Pope Leo XIV reportedly has some famous musical relatives. According to a report New York Times, the new Holy Father is related to Justin Bieber and Madonna through one common Canadian ancestor born roughly six generations ago.
The NYT collaborated with genealogists from American Ancestors and the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami on a detailed exploration of the Pope’s ancestry, and found that the head of the Catholic Church — born Robert Francis Prevost — has connections to a number of famous relatives, including Madge and The Biebs, as well as actress Angelina Jolie and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“Through one Canadian ancestor, Louis Boucher de Grandpre, who was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec,” the report reads, “the pope is related to numerous Canadian-derived distant cousins, including Pierre and Justin Trudeau, Angelina Jolie, Hillary Clinton, Justin Bieber, Jack Kerouac, and Madonna.”
Madonna’s link to the new Pope, Billboard notes, is kind of ironic, considering her tumultuous history with the Catholic church. She has been criticized by the Vatican on multiple occasions and has always returned their ire.
In 2022, she tweeted to the late Pope Francis asking to “meet up one day to discuss some important matters.” Madonna added she’s “been excommunicated 3 times,” which she felt “doesn’t seem fair.”
Years before that, in 2015, she dedicated a song to Pope Francis during a concert, joking that he may have been “stalking” her because they’d both been in New York recently. “The pope is stalking me,” Madonna quipped. “Either he’s a copycat or he’s secretly in love with me”.
“I like the new pope. He seems very open-minded,” she continued. “I’ve been excommunicated from the Catholic Church three times. It shows the Vatican cares deeply.”
“Since Popey-wopey is on his way over here, I want to dedicate this song to him because it’s a love song and I, for one, do think that love makes the world go around,” Madonna added. She also once compared herself to Pope Francis, joking, “I don’t think there’s that much difference between me and the Pope. We both wear dresses.”
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