Louis Prevost says he had different views on migration from his brother
The Catholic Herald • November 5, 2025
Louis Prevost, the elder brother of Pope Leo XIV, has said that he and the new pontiff “hold different views on migration” but insisted their bond remains strong despite political differences.
Speaking to ABC on 28 October, the 73-year-old Floridian described himself as a supporter of Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and an “advocate of controlled immigration”, positions “not shared by my brother”. He added that he avoids speaking publicly on illegal migration “in order not to harm him”.
Louis, who shares with his brother a fondness for cars, said he recognises the same traits in the man now occupying the Apostolic Palace. “I see the things he does as pope and think, ‘That’s what my brother would have done.’ He is himself,” he said. Leo, he added, is “neither quiet nor shy — if he has something to say, he will say it.”
The Prevost brothers were raised in a devout Catholic home in Chicago under the influence of their deeply religious mother. When Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, entered the seminary, his family were proud though amused. “Someone like you in the seminary!?” Louis recalled his siblings teasing, before assuring him: “Do your thing. We support you. You’re not crazy — you want to do something good. Keep going.”
The comments mark Louis’s first major interview since his brother’s election earlier this year. In May, the retired Navy veteran was drawn into controversy when journalists uncovered a series of inflammatory social-media posts on his Facebook page, written before the conclave that chose Leo.
One post used profane language (“drunk [C-word]”) to describe the former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi, while others accused Barack Obama’s Democratic Party of seeking “the total destruction of our way of life”, and called for the arrest of lawmakers who had met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
After the posts came to light, Prevost told Florida’s ABC Gulf Coast News that his brother would lead “without a lot of politics involved” and that he himself was “more conservative”.
He also appeared on the Piers Morgan Show, saying he stood by the Pelosi remark but had since been “biting my tongue about some of the stuff that is out there on social media.” The comments were made without any suggestion that the Vatican had instructed him to moderate his tone.
While such disputes are unusual, papal families have occasionally found themselves under scrutiny. The relatives of popes, from Renaissance dynasties to the modern age, have sometimes struggled to balance private loyalty with the universal sensitivities of the Church.
With Pope Leo XIV’s first months emphasising bridge-building and continuity with Pope Francis, his brother’s political views appear unlikely to overshadow a papacy intent on steering clear of partisan divides.
(Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)