April 16 (Reuters) – Police on Thursday were investigating a bomb threat made to the Chicago-area home of Pope Leo’s brother John Prevost after a search found no explosives or hazardous materials.
A bomb threat was reported Wednesday evening at the home of John Prevost in New Lenox, Illinois, according to media outlets that cited police. Prevost lives on the same street cited as the location of the attack by police. New Lenox police did not return a call for comment on the report.
The threat comes after President Donald Trump on Sunday attacked Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S. pope, over his criticism of the war in Iran. Leo is originally from Chicago.
Police in New Lenox received the report of a bomb threat at a private residence on Wednesday evening and evacuated nearby homes as they searched the area.
“After careful examination, investigators determined that the threat was unsubstantiated and that no explosive devices or hazardous materials were present,” police said in a statement.
The investigation was continuing in order to find the origin of the false report, they said.
Leo leads the 1.4 billion-member Church and has emerged as an outspoken critic of the war.
In unusually forceful remarks in Cameroon on Thursday, Leo blasted leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants.”
While he criticized Leo as being too liberal and “weak on crime,” Trump praised his brother Louis, of Florida, for his support for Trump’s MAGA movement. John Prevost is another of the pope’s older brothers.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by William Maclean)
