NEW LENNOX, Illinois (AP) — When white smoke was poured from the Sistine Chapel, which revealed that a new pope had been chosen, John Pribble turned on his television in Illinois, called his brother, and was awe-inspiring when his brother’s name was announced.
“She was an uncle so I started screaming. I was too far from what we thought was going to happen, so this was a moment of disbelief,” Prevost said in an interview with the Associated Press from his home in New Lennox, Illinois on Thursday.
He then said that his brother, Cardinal Robert Prebust, became the 267th clergyman to lead the Catholic Church, and he felt pride that he had made the Chicago-born missionary the first American pope.
“It’s a huge honor, once in a lifetime,” he said. “But I think it’s a lot of responsibility. I think it’s going to lead to bigger and better, but I think people are going to look at him very closely to see what he’s doing.”
Robert Prevost, a 69-year-old member of Augustine’s Religious Order, who had a career in Peru, took the name Leo XIV.
John Prevast explained that his brother is very concerned about the poor and those who do not have a voice. He said he hopes he will become “second Pope Francis.”
“He’s not far away, so he’s not going to be real,” he added. “It’s like it’s in the middle.”
At one point during the interview, John Prisst realized he had missed several calls from his younger brother, so he called the new Pope.
Leo told him he was not interested in being part of the interview, and after a brief message of congratulations and discussion in which they spoke like two brothers about the arrangements of the trip, they hung up.
The new Pope grew up from the youngest of the three boys. John Plainst, who was a year older than him, said he remembers Robert Prebble being very good at school as a child, playing tag, monopoly and risk.
From an early age, he said he knew that his brother would become a priest. He didn’t expect him to become Pope, but he remembered his neighbor who predicted this when Robert Prebble was only a freshman.
“She felt that at age 6,” he said. “Who knows how she did it. It took a long time to do this, but here he is the first American Pope.”
When Robert Prevast graduated from eighth grade, he headed to seminary school, his brother said.
“There’s the whole period there that we didn’t actually grow together,” he said. “It was a holiday that we contacted together.”
Recently, the brothers have been talking on the phone every day, John Presto said. Robert Previst calls him and they discuss everything from politics to religion, and even perform the wardle of the day.
John Pribble said he doesn’t know how much time his brothers have to talk about as the new Pope, and how they will be in touch in the future.
“It’s already strange that there’s no one to talk to,” he said.
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Golden was reported from Seattle.
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