“What should my name be?” Robert Prevost asked his older brother John the night before the conclave to select the next leader of the Catholic Church.
It was with that hint that John Prevost realized his brother could become the next pope, the successor to Pope Francis.
“We started rattling off names just to rattle off names,” the elder Prevost told the Daily Herald. “I told him it shouldn’t be Leo because it will be the 13th. But he must’ve done some research to see it’s actually the 14th.”
Robert Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, has two older brothers, John and Louis. They grew up together in suburban Chicago. John would go on to a career in education and is a retired principal. Louis entered the Navy. Currently, John lives in New Lenox, Illinois, and Louis lives in Port Charlotte, Florida. Both were stunned to find out their little brother was the new pope.
“Not really an idea that it could happen, but there was an inkling of a chance,” John Prevost said. “But I really was just as surprised as everyone when they said his name.”
“It was a shocking moment,” he said after hearing his brother’s name announced. “I was on the phone with my niece, and we both couldn’t believe it. Then the phone, the iPad, and my cellphone just went nuts.”
Louis Prevost echoed his brother’s jubilation.
“Shock and awe,” Louis Prevost said in an interview with Fox 4 in Southwest Florida. “We heard them read the names. So we knew it was coming, and then to see him. It all hit home and became real. And it was like, oh, that’s Rob. Oh, my god! Yay, Rob!”
He told Fox 4 that the brothers spoke to each other about two or three times a week. He said he understood that would probably change now that their brother is the new pontiff.
“That’s the hardest part,” Louis Prevost said. “All day, I’ve been like, I wonder if we’ll actually be able to see him again and be with him, and shake his hand and hug him. Yeah, I’m the pope’s brother, but it’s hard to get in to see the pope.”
John Prevost told the Daily Herald that his family knew of Robert Prevost’s divine path when they were younger. They believed he was going to be a priest from an early age.
“Rob, that’s what we called him since he was little, knew he was going to be a priest from the time he could walk,” John Prevost said. “A neighbor once said he was going to be pope someday. How’s that for a prognostication?”
Louis Prevost, meanwhile, had no idea his brother was about to become pope when the two spoke earlier this week. He mentioned a conversation that he had with his brother shortly before the conclave. He was curious to see what his brother would do if he were selected as the new pontiff.
“We talked a little bit about it, and I said, ‘You know what happens if you win? If they vote for you? Are you going to accept it?’” he asked his brother.
“I will accept it,” he replied, according to Louis Prevost. “It’s God’s will. It’s in his hands.”
Both brothers were thrilled for their youngest sibling. They believe he will be a wonderful pope and are cheering for his success.
“He’ll do a really good job of being pope and all the things that entails, just because he’s a man of the people,” Louis Prevost said. “He’s been with the people all around the world in his worldly travels.”
AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES ON THE CONCLAVE: A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
John Prevost told the Daily Herald that his brother becoming pope has been an emotional experience. However, since he’s been constantly talking to friends and family, he has not had an opportunity to take it all in.
“I haven’t had time to cry yet,” he said. “I think when I’m alone and can gather my thoughts about all this, it will hit me. So far, there’s been no time to react.”
Because Leo is the first pontiff from the United States, there are many questions surrounding him. What will the Catholic Church be like now that he will be leading it? Will the fact that he is from the U.S. have an impact on his views? Those questions will be answered in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.
As for the kind of pope he believes his brother will be, John Prevost told the Associated Press that Leo is an ardent supporter of the poor and expects him to be a “second Pope Francis.”
“He’s not going to be real far Left and he’s not going to be real far Right,” John Prevost said. “Kind of right down the middle.”
However, the pope’s older brother was able to resolve one of the most important questions surrounding the new pontiff, especially given that he grew up in the Chicago Metropolitan area.
Cubs or White Sox?
“He was never, ever a Cubs fan,” John Prevost told a local media outlet. “He was always a Sox fan. Our mother was a Cubs fan … and our dad was a Cardinals fan.”
