Leo XIV’s brother recalls feeling of ‘disbelief’ over his sibling becoming pope

NEW LENOX Ill AP When white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel revealing that a new pope had been chosen John Prevost turned on his television in Illinois called his niece and they watched in awe as his brother s name was disclosed She started screaming because it was her uncle and I was in the moment of disbelief that this cannot be doable because it s too far from what we thought would happen Prevost mentioned Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press from his home in New Lenox Illinois Next he mentioned he felt an intense sense of pride that his brother Cardinal Robert Prevost had become the th pontiff to lead the Catholic Church making the Chicago-born missionary the first U S pope It s quite an honor it s quite a once in a lifetime he commented But I think it s quite a responsibility and I think it s going to lead to bigger and better things but I think people are going to watch him very closely to see what he s doing Robert Prevost a -year-old member of the Augustinian religious order who spent his career ministering in Peru took the name Leo XIV John Prevost described his brother as being very concerned for the poor and those who don t have a voice He mentioned he 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 he added Kind of right down the middle At one point during the interview John Prevost realized he had missed several calls from his brother so he gave the new pope a call back Leo communicated him he wasn t interested in being part of the interview and after a brief message of congratulations and discussion in which they talked like any two brothers about progress arrangements they hung up The new pope grew up the youngest of three boys John Prevost who was only a year older than him declared he remembers Robert Prevost being very good in school as a kid and enjoying playing tag Monopoly and Threat From a young age he disclosed he knew his brother was going to be a priest Although he didn t expect him to become pope he recalled a neighbor predicting that very thing when Robert Prevost was only a first grader She sensed that at years old he reported How she did that who knows It took this long but here he is first American pope When Robert Prevost graduated eighth grade he left for seminary school his brother disclosed There s a whole period there where we didn t really grow up together he disclosed It was just on vacations that we had contact together These days the brothers talk on the phone every day John Prevost explained Robert Prevost will call him and they ll discuss everything from politics to religion and even play the day s Wordle John Prevost revealed he s not sure how much time his brother will have to talk as the new pope and how they ll handle staying in touch in the future It s already strange not having someone to talk to he noted