In a wide-ranging interview on Thursday afternoon at his home in New Lenox, a tidy city of 27,000 people about 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, John Prevost reflected on his brother’s ascent to the papacy, the new pope’s values and his American roots.
Leo, whom Mr. Prevost is accustomed to calling Rob, “has great, great desire to help the downtrodden and the disenfranchised, the people who are ignored,” Mr. Prevost said. He predicted that his brother would carry on the legacy of his predecessor, Pope Francis.
“The best way I could describe him right now is that he will be following in Francis’ footsteps,” Mr. Prevost said. “They were very good friends. They knew each other before he was pope, before my brother even was bishop.”
Mr. Prevost said he usually spoke by phone with his brother every night, but had not talked to him since the conclave began. He said the new pope was “simple, really. He’s not going to go out for a 19-course meal.” Last August, Mr. Prevost said, his brother stayed with him at his home in New Lenox for a few weeks.
The brothers grew up in Dolton, Ill., just outside Chicago, and attended church and school at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish on Chicago’s South Side. Their father, Louis Prevost, was a school superintendent and their mother, Mildred Prevost, was a librarian who was deeply involved in parish life. In addition to John and Robert, now Leo, the Prevosts had one other son, who now lives in Florida.
