Kathleen Parker's Washington Post article about the political views of Pope Leo XIV's brother brought an age-old question to mind. How much responsibility should anyone bear for the actions of another person, especially one who is a close relative? Parker wrote that following the pontiff's election, "his eldest brother, Louis Prevost, suddenly seized the media spotlight as a MAGA disciple with a penchant for vulgar social media posts against, among others, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and transgender people." She added: "The bar for potential embarrassment doesn't get much higher."
Louis Prevost, who currently lives in Florida, apparently has some strong, right-leaning political views that he has been unafraid to express. In a recent interview, he was asked by the host what he thought about his controversial social media posts now that his brother is the pope. In response, the older Prevost said that he wouldn't have posted the comments if he didn't "kind of believe [them]." He went on to say however that given his new reality, with his brother's ascension to the papacy, he would probably "tone it down."
The honesty in his response is quite notable. Typically, when people get tangled up in such situations and they feel embarrassed, they deny ever meaning what they said or wrote. They blame it on some unusual emotional state that they were in at the time but have since recovered from. That excuse is often followed by an apology and a plea for forgiveness. But Prevost didn't do any of that in the interview. He merely promised to be a bit more diplomatic going forward. Curiously, he didn't specify by how many notches he plans to turn down the volume.
A couple of intriguing questions came to mind after I read Parker's article and Prevost's response to the interviewer's query. It appears from his answer that it is unlikely he will moderate his political views. Are we to assume then that he will show a bit more restraint in public but in private, he will continue to express those opinions as robustly as he has done in the past? If that is the case, and some future provocative remarks of his that are meant for a private audience were to somehow leak out, how much should we hold his younger brother, the Holy Father, responsible for the divisive language?
Most people have by now seen the black-and-white photo of Pope Leo XIV and his two older brothers, taken with their mother when they were kids. The three boys looked inseparable at the time. But as the years went on, their lives took completely different paths. Today, the difference in the temperaments of the Holy Father and Louis Prevost couldn't be starker.
Parker seems to fear that there is a high probability of Prevost making some politically inflammatory statements someday and putting Pope Leo XIV in an awkward position. That could very well happen. But if it ever did, should we expect the Holy Father to have to answer for it? My view is that such a burden shouldn't fall on him. He has a well-established reputation, acquired over decades, as someone who uses measured language in his communications. Because of that record, it would be quite unreasonable for anyone to suspect him of being a closet MAGA disciple himself if his brother were to stir up any more controversies in future.
It is probably fair to question parents for some of the actions of their offspring. They are the ones whose values shape the characters of the children they raise. Even then, we all know that people develop their own personalities over time as they transition into adulthood. That is why we should always judge people as individuals, not on the basis of family, racial, socio-economic class or some other affiliation.