News
Destined to be pope:Brother says Leo XIV always wanted to be a priest
Robert Prevost’s brother, John, said a neighbor once told him he’d be pope.
Who is Pope Leo XIV?The 69-year-old Chicago native is the first American pope and is seen as a diplomat in the church.
When Robert Prevost was in the first grade, his neighbor told him he would be the first American pope, his brother told ABC News.
On Thursday, that prophecy came true, when Prevost, a 69-year-old cardinal, was elected to be the 267th pontiff — and the first from the United States.
Before he was Pope Leo XIV, Prevost grew up the youngest of three brothers in the South Chicago suburb of Dolton.
He always wanted to be a priest, his older brother, John Prevost, told ABC News outside his home in Illinois on Thursday.
“He knew right away.
I don’t think he’s ever questioned it. I don’t think he’s ever thought of anything else,” John Prevost said.
As a child, Pope Leo XIV “played priest,” John Prevost said. “The ironing board was the altar.”
The pope is a White Sox fan, his brother confirmed. “He’s a regular, run-of-the-mill person,” he said.
Leo started to emerge as a frontrunner for the papacy in the days before the conclave began, according to the Rev. James Martin, a papal contributor to ABC News.
John Prevost said he spoke to his brother on Tuesday, before the cardinals went into the secretive conclave, and told his younger brother that he also believed he could be the first American pope. At the time, his younger brother called it “nonsense” and “just talk,” saying, “‘They’re not going to pick an American pope,” John Prevost said.
“He just didn’t believe it, or didn’t want to believe it,” John Prevost said.
John Prevost said he expects his brother will follow in the late Pope Francis’ footsteps as a voice for the disenfranchised and poor.
“I think they were two of a kind,” John Prevost said. “I think because they both were in South America at the same time — in Peru and in Argentina — they had the same experiences in working with missions and working with the downtrodden. So I think that’s the experience that they’re both coming from.”
Louis Prevost, the eldest of the three Prevost brothers, was feeling under the weather and lying in bed at his home in Florida when the big moment came.
“My wife called to tell me there’s white smoke from the chapel,” he said.
Louis Prevost said he tuned in to the live broadcast of the Vatican announcement.
“They started reading his name, and when he went, ‘blah, blah, blah, Roberto,’ immediately I knew — that’s Rob,” he said. “I was just thankful I was still in bed lying down, because I might have fallen down.”
Louis Prevost said he got out of bed and started “dancing around like an idiot.”
“It’s just incredible,” he said. “I’m suddenly wide awake and feeling wonderful.”
He described his brother as “down to earth,” someone who has a good sense of humor and is “smart as a whip.” He loved his work as a missionary in Peru and being with the people, and through his work with the Vatican has traveled the world, Louis Prevost said.
“I thought I had done traveling in the Navy, but, my God, he blew me away,” he said.
His brother surmised that global experience may have stood out to the other cardinals in electing him pope.
Louis Prevost said his brother seemed to always know his calling, and that as young as 4 or 5, the family knew he was destined for great things in the Catholic Church. When his brothers were playing cops and robbers, Leo would “play priest” and distribute Holy Communion with Necco wafers, Louis Prevost said.
“We used to tease him all the time — you’re going to be the pope one day,” he said. “Neighbors said the same thing. Sixty-some years later, here we are.”
Leo started to emerge as a frontrunner for the papacy in the days before the conclave began, according to the Rev. James Martin, a papal contributor to ABC News.
John Prevost said he spoke to his brother on Tuesday, before the cardinals went into the secretive conclave, and told his younger brother that he also believed he could be the first American pope. At the time, his younger brother called it “nonsense” and “just talk,” saying, “‘They’re not going to pick an American pope,” John Prevost said.
“He just didn’t believe it, or didn’t want to believe it,” John Prevost said.
John Prevost said he expects his brother will follow in the late Pope Francis’ footsteps as a voice for the disenfranchised and poor.
“I think they were two of a kind,” John Prevost said. “I think because they both were in South America at the same time — in Peru and in Argentina — they had the same experiences in working with missions and working with the downtrodden. So I think that’s the experience that they’re both coming from.”
Louis Prevost, the eldest of the three Prevost brothers, was feeling under the weather and lying in bed at his home in Florida when the big moment came.
“My wife called to tell me there’s white smoke from the chapel,” he said.
Louis Prevost said he tuned in to the live broadcast of the Vatican announcement.
“They started reading his name, and when he went, ‘blah, blah, blah, Roberto,’ immediately I knew — “that’s Rob,” he said. “I was just thankful I was still in bed lying down, because I might have fallen down.”
Louis Prevost said he got out of bed and started “dancing around like an idiot.”
“It’s just incredible,” he said. “I’m suddenly wide awake and feeling wonderful.”
He described his brother as “down to earth,” someone who has a good sense of humor and is “smart as a whip.” He loved his work as a missionary in Peru and being with the people, and through his work with the Vatican has traveled the world, Louis Prevost said.
“I thought I had done traveling in the Navy, but, my God, he blew me away,” he said.
By Alex Perez and Meredith Deliso
Former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of fighting Divisions Maj. Gen. Chagie Gallage has said that the government should take tangible measures to thwart interested parties from exploiting forthcoming visit by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to propagate unsubstantiated war crimes accusations.
The Gajaba Regiment veteran said that the National People’s Power (NPP) government could use the top UN official’s visit to make a comprehensive presentation to him.
UN Resident Coordinator in Colombo Marc-André Franche recently announced the top human rights official’s visit. A delegation from Geneva is expected early next week.
