‘John, I’m the pope’: Pope Leo XIV’s older brother John reportedly still calls him for help fixing his computer

Most families have their resident IT expert. You know, the one person who knows how to reinstall printer drivers, the person tasked with cleaning the spyware out of grandpa’s computer, the person who can figure out why Outlook isn’t fetching new emails.

But you’d assume that person would be relieved of those tech support responsibilities if they became the Pontius Maximus, the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, the Bishop of Rome… y’know, the actual no-kidding pope.

Apparently not. Yesterday, The New York Times published an interview with Armando Jesus Lovera, said to have been one of Pope Leo XIV‘s “best friends” for decades. Over that time they’ve reportedly watched the World Cup together, been road trip buddies, and still frequently chat on the phone about their shared love of cars.

Lovera also dropped the amusing revelation that while his friend is Pope Leo XIV to the world, he’s still little brother Bob to the Prevost family. Lovera said Leo had told him that just last month, his older brother John Prevost had called him up from Chicago with a computer problem and requested IT support.

“Oh, sorry pope.”

Leo replied, “John, I’m the pope”. Without missing a beat, John reportedly responded “Oh, sorry pope. My computer is broken.”

This is where the anecdote ends, so there is no way of knowing whether this hilarious call then proceeded with the pope then sitting down and asking some familiar questions about whether his older brother had been keeping up with his Windows Updates, clearing out his Recycle Bin, and if he’d recently clicked on any suspicious links.

As I see it, to John, his little brother is arguably in a much better position to provide tech support now that he’s pope. After all, if God is omnipresent and omnipotent, then he by definition also would know precisely what’s wrong with John Prevost’s malfunctioning computer. Is it really asking too much for the pope to slip in a quick tech support prayer for his brother in between requesting mercy for the downtrodden and weak?

I think this story is yet another indication that Pope Leo has his papal slippers planted firmly on the ground. This week, both he and Bad Bunny were in Madrid at the same time, with the two having a brief private meeting. Their two events clashed, and Leo was asked whether young people would choose him or Bad Bunny.

He replied, “I think many will go to see Bad Bunny. But I think there will also be a few there to see the pope. And that too says something, you know.”