The pope is on the line: Journalist is there for pontiff’s call to his brother in Chicago

NEW LENOX, Illinois — It was one of the most surreal phone calls I’ve experienced.

A few hours earlier, John Prevost had watched the TV in stunned disbelief as his younger brother emerged on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and was named Pope Leo XIV. Journalists quickly showed up at the older brother’s front door in suburban Chicago to learn everything they could about the new pontiff. I was one of them.

I had arrived at Prevost’s home in New Lenox in the early evening...