Pope Leo's Brother John Didn't Answer His Calls, Hilarious Video Shows
One of the more hilarious and relatable moments involving the new pope came when it was revealed that Pope Leo called his brother back home in Illinois, and he didn't answer his calls for two hours.
"Why don't you answer your phone?" Pope Leo XIV asked his older brother in the video recorded by Associated Press reporter Obed Lamy.
The Associated Press reporter was interviewing John Prevost in New Lenox, IL., when he realized that his brother had tried calling him from Italy, and he didn't pick up.
The AP journalist dubbed the moment "surreal."
"Instant classic," mused an observer on X.
While John Prevost, the pope's older brother, was speaking with Lamy, "a ringing came from the basement," according to the journalist's article recounting the tale.
“That might be the pope,” John Prevost told Lamy.
The video quickly went viral on X.
From the AP: The Pope tried calling his brother for two hours after his election. When his brother finally called back, the Pope said, “Why don’t you answer your phone?”
— Rich Luchette (@richluchette) May 10, 2025
Popes: They’re just like us. pic.twitter.com/rfdSJlu9q9
He then discovered that his brother had tried to call him several times, but he missed the calls. "Oh, he's called for two hours already," John Prevost said in the video.
"He called the pope back, using a speaker to play the audio out loud. The pope picked up," Lamy wrote.
The pope, the former Robert Prevost, asked his brother "why he hadn’t been answering his call," Lamy wrote.
The AP reporter filmed Prevost answering the pope's call, but the video shows he warned his brother that he was "on the air right now."
Some people on X felt that John Prevost shouldn't have allowed a reporter to record his brother's private call, but others felt the call made the pope relatable.
"I love this. A man, like any us. A brother, like any of us," wrote one person.