When Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday, May 8 — taking the name Pope Leo XIV and making history as the first-ever pope from America — our Stars: They’re Just Us! team had just one question: How Just Like Us is the new pope?
There were some good signs: Reverend Mark Francis, a friend of Prevost since the 1970s, described his pal as a solid supporter of his predecessor Pope Francis’ commitment to social justice issues. “He was always friendly and warm and remained a voice of common sense and practical concerns for the poor,” Reverend Francis told Reuters.
Fortunately, we’ve uncovered even more evidence that Pope Leo, 69, is indeed a pontiff of the people.
Scroll on for examples of what makes him so refreshingly relatable:
While preparing for the voting sessions at the Sistine Chapel, Pope Leo distracted himself from the stress by playing online word games with his brother John Prevost.
“First we do Wordle because this is a regular thing, then we do Words with Friends,” John told NBC News. “It’s something to keep his mind of life in the real world.”
If 2024’s Oscar-nominated drama Conclave helped you understand the papal election process, you’re in good company: John revealed that he asked his brother if he’d watched the fictional drama — which stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal who organizes his eligible cohorts to elect the next pope — in order to prepare. The answer was yes! “And he had just finished watching the movie Conclave, so he knew how to behave,” John said. But will the new Pope leave a Letterboxd review?
In May of 2020, Pope Leo (under his @drprevost handle) reposted a Peanuts panel meme to X. The comic strip (written in Spanish) depicted a conversation between Charlie Brown and his beloved dog, Snoopy, as they enjoyed a lake view while sitting on a pier. Charlie asked, “Snoopy the Dog, there are a lot of smart people?” — and Snoopy cleverly replied, “Of course there are, but most of them are asymptomatic!” (We take it that Pope Leo is a dog person!)
Pope Leo is a Chicago native, which leads to the inevitable question of which hometown Major League Baseball team he prefers. So, does the new Pope root for the Cubs or the White Sox? It looks like the Sox win this one: According to his brother, the current pope has “never, ever been a Cubs fan.”
“I don’t know where that came from,” John told local outlet WGN. “He was always a Sox fan.”
Pope Leo is a Virgo with the same September 14 birthday as the late singer Amy Winehouse, The Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln, rapper Nas, The White Lotus alum Leo Woodall, basketball star Jimmy Butler and Oscar-winning actress Melissa Leo.
Pope Leo channeled The Office’s Michael Scott by hosting a balloon-filled birthday bash in Peru in 2019.
