On May 8, an American cardinal named Robert Francis Prevost became Pope Leo XIV. Later that day, The Times, drawing on research by Jari C. Honora, a genealogist, reported that Prevost had recent African American ancestors. This revelation came from going back just three generations — what else might be found by looking even further into the past?
Certainly, the fans of “Finding Your Roots,” the PBS show I have hosted for 13 years, wanted to know. My inbox was flooded with emails asking us to trace the new pope’s ancestry. In collaboration with the genealogists at American Ancestors and the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami, we were able to go back as far his 12th-great-grandparents, who were born in the early 1500s. Here are some of our discoveries, which you can read in detail in The New York Times Magazine feature.
Pope Leo’s lineage is surprisingly international.
His diverse ancestry reflects the history of American immigration. The forebears identified so far were born in France (40), Italy (24), Spain (21), the United States (22), Cuba (10), Canada (6), Haiti (1) and Guadeloupe (1). The birthplaces are unknown for another nine ancestors who have been identified.
Many of Pope Leo’s American-born ancestors were Black.
Seventeen of the pope’s American ancestors were Black, described in historical records in terms ranging from “negresse” and “free person of color” to “mulâtresse créole” and “quadroon.” Another Black ancestor, the pope’s grandfather Joseph Nerval Martínez, was born in Haiti, to which his African Americans parents migrated from New Orleans before returning to the city in 1866.
A dozen of the pope’s ancestors were slaveholders — including several who were Black.
Eight of the pope’s 12 ancestors who have been identified as slaveholders were Black, with anywhere from one to 20 other women and men in their possession. Marie Jeanne, the pope’s maternal fourth-great-grandmother, was enslaved by François Lemelle, with whom she had at least six children. In 1772, François manumitted Marie Jeanne and two of their daughters, and at his death in 1789, he left Marie Jeanne one-fifth of his estate, which included 15 enslaved people. By 1817, her holdings had grown to 1,040 acres and included five enslaved people.
Two freedom fighters have been found in the pope’s family tree.
The pope’s maternal fourth-great-grandfather, Charles Louis Boucher de Grandpre, commanded the Louisiana militia at Pointe Coupée in 1777, capturing British posts at Thompson’s Creek and the Amite River during the American Revolution. (Quite possibly this qualifies Pope Leo for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution.) Another maternal ancestor, Antonio José de Sucre, Pope Leo’s fifth cousin five times removed, was a hero of the Battle of Ayacucho and played a crucial role in defeating Spanish colonialism throughout Latin America. A friend of Simon Bolivar, he became Bolivia’s first constitutionally elected president.
Pope Leo has some famous cousins.
Through a distant maternal ancestor, who was born in the 1590s, Pope Leo is ninth cousins, various times removed, with some well-known figures, including Pierre and Justin Trudeau, Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Justin Bieber, Jack Kerouac and Madonna.
The post Five Key Discoveries in the Family Tree of Pope Leo XIV appeared first on New York Times.
