(ZENIT News / New Lenox, 05.08.2025).- The Prevost family home, nestled in the quiet southern suburbs of New Lenox, looks no different today than it did last week. The lawn is trimmed, the porch swing still creaks in the breeze. But behind that ordinary façade, something extraordinary has happened: the youngest son of this modest American household is now the spiritual leader of over a billion Catholics around the world.
Pope Leo XIV — formerly Robert Prevost, or simply “Rob” to his family — was elected Pope this may 8 in a decision that stunned even those closest to him. Among the most astonished: his older brother, John Prevost, a retired Catholic school principal who, at 71, thought he’d seen everything.
“I didn’t think it would really happen,” John admitted from his home, still reeling from the events that have catapulted his brother into the global spotlight. “There was always a chance, but it felt like one of those far-off possibilities you never quite believe.”
John recalls that he was chatting on the phone with his niece when the name was announced from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. “Neither of us could process it. Then the phone, the iPad, everything just exploded. Calls, messages — we were overwhelmed.”
What makes this moment surreal, John says, is not just the enormity of the role his brother now inhabits, but how deeply it contrasts with their unremarkable beginnings. “We had a pretty average childhood. Nothing grand or exceptional. But what’s funny is that we all had a strong sense of what we wanted to be. Rob was always the one who talked about becoming a priest. I mean, before he could even ride a bike, he’d be pretending to give homilies with a towel around his shoulders.”
There was even a neighbor, decades ago, who jokingly said that Rob would one day become pope. “We all laughed at the time,” John remembers. “Now I wonder if he somehow knew.”
The last time the two brothers spoke was the night before the conclave began. “He asked me, half-jokingly, ‘What should I call myself — if it happens?’ I told him, ‘Anything but Leo. You’d be the thirteenth, and that just sounds unlucky.’” John chuckles. “Turns out, he did his homework — it’s actually the fourteenth.”
From his living room in New Lenox, surrounded by decades of family photos and the echo of his brother’s voice still fresh in his ears, John reflects on what lies ahead: “I don’t know what kind of pope Rob will be. But I know the man he is. He listens. He thinks before he speaks. And he’s always had a deep love for people — especially those the world overlooks.”
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