Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, Catholic Church, World News, Pope Leo, US News, Chicago
Pope Leo XIV's brother has finally lifted the lid on the new pope's stance on Donald Trump's policies.
On Thursday (May 8) the Vatican announced 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the new head of the Roman Catholic Church, who addressed the masses for the first time from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica as Pope Leo XIV.
The 267th pope is the first American to take the role, being born in Chicago, and has spent much of his life in Peru as a missionary.
And aside from his hefty mission work, and the fact he is multilingual, his position on some of the big issues of the day have remained somewhat shrouded in mystery.
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Although we've had hints about Leo's political stance, with the pontiff having previously reposted an anti-Trump tweet, touched upon 'technology' and 'power' in his first sermon and shared an article criticizing Vice President JD Vance, we've largely been left to speculate on what he really thinks... Until now.
Pope Leo's sibling, John Prevost, a retired Catholic school principle, has been revealing all the secrets about his younger brother, including what he likes to get up to in his spare time - which, yes, includes watching the movie Conclave.
Now, in a recent interview with New York Times, the 71-year-old said his brother takes a more centrist approach, adding: “I don’t think we’ll see extremes either way.”
John previously said he anticipates Leo will follow in the late Pope Francis' footsteps, who was known as being one of the most progressive pontiffs in our history.
This is particularly true for the debate around immigration, as John told the news outlet: "I don’t think he’ll stay quiet for too long if he has something to say.
“I know he’s not happy with what’s going on with immigration. I know that for a fact. How far he’ll go with it is only one’s guess, but he won’t just sit back. I don’t think he’ll be the silent one.”
The insight comes as Francis criticized the POTUS during a visit to Mexico in February 2016 for the proposed border wall between the two countries.
"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not of building bridges, is not Christian,” the late pontiff said at the time. “This is not the gospel.”
He also described Trump's aggressive mass-deportation plans as a major crisis for 'the dignity of many men and women.'
In Pope Leo's first mass, he stressed the need for faith and missionary work while blasting 'violations of human dignity in the most dramatic manners' across the world and 'other wounds that afflict our society.'
He went on to warn that people were turning away from faith in favor of 'technology, money, success, power [or] pleasure'.
