Every family has a special character — or several. The crazy attic-dwelling aunt. The rogue brother who routinely embarrasses his siblings. The overserved uncle who tells raunchy jokes at family gatherings.

But most of us don’t have to worry, as public figures do, that our beloved “eccentrics” will derail our careers or undermine our claims to veritas and gravitas. Hillary Clinton famously had a problematic brother in Tony Rodham, whose sometimes sketchy investments and consultancies raised questions about ethical breaches and nepotism during the Clintons’ White House years.

Then along came an American pope with an ultra-American brother. The bar for potential embarrassment doesn’t get much higher. Or is it lower? With the Vatican conclave’s selection of Cardinal Robert “Bob” Francis Prevost as the new papal leader, henceforth Pope Leo XIV, Bob’s 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. “Your child isn’t trans, you’re just s—ty parents.”

In late April, he gave former president Barack Obama and Democrats a swipe, writing that they are “one very small step from being full blown communists, longing for the total destruction of our way of life and turning the country into a dictatorship, and a racist one on top of it.”

There’s that axiom in action again. People often say about others what is true of themselves — or the dictator-in-waiting they admire. The 73-year-old Lou also believes that anti-Trump Democrats should “be arrested and tried for subversion and even treason against the U.S.A.”

Where did we put that attic key?

Miraculously, Lou’s social media posts went up in smoke Tuesday. Rather, Lou took them down and has begun acting more like a pope’s brother, not that Americans have much experience in this arena. Leo is the first American ever tapped to lead the Catholic Church. And just in the nick of time, I say, notwithstanding Lou’s brief flirtation with fame.

None of us can be held responsible for the thoughts or actions of our siblings, Lord knows. My brother and I were continents apart politically, but we loved each other and generally avoided talking about the subject. The same is largely true of my little sister, a MAGA-hat-wearing sweetheart, who will always be my baby. And Leo is certainly not to be judged by his brother’s rants. To each his own is the American Way.

I don’t doubt that Lou is proud of his little brother, who as a child reportedly liked to dress up as a priest while other little boys strutted their stuff as firemen and cowboys. Leo seems never to have wavered from his chosen vocation and spent much of his adult life toiling in Peru serving some of the world’s poorest people. Like his predecessor, Pope Francis, he has walked the walk. Insiders predict he’ll continue some of the church reforms Francis put in place, but traditionalists are also hopeful that he’ll remain true to the gospel.

A brighter interpretation of the Prevost brothers’ differences is that Leo will have a deeper understanding of his homeland’s challenges. Even Lou has suggested that politics be set aside when discussing his brother and the Catholic Church — a wise proposal given the church’s 1.4 billion worldwide followers. Surely, political differences abound within such a diverse group, though their shared faith transcends the worldly.

My own view of Leo, for what it’s worth, is that he comes to the larger world at exactly the right time. With his Midwestern way — his open face, straight talk and quiet wisdom — he offers a balm to the weary American soul. We aren’t so much divided as we are strangers in a strange land, devoid of the divine, if also suffused with religious fervor. As never before, Americans can relate to this pope and his message, thanks to our shared native tongue. (The value of a mutually understood language can’t be overestimated.) The cardinals of the conclave chose wisely, and I suspect were being strategic on several fronts. For the world to heal, the world’s most powerful nation must heal itself. The goal isn’t to make America great again but to restore the United States as a beacon of light for the rest of the world, representing democracy, freedom and opportunity.

We have fallen far from these principles in the accelerated, harrowing four months of Trump’s second term, but the way is clear. Peace be with you, Pope Leo — and with your MAGA-loving brother, too.

Kathleen Parker’s email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.