Tom Brady Picks Coach Belichick over Pope Francis

Tom Brady called his 2004 meeting with Pope John Paul II “pretty cool” but prefers Bill Belichick to the current pontiff.

“It was very brief, my experience with him,” Brady said Wednesday of his 2004 trip to the Vatican, where he met Pope John Paul II after winning his second Super Bowl. “It was pretty cool.”

Brady watched television coverage of Pope Francis’s visit to the United States on Wednesday. He judges the traffic surrounding the papal visit in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York City “well worth it” to meet Pope Francis for the inhabitants in those locales.

Raised by a seminarian-dropout dad, Brady attended a Catholic high school, married Gisele Bundchen in a Catholic ceremony, and baptized his children in the church. The cache of private emails publicized during the Deflategate investigation included an exchange between Brady and a Catholic priest.

Despite his rootedness in the church, the Patriots quarterback confessed uncertainty about the right path to God to the New York Times Magazine earlier this year. “I don’t know what I believe,” Brady explained. “I think there’s a belief system, I’m just not sure what it is.”

Clearly he believes in Bill Belichick’s system. When asked by a reporter to choose between the pope or his coach, Brady did not hesitate. “In Bill we trust,” Brady responded. “Are you kidding me?”