--- title: Pope Francis Bobbleheads Selling Like Hotcakes description: The toys are flying off the shelves for Pope Francis's U.S. visit canonical: https://time.com/4043692/pope-bobbleheads/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-21T22:47:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:44:43.726Z og:title: Pope Francis Bobbleheads Are Flying Off the Shelves og:description: The toys are flying off the shelves for Pope Francis's U.S. visit og:url: https://time.com/4043692/pope-bobbleheads/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4f761b8e591d795/698864aa0a4a22a0b89c62d7/pope2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Pope Francis Makes Historic Trip To Cuba og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pope Francis Bobbleheads Are Flying Off the Shelves twitter:description: The toys are flying off the shelves for Pope Francis's U.S. visit twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4f761b8e591d795/698864aa0a4a22a0b89c62d7/pope2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pope Francis Bobbleheads Are Flying Off the Shelves by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Sep 21, 2015 10:47 PM UTC  Pope Francis holds a Mass in the Plaza de la Revolution on September 21, 2015 in Holguin, Cuba. Pope Francis is spending his second day of a three-day trip before moving on to the United States. Pope Francis holds a Mass in the Plaza de la Revolution on September 21, 2015 in Holguin, Cuba. Pope Francis is spending his second day of a three-day trip before moving on to the United States.Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Sep 21, 2015 10:47 PM UTC Interested in a [bobblehead](http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/capitalcomment/local-news/pope-bobbleheads-are-nearly-sold-out.php) to celebrate Pope Francis’s historic visit to the U.S.? You and 24,999 other people. Retailers are struggling to keep Pope Francis bobblehead dolls on the shelves, according to _Washingtonian_, and one manufacturer says it has sold nearly 25,000 units since the visit was announced. “It’s about all we can do to keep up,” said Warren Royal, founder of Royal Bobbles, adding that his company consulted with Catholic scholars about the design and made the head slightly smaller than normal to be respectful of the religious leader. “It doesn’t bob as well as it would have otherwise,” he said, “but we’re happy with the decision we made and how it came out.” The pontiff arrives in Washington, D.C. on [Tuesday](http://time.com/?p=4043510); it’s not too late to buy a bobblehead, \[[_Washingtonian_](http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/capitalcomment/local-news/pope-bobbleheads-are-nearly-sold-out.php)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4043692/pope-bobbleheads/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4043692/pope-bobbleheads/"},"headline":"Pope Francis Bobbleheads Are Flying Off the Shelves","datePublished":"2015-09-21T22:47:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:44:43.726Z","description":"The toys are flying off the shelves for Pope Francis's U.S. visit","url":"https://time.com/4043692/pope-bobbleheads/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Pope Francis","Bizarre","Business topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4f761b8e591d795/698864aa0a4a22a0b89c62d7/pope2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4f761b8e591d795/698864aa0a4a22a0b89c62d7/pope2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pope Francis Makes Historic Trip To Cuba","caption":"Pope Francis Makes Historic Trip To Cuba","creditText":"Joe Raedle—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4043692/pope-bobbleheads/","name":"Pope Francis Bobbleheads Are Flying Off the Shelves"}}]}] ```