Louis Prevost, the 73-year-old brother of Pope Leo XIV, showed up on the White House Lawn Sunday for President Trump's UFC Freedom 250 birthday celebration, wearing an American flag shirt and mingling with the most powerful figures in the administration.
Vice President JD Vance spotted Prevost in the crowd, struck up a conversation, and then brought the retired Navy veteran over to embrace and speak with the president himself, the Daily Mail reported.
The scene marked the second known meeting between Prevost and Trump, and it landed at a moment when the relationship between the White House and the Vatican carries real diplomatic weight.
The backstory stretches back to last May, when Trump first publicly embraced the pope's brother. Trump told reporters at the time that he was eager to bring Prevost to the White House.
"I like the Pope. And I like the Pope's brother. You know one of the Pope's brothers is a major MAGA fan... He's got MAGA. He's got Trump."
Trump followed through. A White House official confirmed to the Daily Mail that Louis Prevost and his wife, Deborah, met the president in the Oval Office. The official said it was "a great meeting, and they left with Bibles in hand."
Trump had also made a more personal pledge about Prevost last May.
"I look forward to getting him to the White House. I want to shake his hand. I want to give him a big hug."
Hours later, Trump posed alongside Prevost. Sunday's event made it clear the relationship has only deepened.
Louis Prevost lives in Florida and makes no effort to disguise where he stands. He has described himself as a "MAGA type" and, in an interview with Piers Morgan, acknowledged the tension that creates when your brother leads 1.3 billion Catholics.
"I can tell you, since then, I've been very quiet, biting my tongue. I don't want to create waves that don't need to be there because I'm a MAGA type and I have my beliefs."
But Prevost also admitted that restraint doesn't come naturally.
"Sometimes I like to go stir the pot. A lot like I think President Trump does. He says things just to stir the pot. Cause it's fun to like get into some of these debates with people sometimes from the other side."
He also claimed a connection to Steve Bannon, the former Trump adviser, saying the two served together on the same Navy ship. "I know Steve Bannon, I don't know if he knows me but we served together in the same ship in the Navy, and I know what he was like," Prevost said.
Prevost's White House appearances come against a backdrop of genuine diplomatic engagement between the Trump administration and the new pope. Just days after the Oval Office meeting, Prevost traveled with the official U.S. delegation to the Vatican to attend Pope Leo XIV's inaugural mass in St. Peter's Square.
That delegation was not a casual affair. Vice President Vance, second lady Usha Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and his wife Jeanette Rubio all made the trip. Vance and the delegation met with Pope Leo XIV and presented him with a personalized Chicago Bears football jersey and a letter from President Trump inviting the pope to visit the United States.
After the Mass, Pope Leo XIV shook hands with the delegation and gave his brother Louis a massive hug.
The warm family moment stood in contrast to a more complicated public dynamic. Pope Leo XIV's old social media posts reportedly shared articles critical of Trump and Vance. The pope also disagreed publicly with the Trump administration over the Department of Justice's reinstitution of the death penalty. He later issued a clarifying message about his remarks and accused the media of sensationalizing the narrative.
Despite the policy friction, Prevost has offered a portrait of his brother Robert, now Pope Leo XIV, as more pragmatic than ideological. In his interview with Morgan, Prevost described the pope's approach in measured terms.
"He's not left, he's not right, he looks at the whole scene, takes information from both sides and somehow finds a way to go down the middle and not ruffle too many feathers."
Prevost also acknowledged that a meeting between his brother and Trump would not be all pleasantries.
"If and when he meets with President Trump, I don't doubt there will be some bumps in the discussion and some heated conversations."
That kind of candor is refreshing, and rare from anyone adjacent to either the Vatican or the White House.
The UFC Freedom 250 event was named in honor of the country's upcoming 250th birthday. It also served to celebrate Trump as he entered his ninth decade. The guest list included figures from across the administration and the broader conservative movement.
Prevost's presence, and the ease with which Vance ushered him to the president, suggests the White House sees the pope's brother as more than a novelty. He is a retired Navy veteran, a Trump supporter, and a direct family link to the leader of the world's largest Christian denomination. That combination carries weight, whether or not the Vatican wants it to.
The pope's brother has been open about his "more colorful denunciation" of Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. His social media posts have reflected his political leanings. None of this appears to have dimmed the administration's enthusiasm for the relationship.
Trump extended a formal invitation for Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States. The pope's old social media posts may have raised eyebrows in Washington. But the White House seems content to let the brother serve as a bridge, a man who shares a last name with the pontiff and a political worldview with the president.
In Washington, stranger alliances have been built on less. When the pope's own brother shows up on the White House Lawn in an American flag shirt, the diplomatic channel is already open, whether Rome likes it or not.
