A recent survey found just 12 percent of Americans view the newly elected Pope Leo XIV to be a conservative, compared to 16 percent who are convinced he is a liberal. The preponderance of respondents who were too unsure to select either option may, in fact, be correct. The pope’s older brothers, John and Louis, both predict that his leadership will be “down the middle.”
Louis, best known as Lou, is a Florida resident and Navy veteran. He gained attention for a handful of political Facebook posts on his account before setting it to private. Some of these praised President Donald Trump, while others included often crude terminology typical of internet memes.
The mainstream media’s reaction to Lou Prevost’s social media activity has been extensive and often unhinged. The New York Times dubbed him a “MAGA disciple.” The LGBT cultural magazine Advocate labeled him “a red sheep stained by Trump.” The Guardian referred to him as “far-right,” and the local NPR affiliate branded him “edgy.” Trump himself joined in the fray, celebrating Lou as a “major MAGA fan” and joyfully inviting him to the White House. (RELATED: Is the Pope Woke?)
Coverage of the substantive statements has been comparatively scarce. Lou Prevost conducted an extensive interview with British journalist Piers Morgan. Coverage of that interview has often led with the discussion of Lou’s social media posts, but Lou offered much more fascinating information during that appearance. For instance, he shared that, while in the Navy, he served on the USS Paul F. Foster alongside a young officer named Steve Bannon, though they are no longer in contact.
The Morgan interview also included Lou’s predictions for his brother’s papacy. Lou predicted not many changes, but rather an approach of continuing “down this path” by neither extending nor repealing reforms made under the pontificate of Francis. All in all, Lou described the pope as “probably much more liberal than I am.” Nonetheless, Lou said he believes many have overstated his brother’s liberal sympathies based on the pope’s pre-conclave X account, which included several critiques of Trump.
Lou further clarified that the pope is “not that liberal” and is not “woke.” He doesn’t “think we’ll see” a change in magisterial teaching on homosexuality or the ordination of women to the priesthood. Lou claimed to have seen his brother, ever since childhood, as someone who “takes information from both sides” and has never been “super political,” so “he’s not left, he’s not right.”
Twice in the interview, Lou Prevost used the term “down the middle” to describe his brother and his approach to leadership. Whether he was aware of it or not, the term had already been used by the middle brother, the relatively reclusive John Prevost.
John has stayed in New Lenox, Illinois, not far from where he once teased the younger sibling now acclaimed by 1.4 billion Catholics to be the vicar of Christ. Speaking to the Associated Press the day after his brother was elected, he gave an assessment that was in part a verbatim echo of Lou’s.
John at first seemed to signal a more liberal papacy by describing his brother as likely being “a second Pope Francis.” However, said John, “[H]e’s not going to be real far-left and he’s not going to be real far-right.” In sum came the crucial phrase: “right down the middle.”
In a world beset by modernity, the Catholic Church remains a growing institution. As struggles within over the nature of tradition reflect wider societal debates, it remains to be seen what “down the middle” will mean for today’s successor to Peter.
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