Louis Prevost, the brother of the new Pope, has said that he’ll “probably tone it down” on social media after now-removed Facebook posts revealed that he has taken on some conspiracy theories pushed by the right.
The 73-year-old Floridian enjoys line dancing, but until recently, he also frequently shared missives on the social media platform, including attacks on former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a post stating that those supporting former President Joe Biden had a “mental affliction.”
The posts could no longer be seen by Tuesday. He reposted a video of Pelosi, which included a caption from the original poster referring to the former speaker using a vulgarity. The post also suggested that Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was gay, which repeated a suggestion from a misinformation campaign that was shared among those on the right after he was attacked with a hammer by a man who broke into his home in October 2022, The New York Times noted.
The New York Post wrote that the post was “gross” and “awful.” A separate post by Prevost urged readers to keep their “powder dry” as there’s a “war right here at home, a war for our streets and neighborhoods,” according to The Daily Beast.
Prevost appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Monday, where the host read some of the posts back to Prevost.
“It’s quite lively stuff for a bloke who’s now the pope’s older brother,” said Morgan.
“Well, I posted it, and I wouldn’t have posted it if I didn’t kind of believe it,” said Prevost. However, he added that he would “probably tone it down.”
Prevost told Morgan that he’s a “MAGA type” and that his younger brother is “much more liberal” but that he wouldn’t call him “woke.” He added that he anticipated the new Pope to play things “down the middle.”
Prevost told The Times on Friday that his brother preferred to play priest when other children played cowboys or bank robbers.
In his first Sunday address, Pope Leo XIV argued for the end of fighting in Gaza. Meanwhile, his older brother told The Times that after the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Hamas, “I’d have flattened Gaza and made it a parking lot.”
Prevost told Morgan that he has “backed off a lot of media” after facing criticism for his online statements. He added that he was looking forward to talking to his brother about the posts and seeing if the new Pope had experienced any pushback.
“But he knows I am who I am,” he said. “He’s well aware of my positions. He knows I’m probably not going to change, and I don’t think I will, other than to, just as you say, tone it down.”
On Sunday, the first American Pope also called for a just peace in Ukraine in addition to an immediate end to the fighting in Gaza.
“I, too, address the world’s great powers by repeating the ever-present call ‘never again war,’” he said to an audience of 100,000 people.
“I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” he added. “Let everything possible be done to achieve genuine, just and lasting peace as soon as possible.”
