New York Welcomes Pope With Pizza Art

When word spread that Pope Francis hoped to get his holy hands on a slice, the pizza chefs of New York rolled up their sleeves and out their red carpets. The once in a lifetime opportunity to serve the Pope triggered a lot of creativity, most notable in the pizza shaped like the Pope's face. Tony Salihaj at Bleecker Street Pizza redefined the personal pizza by painting a portrait of the Pope on a cheese pizza. With a robe of ricotta and a staff of anchovies, the pious Pope stares stoically into the metropolitan abyss through black olive eyes.

Though chances are the slice that actually makes it to the Pope's lips will have to be cleared by security (just to be sure that our beloved Pizza Rat didn't have anything to do with it), we hope someone on his team shows him a picture of his of Salihaj's work. Despite the fact that it's made out of cheese and dead fish, it's quite beautiful.

And though pizza is a must-have in New York, we hope the Pope also considers a few other local specialties. What is New York without Cronuts, soft pretzels, fermented teas, Shake Shack, bagels, tacos from a truck, vegan ice cream and bacon-wrapped hotdogs? While he's at it, he might as well stop by H&M in Time Square, ride the L train at rush hour and play the bongos in Union Square, just to get the complete New York experience.

TBH, we're pretty stoked that the Pope is in on our cultural obsession–#blessed #becausepizza.

Images: Getty Images; Giphy