Childhood Prophecy: How Woman Predicted Pope Leo XIV 60 Years Ago

When Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, becoming the first American to lead the Catholic Church, an unlikely childhood prediction came true.

The pontiff’s elder brother, John Prevost, revealed in an interview with ABC News that a neighbourhood woman once foretold this when his brother was just in first grade.

“…when he was in first grade, a woman across the street that we used to play with, and a woman down the street, said he would be the first American pope,” said John.

Cardinal Prevost, 69, made history on May 8 when white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel chimney to signal his election as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Chicago native’s ascension marked an unprecedented moment as the first United States cardinal to assume the papacy.

“It’s kind of surreal. To be honest, there hasn’t been a chance to think about it because it’s been constant phone calls, emails, messages, and interviews. So I don’t think it’s really sunk in.

“It’s great pride. This is an awesome thing in the sense that it’s not only the first pope from America, but the first American pope—from Chicago and a relative. Not a lot of people can say, ‘My brother is the pope,’” John added.

John further described the moment he learnt about his brother’s election: “I was watching TV. I got a text that said there was white smoke. So I went down and turned the TV on. No one knew at that point who the pope was, but there was white smoke, so we knew,” he recalled.

He went on to say that he called his niece, and they watched together while the curtains stirred at the balcony of St. Peter’s.

“She said, ‘Look, the curtains are moving.’ I said, ‘Well, something’s coming up.’ Then it came out who was going to announce it, and we heard the name. She screamed and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, here we go.’ And then it has been nonstop—phones, everything else,” John said with excitement on his face.

Despite his brother’s prominence in the Church, John said he never expected him to become pope, largely because of geopolitical assumptions.

“To tell you the truth, no,” he said, “I kept hearing there will never be an American pope just because of politics and the fact that the United States has too much world power now. They don’t need that influence also in the Church. So I did not expect it.”

“When I heard he was in a group of three, then I thought, ‘Well, this could happen.’” he added.

“I spoke to him Tuesday before he went into the conclave, and he just kept saying, ‘No, that’s not true. That’s not true.’ He was pushing it away, hoping it would go away, and it didn’t go away.”

John, who described his brother as a humble and grounded man, said he was shaped by years of mission work among the poor and marginalised in South America.

“A regular, run-of-the-mill person. “I think because he was trained in missionary work in South America for so many years, he will be looking out for the disenfranchised. He will be looking out for the poor. He will be looking out for those that don’t have a voice. I think he will follow in Saint Francis—pardon me, Pope Francis, as you say,” he said.

Asked if the new pope would differ from his predecessor, John said, “I don’t know that you’ll see a big difference. He met Pope Francis before he was pope, when he was in Argentina and my brother was in Peru. That’s how the connection began. I think they kind of believed in the same issues, so I don’t know that there’ll be much difference. He might prove me wrong, but I don’t see there being much of a break in the tradition of Pope Francis.”

Though Pope Leo XIV grew up on the South Side of Chicago, John said his brother was rarely home after his early teens.

“He wasn’t around a whole lot because after eighth grade graduation, he went immediately to the seminary,” John explained adding that, “He was in Holland, Michigan at the Augustinian seminary for four years, and then he went into Villanova University. So he wasn’t home a lot during summer vacations.”

Speaking further on their childhood memory, John said it was filled with the simplicity of American upbringing, long before the world would call his brother “Your Holiness.”

“That’s right,” John said with a smile, “My brother is the pope.”

Childhood Prophecy: How Woman Predicted Pope Leo XIV 60 Years Ago is first published on The Whistler Newspaper