Pope Leo blesses and signs ‘Popplio’ Pokémon card for pilgrims in Rome

Thomas Edwards • July 9, 2025

Pope Leo has delighted Pokémon fans by blessing and signing a Pokémon card during a Danish youth group’s visit to the Vatican on 5 July.

He was presented with two Popplio Pokémon cards due to the similarity in the names. The Holy Father blessed a Reverse Holo version and signed a regular version with a ballpoint pen.

Tri Nguyen, whose Pokémon card was signed by the Pope, described how the Pope’s “joyous face and speech touched my heart” and said it was “a great culmination of our pilgrimage”.

Nguyen, 28, who was born and raised in Denmark and lives in Aarhus, is of Vietnamese origin. A cradle Catholic, he is a board member of the Danish youth association Danmarks Unge Katolikker and chairman of its local chapter in Aarhus. He is also a member of his parish council.

He was visiting the Vatican as part of a pilgrimage organised by Danmarks Unge Katolikker for a group of around 50 young people, during which they visited the holy sites of Assisi and Rome. As part of their six-day stay in Rome, the group were fortunate enough to meet the Holy Father.

Nguyen told the Herald: “Being in the papal audience hall was surreal. We didn’t really feel ready to meet the Pope. Every time someone new entered I kept turning my head towards them to see if it was His Holiness. At some point he entered, and it nearly didn’t register with me. He just arrived nonchalantly, down to earth, without much bravado.

“His presence wasn’t intimidating or oppressive. He felt calming to be around. His joyous face and speech touched my heart in ways I haven’t experienced before. It was quite the encounter, and quite the privilege to be there.

“It was a great culmination of our pilgrimage – from days in Assisi to days in Rome, and finally an audience with the Supreme Pontiff.

“One thing that stuck with me was how happy he was. When I got to greet him personally, his smile and laughter were warming. His interest in what I was saying felt genuine.”

Asked about the Popplio connection, Nguyen said: “I am just a huge Pokémon fan who thought that having Pope Leo sign a Popplio card would be really fun because of the similarity in the names.”

He intends to keep the signed card as a “personal artefact” and has placed it in a protective sleeve.

Popplio is a Generation VII Pokémon who evolves into Brionne and then Primarina. Released in 2016, while Pope Leo was Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, Popplio is one of three starter Pokémon in Pokémon Sun and Moon, alongside Rowlet and Litten. The game is set in the Alola region of the Pokémon world.

The Vatican and the Pokémon franchise have enjoyed a cordial relationship over the years. In 2000, the Vatican satellite channel Sat2000 (now TV2000) described the game as “full of inventive imagination”, said it had “no harmful moral side effects”, and noted that it was based on “ties of intense friendship”.