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00:00Now we're going to turn to ABC News' Alex Perez, who is in Chicago and got to speak with the brother of the newly elected Pope to get his reaction to the news. Here's some of that interview.
00:12Huge deal. How are you feeling right now?
00:15To be honest, there hasn't been a chance to think about it because it's been constant phone calls, emails, messages, interviews. So I don't think it's really sunk in. It's kind of surreal.
00:27What initial, it's great pride. This is an awesome thing in the sense that the first, not only Pope, but first American Pope, Pope from Chicago, and a relative.
00:40Not a lot of people can say, my brother is the Pope.
00:43That's correct. And I can now say it.
00:47So when you found out, obviously you have pride, that's your brother. Did you expect this?
00:53To tell you the truth, no, because I kept hearing there will never be an American Pope just because the politics in the United States has too much world power now.
01:04They don't need also into the church. So I did not expect it.
01:08But when I heard he was in a group of three, then I thought, well, this could happen.
01:15When did you hear that part? And when did you know that he was maybe one of the finalists?
01:19Maybe like a day or two after the Pope died. And they were talking about who are the runner-ups and who's in line next to be Pope.
01:27And I think I might have heard something about that at that point.
01:30Then I spoke to him Tuesday before he went into the conclave, and he just kept saying, no, that's not true, that's not true.
01:37So he's pushing it away, hoping that it would go away. It didn't go away.
01:43When you actually heard that it was your brother who was selected, where were you?
01:47Were you watching television? Were you on the phone?
01:49I was watching TV because I was reading a book, and I got a text that said there's white smoke.
01:54So I went down and turned the TV on. No one knew at that point who the Pope was, but there was white smoke, so we knew.
02:01So I was watching. I called my niece to make sure she knew.
02:05Then we just sat there and watched it, and then she said, look, the curtains are moving.
02:09I said, oh, something's coming up.
02:11Then that French bishop came out who was going to announce it, and we heard the name, and she screamed, and I said, oh, my gosh, here we go.
02:18And then it has been nonstop phones and everything else.
02:22The world will now call your brother Pope.
02:25That's right.
02:26You arguably know him better than most people. What kind of person is he?
02:31A regular run-of-the-mill person.
02:34I think because he was trained in missionary work in South America for so many years, he will be looking out for the disenfranchised.
02:42He will be looking out for the poor.
02:44He will be looking out for those that don't have a voice.
02:47So I think he will follow in St. Francis.
02:50Pardon me, Pope Francis.
02:51I was going to say, how is he different from Pope Francis, or will he be different?
02:55I don't know that you'll see a big difference.
02:59He met Pope Francis before he was Pope when he was in Argentina, and my brother was in Peru.
03:04So that's how the connection began.
03:07I think they kind of believed in the same issues, so I don't know that there will be much difference.
03:12He might prove me wrong, but I don't see there will be much of a tradition, breaking the tradition of Pope Francis.
03:21Attending and being part of the church community, and that includes the south side of Chicago.
03:27How did that impact you guys?
03:29See, he wasn't around a whole lot, because after eighth grade graduation, he went immediately to the seminary.
03:36So he was in Holland, Michigan at the Augustinian Seminary for four years, and then he went into Villanova University, which is an Augustinian university.
03:44So he wasn't home a lot.
03:46Summer vacations, he was home.
03:47Growing up as kids, I think we were just regular kids and didn't really think about that kind of stuff.
03:54The interesting thing, I don't know how many people find it interesting, but when he was in first grade, a woman across the street that we used to play with the kids,
04:03and a woman down the street said he would be the first American Pope.
04:06In first grade, they said that.
04:08First grade?
04:08Uh-huh.
04:09Uh-huh.
04:09A random woman told them he would be the Pope?
04:12Well, they were neighbors.
04:13We knew them.
04:13But yes, he knew at that age he was going to be a priest.