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Robert Francis Prevost, who was selected as the Catholic Church’s first American pope Thursday and took the name Leo XIV, has a family history that some were celebrating as uniquely diverse, with one genealogist claiming he has ties to “free people of color” in New Orleans.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, newly elected as Pope Leo XIV, is seen on the St. Peter’s Basilica balcony, … More
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Key Facts
The maternal side of Pope Leo XIV’s family can be traced back to at least the 1840s among “free people of color” in New Orleans, according to Jari C. Honora, a genealogist with the Historic New Orleans Collection, a research center documenting the city’s history.
Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., who represents New Orleans, also released a statement Thursday highlighting Pope Leo XIV’s “ancestral ties to our Creole and Haitian families,” saying he was proud “As a Black man” and “a proud son of New Orleans.”
Pope Leo XIV’s maternal grandparents, along with his mother’s older siblings, were “identified in records as Black or mulatto,” Honora told Forbes, but the family “passed … into a white racial identity” when they relocated to Chicago, where the pope’s mother—Mildred Martinez—was born in 1912.
The pope’s grandparents resided in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward, an historically Black neighborhood, before moving to Chicago, Honora said.
Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago on Sept. 14, 1955 to Martinez and Louis Prevost, a World War II veteran of French and Italian descent.
Martinez’s descent has been widely reported as Spanish, and Pope Leo XIV does not appear to have made major public statements regarding Creole heritage—the Diocese of Chiclayo, where Pope Leo XIV served as bishop between 2015 and 2023, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.
What Do Records Show About Pope Leo Xiv’s Family?
Honora said in a Facebook post Thursday “Our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has Creole of color roots from New Orleans on his mother’s side!” He told The Times-Picayune a marriage license shows Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, the pope’s grandparents, married in 1887 at Our Lady of Sacred Heart church in New Orleans. Those records show Joseph Martinez listed Haiti as his birthplace, Honora told the newspaper. He added the family was listed as living at 1933 North Prieur St. in the city’s Seventh Ward, an area that was demolished during the construction of the Claiborne Avenue overpass, which critics say significantly disrupted vibrant Black neighborhoods in the city.
Key Background
Pope Leo XIV, 69, was born in Chicago to his mother, Mildred Martinez, a librarian, and his father, Louis Prevost, a World War II Navy veteran and school superintendent. He also has two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph. He studied mathematics at Villanova University and earned a graduate degree in divinity from the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago. Ordained in 1982, his religious career took him to Rome and Peru, where he was naturalized as a citizen in 2014 around the same time the late Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo, where he became bishop. He took his position in the Vatican overseeing the appointment of new bishops in 2023, the same year he was made a cardinal. Pope Leo was elected following four ballots on the papal conclave’s second day of voting. He is viewed as more of a centrist than Francis, and has been an advocate for migrants and the poor, with possible recent social media posts suggesting he has been critical of President Trump’s actions toward migrants.
Further Reading
Who Is Robert Francis Prevost? What We Know About Pope Leo XIV—The First American Pope. (Forbes)
Pope Leo XIV has roots in New Orleans’ 7th Ward. See his family lineage and history. (The Times-Picayune)
Tweets Apparently Showing Pope Leo XIV Criticizing Trump Resurface—Here’s What To Know (Forbes)
