Baltimore Archbishop William Lori was bearing gifts when he hit up Rome this week ... handing the pontiff his very own "Francis #8" jersey with Jackson and John Harbaugh's signatures on it!!!

Jackson has been playing outta his mind this season ... with a combined 32 total touchdowns, 2,532 passing yards and 977 rushing yards. Now that the pope has the dude on his radar, you might as well hand him the MVP trophy now.

Sorry, Russell Wilson ... maybe next year.

Of course, Pope Francis has been showing a lot of bias lately ... remember when he accidentally tweeted support for the New Orleans Saints earlier this season???