The New Pope Plays Video Games

Yesterday, the world was introduced to the newest leader of the Catholic church, Pope Leo XIV aka Robert Francis Prevost. He was elected after just two days and was born in Chicago, making him the first American pope in history. He also is very likely the first pope to regularly play video games.

On May 8, shortly after Prevost was officially announced as the new pope, NBC Chicago spoke to his older brother, John Prevost, about how wild it is that your younger bro is now the pope. The reporter asked him if he had spoken to his brother right before conclave—the period of time where Cardinals seal themselves away from the world and vote on a new pope. Prevost confirmed he spoke to the future pope right before conclave and described the conversation.

“First we do Wordle—because this is a regular thing, okay—then we do Words With Friends. It’s something to keep his mind off life and the real world,” said Prevost.

Sure, Wordle and Words With Friends aren’t as hardcore as, say, Doom: The Dark Ages or Grand Theft Auto. But still, the pope played (and probably will continue to play) Wordle and Words With Friends. That’s a strange sentence to think about. And while its possible Pope Francis found time to muck about with Wordle on his phone, the way the new Pope’s brother talks about Wordle makes it sound like its a common activity for Leo XIV. So I’ll call him the first gamer Pope. Sure, why not?

The new Pope’s brother also confirmed that Leo XIV watched the movie Conclave right before entering an actual conclave.

“[I asked him] did you watch the movie Conclave so you know how to behave? And he had just finished watching the movie Conclave, so he knew how to behave. So it’s that kind of stuff, because I wanted to take his mind off it. You know, laugh about something.”

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