John Prevost knew there was an opportunity his brother might be elected pope.
“Final Saturday after I was at church, one of many monks came visiting and advised me the chances in Las Vegas have been 18 to 1,” stated Mr. Prevost, who lives in suburban Chicago. “He didn’t have a doubt. He thought it will positively be my brother.”
However Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was getting ready for the conclave, shrugged it off when his older brother referred to as from Illinois.
“He stated, ‘No approach, not going to occur,’” recalled Mr. Prevost, 71, who’s retired from a profession as an educator and faculty principal.
In fact, it did occur. Cardinal Prevost is now Pope Leo XIV, the primary American pontiff. And for his family and friends again in Illinois, the place the pope grew up, every part is totally different.
In a wide-ranging interview on Thursday afternoon at his residence in New Lenox, a tidy metropolis of 27,000 individuals about 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, John Prevost mirrored on his brother’s ascent to the papacy, the brand new pope’s values and his American roots.
Leo, whom Mr. Prevost is accustomed to calling Rob, “has nice, nice need to assist the downtrodden and the disenfranchised, the people who find themselves ignored,” Mr. Prevost stated. He predicted that his brother would keep on the legacy of his predecessor, Pope Francis.
“One of the best ways I may describe him proper now’s that he can be following in Francis’ footsteps,” Mr. Prevost stated. “They have been superb associates. They knew one another earlier than he was pope, earlier than my brother even was bishop.”
Mr. Prevost stated he normally spoke by cellphone together with his brother each night time, however had not talked to him because the conclave started. He stated the brand new pope was “easy, actually. He’s not going to exit for a 19-course meal.” Final August, Mr. Prevost stated, his brother stayed with him at his residence in New Lenox for a couple of weeks.
The brothers grew up in Dolton, Sick., simply exterior Chicago, and attended church and faculty at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish on Chicago’s South Facet. Their father, Louis Prevost, was a faculty superintendent and their mom, Mildred Prevost, was a librarian who was deeply concerned in parish life. Along with John and Robert, now Leo, the Prevosts had one different son, who now lives in Florida.
The longer term pope left Illinois to attend highschool in Michigan and school in Pennsylvania, however returned to his residence state for graduate college and for numerous postings with the Augustinians, the spiritual order that he joined. Leo additionally spent a lot of his profession in Peru.
John Prevost described Pope Leo as “center of the street” and stated, “I don’t assume we’ll see extremes both approach.” However, he stated, his brother wouldn’t be afraid to make use of this new platform.
“I don’t assume he’ll keep quiet for too lengthy if he has one thing to say,” Mr. Prevost stated. “I do know he’s not pleased with what’s happening with immigration. I do know that for a truth. How far he’ll go along with it is just one’s guess, however he received’t simply sit again. I don’t assume he’ll be the silent one.”
Requested if his brother had expressed a need to be pope, Mr. Prevost stated “probably not.” However over time, as he ascended the ranks of the church, his reply to that query had began to shift.
“It was ‘completely not, completely not, God forbid,’” Mr. Prevost stated. “After which it grew to become, ‘Effectively, if it’s what God desires, then we’ll cope with it.’”
Thursday was a blur for Mr. Prevost, whose cellphone rang consistently throughout an interview and whose road was lined with information vehicles.
“I get that individuals are as a result of it’s a primary in so some ways,” Mr. Prevost stated.
Requested what his dad and mom, who died years in the past, can be considering, he stated, “They’d be on Cloud 9. Completely unimaginable. You couldn’t even dream this.”
When he’s lastly capable of attain his brother, Mr. Prevost stated he deliberate to ask what he would do for leisure and whether or not he would ever actually be off the job. He stated he hoped to go see him in Rome, however didn’t know but how that will work.
Within the speedy time period, although, there was one vital truth to clear up. The pope, Mr. Prevost stated, was not a fan of the Chicago Cubs, as some had reported. He had at all times cheered for the White Sox.
