Pope Leo spent the days leading up to the secretive vote in the Vatican that would make him the first American head of the Catholic Church watching the film Conclave so he knew what to expect, his brother has revealed.
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, emerged on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on Thursday night as the 267th pontiff, following four rounds of voting during the conclave.
The 69-year-old Chicago-born ally of the late Pope Francis was only elevated to cardinal in 2023, but his standing among the papabile had shot up in the weeks after his predecessor’s death.
John Prevost described the moment he found out that his younger sibling had been named the new head of the Catholic Church.
“I was in this moment of disbelief that this cannot be possible because it's too far from what we thought would happen," John told NBC from his home in New Lenox, Illinois.
When asked if Pope Leo would have watched the film Conclave for inspiration, John said he had. "So he knew how to behave. So it's that kind of stuff, because I wanted to take his mind off of it, laugh about something, because this is now an awesome responsibility," John added.
“I am almost speechless. It’s just mindblowing that my brother was elected pope,” said his other brother, Louis Prevost.
John also said that he had told his younger sibling to make sure he did the Wordle, a New York Times word game, before entering the conclave, during which every cardinal must give up their phone and quit communication with anyone outside the 133 voting cardinals.
Asked how he thought Pope Leo would run the Vatican, 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 said. “Kind of right down the middle.”
Born in 1955, Pope Leo left home as a young teenager to join the St Augustine seminary. His brothers said they saw him only during the holidays after that, but have maintained close contact ever since.
Leo went on to have a long career in missionary work in South America, working in Peru for nearly 15 years until 1998. In 2015, he was appointed bishop of Chiclayo in northwest Peru and awarded Peruvian citizenship.
The new pontiff has championed the importance of on-the-ground work. In a 2023 interview with Vatican News, he said: “One must not give in to the temptation to live isolated, separated in a palace, satisfied with a certain social level or a certain level within the church. The authority we have is to serve, to accompany priests, to be pastors and teachers.”
It was this passion for the pastoral that won over the late Francis, who brought Leo to the Vatican in 2023 as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church.
The new pontiff is also an expert in canon law, a system that functions like a constitution and legal system specifically for the Catholic Church, affording him appeal to the more traditional wings of the Vatican.
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