Diarmuid Pepper in Rome

WHEN POPE LEO XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, appeared on the central balcony of St Peter’s last night you may have asked yourself, ‘I wonder if he’s watched the film Conclave?’

According to his brother, he watched the film in the days running up to the real thing.

Last night, Pope Leo XIV became the first North American to become pope and anyone with an American flag in St Peter’s Square became irresistible to reporters and photographers.

And in the States, news outlets raced to track down his family members.

Speaking to NBC Chicago, John Prevost said it was “totally surreal” for his brother to become pope.

He also told ABC News that while some children play cops and robbers, Leo XIV played priest, and would use the ironing board as a makeshift altar.

When Leo XIV was around 8 or 9, a neighbour is said to have remarked that he would be pope some day.

Prevost spoke to Leo XIV right before the conclave and they had been playing Wordle together in the days leading up to the conclave.

“It’s something to keep his mind off of life in the real world,” John Prevost said.

Meanwhile, Prevost said he asked his brother, the new pope, if he had watched the movie Conclave before the start of the papal conclave so he would “know how to behave.”

Pope Leo XIV was made a cardinal in 2023, so this was his first conclave.

THE NEW POPE WATCHED CONCLAVE (2024)!!! pic.twitter.com/HGJEXPEwoE

— Flo 🍸🦩🐝🪞 (@Klaine8468) May 8, 2025

Prevost said Leo XIV had indeed “just finished watching the movie ‘Conclave, so he knew how to behave”.

This was a similar situation for many cardinals taking part in this conclave, and indeed, POLITICO reported that many had turned to the film to learn how it could all play out. 

“Some have watched it in the cinema,” a cleric involved in the real conclave told POLITICO.

Other snippets from the conclave

In the real world conclave, there was also some drama to rival the film.

For example, there had been reports that Carindal Angelo Becciu would try to vote in the conclave, despite having been stripped of his cardinal privileges by Francis.

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Vatican Courts had sentenced Becciu to five and a half years in prison for embezzlement of public funds.

This was in large part related to the disastrous 60 Sloane Avenue investment, when the Vatican is estimated to have lost around €140 million on the deal to purchase the former Harrods warehouse.

He is currently appealing that ruling and claimed that during the appeal period, he could vote in the current conclave.

However, he was presented with two letters signed by Francis that explicitly said the opposite.

Meanwhile, one cardinal from Burkina Faso was able to vote after having changed his age in the months before his 80^th birthday.

Only cardinals aged 80 and under when a pope dies can take part in a conclave.

His date of birth was previously listed as 25 January, 1945, but he changed it to 31 December, 1945 – 11 months later, granting him a conclave vote.

Cardinal Philippe Ouédraogo said that he didn’t know his date of birth and had randomly chosen 25 January.

However, in Burkina Faso it is common practice to assign 31 December as a birthdate when the actual date of birth is unknown.