Priest Who Conclave Watchers Proclaimed a Dead Ringer for a ‘Sopranos’ Character, Paulie Walnuts, Turns Out To Be Actor’s Brother

Eagle-eyed conclave watchers spied a familiar-looking face among the litany of talking heads discussing the process of choosing a new pope.Viewers of Sky News noticed that a Catholic priest speaking to a reporter about the papal selection process had a striking resemblance to the actor, Tony Sirico, who played mobster Paulie Walnuts on the HBO series “The Sopranos.” The resemblance turned out to me more than just a coincidence: The father is his brother.Reverend Robert Sirico, who has the same nose and chin but is missing Tony’s trademark gray “angel wings” in his hair, is the younger brother of the character actor, who died in 2022. Both grew up in a traditional Italian American Catholic house in Brooklyn, but they took paths that couldn’t be more divergent.While Robert became a man of the cloth, Tony had turned to a life of crime after dropping out of high school.Following a short stint in the Army, Tony had a slew of run-ins with the law, being arrested 28 times for incidents ranging from robbery to gun possession, including in 1971, when he was thrown into Sing Sing Prison after being convicted on multiple charges, including felony weapons possession.It was during his time in the clink that Tony found his true calling after an acting troupe composed of ex-cons came to the prison. Upon his release, he sought out a new hustle — Hollywood.After a series of bit parts in movies like “The Godfather: Part II” and “The Pick-Up Artist,” the actor finally got his big break when he was cast in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 mob epic, “Goodfellas.” A few years later, he was cast in his defining role as Paulie Walnuts, a New Jersey mob capo, in “The Sopranos.”Robert followed a straighter and narrower path, choosing spirituality over crime. After initially stepping away from his Catholic upbringing, he became a Pentecostal preacher during the 1970s in Seattle, where he became known for his progressive views and fiery sermons.During his earlier career as a pastor, he made headlines when he came out as gay, and in 1972 he founded the Seattle branch of Metropolitan Community Church, which provided ministry services to the LBGTQ community. In 1975, he performed the first gay marriage in Colorado at the First Unitarian Church in Denver.“I believe that my activities in the 1970s, though representing a very different political and theological stance to the ones I hold today, nonetheless help me to understand the complex issues that go into the debate ‘gay marriage,’” Reverend Sirico said in a 2010 interview with the National Catholic Reporter. “These insights have also been helpful in my pastoral work with persons who have same sex attractions and have given me a greater sensitivity into the struggle to live a chaste life.”Robert eventually returned to the Catholic church, earning a Mastery of Divinity degree from the Catholic University of America in 1987 and being ordained as a Paulist priest. He also founded the Acton Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank with principles rooted in Christian theology.In 2022, Robert publicly announced his brother’s death after battling dementia.“It is with great sadness, but with incredible pride, love and a whole lot of fond memories, that the family of Gennaro Anthony ‘Tony’ Sirico wishes to inform you of his death on the morning of July 8, 2022,” he said at the time, according to a report from Daily Mail. “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?’”“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.”

Priest Who Conclave Watchers Proclaimed a Dead Ringer for a ‘Sopranos’ Character, Paulie Walnuts, Turns Out To Be Actor’s Brother

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