When white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel revealing that a latest pope had been chosen, John Prevost turned on his television in Illinois, called his niece they usually watched in awe as his brother’s name was announced.
“She began screaming since it was her uncle and I used to be within the moment of disbelief that this can’t be possible since it’s too removed from what we thought would occur,” Prevost said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press from his home in New Lenox, Illinois.
Next, he said he felt an intense sense of pride that his brother, Cardinal Robert Prevost, had turn into the 267th pontiff to steer the Catholic Church, making the Chicago-born missionary the primary U.S. pope.
“It’s quite an honor; it’s quite a once in a lifetime,” he said. “But I believe it’s quite a responsibility and I believe it’s going to steer to greater and higher things, but I believe individuals are going to look at him very closely to see what he’s doing.”
Robert Prevost, a 69-year-old member of the Augustinian religious order who spent his profession ministering in Peru, took the name Leo XIV.
John Prevost described his brother as being very concerned for the poor and those that don’t have a voice. He said 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 center.”
At one point throughout the interview, John Prevost realized he had missed several calls from his brother, so he gave the brand new pope a call back.
Leo told him he wasn’t focused on being a part of the interview and after a temporary message of congratulations and discussion through which they talked like several two brothers about travel arrangements, they hung up.
The latest pope grew up the youngest of three boys. John Prevost, who was only a yr older than him, said he remembers Robert Prevost being excellent at school as a child and having fun with playing tag, Monopoly and Risk.
From a young age, he said he knew his brother was going to be a priest. Although he didn’t expect him to turn into pope, he recalled a neighbor predicting that very thing when Robert Prevost was only a primary grader.
“She sensed that at 6 years old,” he said. “How she did that, who knows. It took this long, but here he’s, first American pope.”
When Robert Prevost graduated eighth grade, he left for seminary school, his brother said.
“There’s a complete period there where we didn’t really grow up together,” he said. “It was just on vacations that we had contact together.”
These days, the brothers talk on the phone each day, John Prevost said. Robert Prevost will call him they usually’ll discuss every part from politics to religion and even play the day’s Wordle.
John Prevost said he is not sure how much time his brother could have to speak as the brand new pope and the way they’ll handle staying in contact in the long run.
“It’s already strange not having someone to check with,” he said.
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Golden reported from Seattle.
