Before becoming Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prévost and his older brothers John and Louis grew up living a “normal” life like any other family.
John Prevost said in an interview with “EWTN News in Depth” on April 17 that life was “like anything else”.
“It was routine – go to school, come home, do my homework, go out and play, come inside, study, go to bed and then just repeat it.”
“Rob was in Cub Scouts. We were all altar servers,” he said. “I think we were all in the choir… We all went to Catholic education during high school. So I think it was normal. We were playing outside. You’d be outside playing until dusk.”
Recalling his childhood memories, Prevost said: “One time we were building a shed in the backyard and Rob fell through the roof. Just part of the wood had rotted, because we were using old doors from the house for the roof.”
Prevost and his brothers were also in “Bozo’s Circus” in 1960. “It was a children’s program produced by Chicago’s local channel WGN. It was an everyday show, and tickets were hard to get. But one of the guys in the WGN band taught music to the kids at my father’s school.”
“So he said, ‘If you kids ever want to go to “Bozo’s Circus”‘ – well, we jumped at the chance because we were on TV.”
In addition to his funny memories of his brothers, Prevost also reflected on his faith during his childhood.
He said, “Faith starts at home and then it slowly grows and develops. But I think it starts at home.” “I know that our dad would take out the Bible from time to time and read Bible stories. We would always pray before dinner. Our parents would always, every evening after dinner, pray the rosary.”
becoming Pope Leo XIV
Pope Leo always wanted to be a priest, Prevost said, and “from a young age, we always knew he had this aptitude.”
“When he was probably in first grade or second grade, one of the moms across the street said to us when we were playing outside, ‘You know, he’s going to be the first American Pope,'” he said.
Now as pope, he “talks about important issues and how we should approach some of these issues,” Prevost said. He said his focus is on working with “underprivileged” and “neglected” people.
Pope Leo “has the patience of a saint,” Prevost said. “If you ask me a question… I come out and answer you. He’ll take a lot of time to think about it before he can answer, and so it’s much deeper than off the top of my head.”
In his role as Pope, Prévost said he believed his brother was bringing people to the faith. He said: “I’ve had people come to the door and say to me… ‘I wanted to tell you, because of your brother, I’m coming back.'”
“I think you’re seeing it all across the country. People are coming back to church because of him,” he said.
Life as the Pope’s brother
As Pope’s brother, you have to “take it day by day because you never know, in a sense, what each day is going to bring,” Prevost said.
He said, “It’s always interesting, but it’s sad sometimes… You feel helpless about what people are searching for, and they expect me to help, and I can’t do anything for them except listen.”
For the most part, Prévost said his relationship with his brother is the same as it was before his papacy, except that it is “more distant now”. Despite the distance, the brothers still talk daily.
“One of the first questions I ask is, ‘Did you meet anyone famous today?’ And then on Wednesday, they get a general audience with the crowd… I always ask, ‘Did you get any gifts?'”
Prévost joked about the amount of gifts Pope Leo receives, which are often gifts. “They’ve got two cells full now so people can stop sending Peeps,” he joked.
The pair also keep in touch by playing Wordle and Words with friends. “It’s a compromise. He beats me at Wordley. I usually beat him at Words with Friends,” Prevost said.
Catholic education
Prevost, who worked as a teacher and principal in Catholic schools, also spoke about “the importance of a Catholic school education.”
In a Catholic school, “values are introduced,” he said. “And I sometimes worry that Catholic schools are unfortunately going to become too expensive for the average person, and whether it’s just going to become something for rich people. I hope not.
“But I do see the importance of instilling values and setting standards of behavior that a Catholic school can do, I think, in a somewhat different way than a regular public school education.”
In a Catholic school, “we can teach religion, we can teach prayer,” he said. “We can somehow bring religion into the math classroom. It doesn’t mean ‘There are six angels here, two go away, how many angels are left?'” he joked.
“But the whole atmosphere and the whole philosophy of a Catholic school is the main reason we come here,” he said, “to educate and teach students the Catholic faith.”
