Paulie Walnuts' Brother Among the Priests in Rome for the Conclave

As the world patiently awaited to meet Pope Francis’ successor, one clergyman nabbed several headlines for his uncanny resemblance to Tony Sirico, the award-winning actor best known for his role in The Sopranos.

Turns out, the doppelgänger was the actor's big brother, Rev. Robert Sirico, an American-Italian priest who traveled to Rome for the papal conclave. According to Page Six, the brothers grew up in Brooklyn’s East Flatbush and remained close up until Tony’s death.

The actor, who was a real life gangster who did prison stints before taking up acting and finding fame playing Sopranos mobster Paul “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri , died on July 8, 2022, years after he was diagnosed with dementia. Shortly after Tony Sirico's death, Robert Sirico delivered a heartfelt tribute to his brother, recalling their final moments together.

“I sensed that the end was coming. So as we sat in a private location, I pulled out a Confessional Stole from my pocket. I looked into his eyes and I said, ‘How about that confession?'” the priest wrote, as reported by Page Six. “My brother agreed and I did one of the most significant things a priest can do for another human being. I absolved him of all of his sins.”

Sirico shed more light on the papal conclave in an interview with NY1 Spectrum News, sharing several details about the voting process and how long it could take before the 133 cardinals selected a new pope.

“What’s gone on now is a voting [round] that gives a sense to the cardinals of who the real players are, in terms of the position that one of them will obtain,” he said on Wednesday. “What was odd this evening, for us here in Rome, is that it took so long for us to get to one ballot. Now, I don’t know what that means … We simply don’t know because they’re under the seal.”

Sirico shared a few details on the leading contenders in the papal conclave and said he suspected the process could take several days.

“I doubt we’ll get [a decision] tomorrow,” he continued. “The reason for that is we have a lot of new cardinals who have never been to Rome and don’t know each other.”

But Sirico’s prediction was incorrect. On Thursday, the voting cardinals elected Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost as the new pope. Prevost, who took on the name Leo XIV, is the first American to hold the position and got some hilarious reactions on the internet.