pray a blessing over on MLK Day. Pope also met with 5 players November praising their fight against social injustice. pic.twitter.com/N41r8Dr1MV

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) January 15, 2021

𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬. 🙌

On Dr. King's birthday, @Pontifex blessed our 20-21 MLK Nike City Edition jersey to honor our shared commitment to making positive change in social equality, economic empowerment and love.

🔗: https://t.co/ob7sSp0J9H#EarnTheseLetters pic.twitter.com/Hy8xts7t9y

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) January 15, 2021

Back in November, five players as well as representatives of the NBPA, sat with the Pope at the Vatican. The union and players said their meeting was to speak about "individual and collective efforts addressing social and economic injustice and inequality occurring in their communities."

Photo Credit: Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire