‘This is nuts’: How Louis Prevost learned his brother had become pope

(NewsNation) — “Holy cow, this is nuts,” said Louis Prevost as he watched his younger brother, Robert, become Pope Leo XIV live on television last week.

“It’s shocking, mind-numbing, mind-blowing. How do you describe that? I don’t know,” Louis Prevost told Nexstar’s NewsNation. “I still haven’t figured out how to tell anybody what I feel, other than out of my head, crazy with happiness, pride, joy, love for my brother.”

Prevost discovered his brother had become the 267th, and first American-born, pope in the history of the Catholic Church in the same way everyone else did: He waited on Thursday for white smoke to emerge from the Sistine Chapel.

“When he made his appearance, then it became real,” he said. “It’s one thing to hear the name, but when Rob came out onto the balcony and we saw him, it just brought tears to my eyes. You know that’s my little brother. He’s now pope.”

Prevost always had an inkling his brother would be presiding over Mass, albeit maybe not as the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics.

“I don’t know how to describe it spiritually,” he said. “He was special. When we were kids and went to play games, he wanted to play priest. How many little kids want to play priest, you know?”

The Chicago family of three siblings all attended Catholic schools.

“As soon as he got out of eighth grade, he went directly into the seminary,” Prevost said. “It was like he knew what he wanted to do, and more power to him, and he’s been quite successful at it, right?”

He said he could see his brother becoming a sort of “traveling pope,” trying to bring peace.

“Maybe he’ll actually go to some of these countries that are fighting, or on the verge of fighting, and try to talk to the leaders there and say ‘There’s a better way to do this than to kill each other.’”