Gallage pointed out that various interested parties, both here and abroad, issued statements ahead of the visit. Responding to The Island questions, the outspoken officer pointed out UK born Labour MP Uma Kumaran, a new entrant to UK parliament of Sri Lankan Tamil origin taking up what a section of the media called Sri Lanka’s new mass grave at Chemmani, Jaffna.
Having mentioned the Chemmani mass graves, the parliamentarian has written an open letter to Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy, MP, Kumaran has emphasized the responsibility on the part of the UK government to refer perpetrators of alleged war crimes to the International Criminal Court. “We must remind both lawmakers Lammy and Kumaran that the LTTE maintained its International Secretariat in London even at the time most probably a child suicide cadre blew up former Indian Congress Party leader Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991,” Gallage said.
The British Tamil Forum (BTF), too, has taken it up in an obvious bid to heap pressure on the government ahead of the UN Human Rights chief’s visit. The retired officer laughed at efforts to find fault with Sri Lanka for eradicating terrorism 17 years ago while massive death and destruction was taking place in Gaza, Iran and Israel.
Alleging that successive governments since the end of the war in May 2009 pathetically failed to counter unsubstantiated war crimes allegations, Gallage stressed the NPP’s responsibility to set the record straight.
Commenting on various parties comparing Sri Lanka’s successful war against LTTE terrorists and the Israeli offensives following Hamas raids in southern Israel in early Oct 2023, the former GOC said that they couldn’t be equated under any circumstances. “Ours was an internal conventional military threat that had been created by India in the 80s. We had no option but to neutralize that threat when it threatened to overwhelm the democratically elected government,” the retired officer said. “In other words what we really did was self-defense. That is the truth the likes of MP Kumaran flagrantly exploited to their advantage,” Maj. Gen. Gallage said, challenging the parliamentarian to disclose why and when her parents fled Sri Lanka.
The global community must appreciate the eradication of the LTTE for once and for all as terrorism shouldn’t be allowed to succeed anywhere in the world under any circumstances. The madman who massacred 77 people in Norway, mostly teenagers in two attacks on the same day in 2011 had been influenced by the forcible eviction of the Muslim community from the Northern Province in 1990, Maj. Gen. Gallage said. Those who carried out the suicide attack on guided missile destroyer USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen in Oct 2000 declared they were inspired by Sea Tiger attacks on Sri Lanka Navy.
Instead of protesting the UN Human Rights chief’s visit, Sri Lanka should use the opportunity to highlight how the LTTE’s eradication benefited the country. Ending the despicable practice of forcible conscription of children was one of the significant achievements, the retired infantry officer said. Whatever those who couldn’t stomach Sri Lanka’s victory over the LTTE say in a bid to belittle the war winning armed forces, the truth is the LTTE regarded children as cannon fodder.
“How many lives were saved as a result of our triumph over terrorism 17 years ago,” Gallage asked, urging the Tamil Diaspora and other interested parties to come to terms with the reality. The LTTE couldn’t be resurrected by peddling lies, Maj. Gen. Gallage said, reminding how mega lie about Mannar mass graves and killing captured/surrendered LTTE cadres by lethal injections during the yahapalana rule exploded in their face.
Responding to another question, the ex-field commander said that the combined armed forces could have finished off the LTTE much earlier if they didn’t take the civilian factor into consideration. Referring to Wikileaks revelations, Gallegae said that no less an organization than the ICRC soon after the end of the war admitted that they could have done so but chose to proceed with care and in the process suffered more losses.During 2009 (Jan 1 to May 19) the army lost about 2,400 officers and men.
By Shamindra Ferdinando ✍️
NPP MP Nihal Galappatthi told Parliament yesterday that several top political figures, including three former Presidents and a number of former Ministers, had been implicated in a USD 110 million cattle import scam.
Galappatthi named former Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena, and Ranil Wickremesinghe, along with former Ministers Basil Rajapaksa, P. Harrison, Wijith Wijithamuni de Zoysa, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, and Lakshman Wasantha Perera, as being involved in the large-scale fraud.
Galappaththi declared that none of those responsible would be shown leniency.
The MP said the scam involved the importation of aged, non-productive cattle on the pretext of importing dairy cows. The project, which was presented as a means to boost local dairy production, had become a vehicle for massive financial irregularities, Galappatthi said.
by Saman Indrajith ✍️
The National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) yesterday announced that the health authorities would launch a nationwide mosquito control week from 30 June to 05 July across 16 high-risk districts.
The campaign had been in response to a surge in mosquito density driven by ongoing southwest monsoon rains, said Dr. Priscilla Samaraweera, Community Specialist at the NDCU, speaking at a press briefing in Colombo.
“This programme will target 111 Medical Officer of Health (MOH) divisions. Our teams will carry out inspections in vulnerable areas to detect and destroy mosquito breeding sites,” Dr. Samaraweera said. “Red notices will be issued to premises found to be maintaining breeding grounds, and legal action will follow where necessary.”
The move comes amid a concerning rise in dengue cases, with 26,775 infections and 14 related deaths reported so far this year. The Western Province accounts for nearly 45% of the total cases, while high numbers have also been recorded in the Eastern, Sabaragamuwa, and Southern provinces.Dr. Samaraweera confirmed the current year’s first dengue-related child fatality and urged the public to cooperate with disease control efforts to prevent further loss of life.
By Chaminda Silva ✍️
UNHRC Chief due here: Chagie asks NPP govt. to set the record straight
NPP vows action against Mahinda, Maithri, Ranil, Basil, others over dairy cows
As dengue rages in 16 districts authorities to hold National Mosquito Control Week
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