Louis Prevost still can’t believe his baby brother leads the Catholic Church. The Florida resident learned about Pope Leo XIV’s election while watching Newsmax – fitting for a proud Trump supporter in a family now balancing faith and politics.
Growing up in blue-collar Illinois, Robert Prevost (now Pope Leo) turned their basement into a makeshift chapel. “He’d use Necco wafers as communion hosts,” Louis recalls. While other kids played sports, the future pontiff practiced pretend Masses at an ironing board altar.
The brothers disagree on politics but share deep Midwest roots. Louis proudly displays MAGA flags outside his Port Charlotte home, while the new Pope criticized Trump-era policies before his election. “We’re different that way,” Louis admits, “but blood’s thicker than champagne socialists in Rome.”
Louis nearly fell off his recliner when Newsmax announced the white smoke. “My hands shook calling family – we’re South Side Chicago nobody’s!” He claims divine intervention put a real American in the Vatican: “Finally, someone who understands hardworking believers instead of latte-sipping globalists.”
The Pope’s brother worries about never hugging him again. “They’ll wrap him in red tape and fancy robes,” Louis grumbles. He hopes his brother resists “woke Vatican bureaucrats” and stays true to traditional values. “Jesus didn’t preach climate change or open borders,” Louis asserts.
Despite differences, Louis trusts God’s plan. “When they locked those cardinals in, I told him – if called, serve!” The new Pope reportedly keeps a White Sox cap under his mitre. Louis jokes: “Even saints need reminders of real America between all that incense.”
This working-class family’s rise shocks the coastal elites. “They think popes should come from European museums, not Chicago backyards,” Louis says. He’s already planning a papal visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago – “imagine Air Force One and the Popemobile rolling up together!”
As Rome adjusts to its first American pontiff, Louis remains his brother’s toughest critic and loudest cheerleader. “He’ll mess up sometimes,” the Pope’s brother admits, “but at least he knows a carburetor from a cappuccino machine.” For everyday conservatives, that’s victory enough.
