Pope Leo's Brother and the Bomb Threat: The Night the K9s Rolled Down Sojourn Road
What happened on a quiet Illinois street that should have every American paying attention
John Prevost and his brother Pope Leo XIV.
Pope Leo’s Brother and the Bomb Threat: The Night the K9s Rolled Down Sojourn Road
What happened on a quiet Illinois street that should have every American paying attention
The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #868: Thursday, April 16th, 2026
It was 6:29 p.m. on a Wednesday evening in New Lenox, Illinois.
A working-class suburb southwest of Chicago. Cul-de-sacs. Mailboxes. The kind of street where the loudest thing you usually hear is a lawnmower.
Then the phones rang at the New Lenox Police Department.
A bomb. At a private residence on Sojourn Road.
Officers rolled. A perimeter went up. Neighbors…people who had planned to eat dinner, help kids with homework, maybe catch a ballgame…were told to leave their homes.
K9 units worked the property. Bomb-sniffing dogs moved across the lawn and through the house where a 70-year-old retired Catholic school principal lives quietly with his memories.
No device was found.
The threat was determined to be “unsubstantiated.”
And…the story could end right there...
Except for one small detail.
The man who lives at that address is named John Prevost.
His brother is Pope Leo XIV.
Here’s the Part Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud
Let me walk you through a timeline. And then you tell me what you see.
Saturday, April 11.
Pope Leo XIV delivers a prayer vigil at St. Peter’s Basilica. He doesn’t mention Donald Trump by name. He talks about peace. He talks about the war in Iran. He says, and I quote the language directly: “Enough with the idolatry of self and money.” He warns against what he calls a “delusion of omnipotence.”
Sunday, April 12.
Donald Trump responds on Truth Social. He calls the Pope “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” He claims credit for the American Pope even being Pope. And then — pay attention here — he publicly splits the Prevost brothers. He says he likes the Pope’s older brother Louis “much better” because Louis is “all MAGA.”
Tuesday night, April 14.
Trump posts again. More attacks on the Pope.
Wednesday, April 15.
6:29 p.m. K9 units on Sojourn Road.
Four days.
Four days from presidential attack to bomb-sniffing dogs…in the pope’s brother’s front yard.
And…the brother targeted wasn’t the one Trump praised as “all MAGA.”
It was the other one.
A Warning from Somebody Who Knows What Signals Look Like
I spent a chunk of my life in the U.S. Navy.
I know the difference between noise... and signal.
Noise is the crank call. Noise is the lone weirdo who reads a headline and picks up a phone. Noise is the bomb threat that turns out to be nothing…no device…no damage… no injury.
Signal is the message that gets delivered EVEN WHEN NOTHING EXPLODES.
And…friend…let me tell you what message was delivered Wednesday night on Sojourn Road...
A 70-year-old retired school principal now knows his home address is known to strangers who wish him harm. His neighbors know. Every journalist who covers this story will broadcast the street name. Every future caller with bad intent now has a confirmed target package.
The bomb didn’t need to be real.
The point wasn’t the bomb.
The point was the K9 units. The perimeter. The evacuation. The neighbors…looking at John Prevost’s house differently today than they did yesterday.
That is the payload. That is what got delivered.
And…whether the caller was a MAGA true believer…a foreign actor exploiting American division…or…just a lone unhinged crank... the effect is the same.
The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church…now has to think about his brother.
What I Am NOT Saying — And What I AM Saying
I am not telling you Donald Trump made a phone call.
I am not telling you Donald Trump wanted this to happen.
I am not telling you the caller was following presidential orders.
Police have not named a suspect. No one has claimed responsibility. For all any of us know, the call came from a basement in Bucharest or a motel room in Missouri.
But here is what I AM telling you...
When a sitting President of the United States publicly attacks a religious leader over foreign policy... and then publicly singles out which of that leader’s brothers is acceptable…and which is not... and then…within four days…the unacceptable brother gets K9 units on his lawn...
You don’t need a warrant to recognize a pattern.
You just need eyes.
The Question That Should Keep Every American Awake Tonight
It isn’t “who made the call.”
The police will either find that out or they won’t.
The question is this:
What happens to the next American religious leader, journalist, judge, or elected official who publicly disagrees with this White House?
Because the operating environment just changed.
Family members are now in scope.
Home addresses are now assets.
K9 units are now part of the cost of speaking your conscience.
That’s a doctrine shift…whether anyone in Washington wants to name it or not.
And doctrine shifts... don’t shift back easily.
In the paid expansion later this evening, I’m going to walk you through something the mainstream press will not touch...
The historical precedent for family-as-leverage as a political instrument. Where we’ve seen it before. What playbooks it comes from. And…what it tells us… specifically…and without hedging…about where the next 90 days are headed.
I’m also going to name three categories of Americans who need to review their personal operational security THIS WEEK... based on what happened on Sojourn Road.
If you’re not yet a paid subscriber…now’s the time.
This one’s going to matter.
#HoldFast
Back soon.
-Jack
Jack Hopkins
P.S. One detail I didn’t mention above, because it deserves to sit alone...
When Trump publicly split the Prevost brothers on Truth Social…he said he liked Louis “much better” because Louis is “all MAGA.”
The brother who got the K9 sweep…Wednesday night wasn’t Louis.
It was John.
The other one.
That’s not a coincidence. That’s a signature.
Sources
ABC 7 Chicago — Pope Leo’s brother John Prevost receives unfounded bomb threat
NBC 5 Chicago — Police investigate bomb threat at suburban home of Pope Leo’s brother
The Hill — Bomb threat at home of Pope Leo’s brother: Police
NewsNation — Bomb threat at home of Pope Leo’s brother: Police
CBS News — Trump calls Pope Leo “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy”
Axios — Trump slams Pope Leo as “weak,” “terrible” after Iran war criticism
NBC News — Pope Leo says he has ‘no fear’ after Trump labels him ‘weak’ and ‘terrible’
CNBC — Trump takes aim at Pope Leo again, days after calling him ‘weak on crime’
Washington Post — Trump attacks Pope Leo, taking credit for his election
Holy Fucking Shit.. this shitshow just leveled up..
"Nice little family you've got there..." sounds so familiar.