New Pope Leo XIV's Brother Unsure If He'll Ever Be Able to 'See Him Again': 'I'm the Brother, But It's Hard to See the Pope'

When Cardinal Robert Prevost was announced as the new head of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV, one man in Port Charlotte, Florida, experienced the moment with overwhelming pride — and a tinge of sadness.

"We heard them read the name, so we knew it was coming," Louis Prevost, the pope's older brother, told FOX13. "And then to see him – it all hit home and became real. It was like, 'Oh, that's Rob... oh my God... yay, Rob!'"

Louis and his wife Deborah have lived in southwest Florida for the past five years, but he and Robert grew up in Chicago, where the younger Prevost was always seen as someone destined for something special. "We used to tease him about being pope because he always had that holy way about him," Louis recalled.

Despite their closeness — they spoke two to three times a week before the conclave — Louis now wonders what their relationship will look like. "I wonder if we'll actually be able to see him again and be with him... and shake his hand and hug him," he said. "Yeah, I'm the pope's brother, but it's hard to get in to see the pope."

Still, Louis has no doubt that Pope Leo XIV will rise to the occasion. "He'll do a really good job... just because he's a man of the people."

Pope Francis failed to visit his home country of Argentina during his 12 years as pope, a pain point for his former countrymen. Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, described Argentinian Catholics as "orphans of a father who profoundly loved his country and had to learn to become the father of the whole world."

The roughly 53 million Catholics in the US make up a small fraction of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, making a global perspective vital to the job title.

Louis has had time to adjust to his little brother being a long ways from home. While Pope Leo was born and raised in the US, he spent decades ministering in Peru and gained Peruvian citizenship in 2015. Fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese, and having studied Latin and German, the first American pope has long prepared to serve the world beyond national borders.