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Marking the 81st year since D-Day, the Pentagon highlighted a remarkable link between the Vatican and the U.S. military. Pope Leo XIV’s father, Louis Marius Prevost, played a role as a Navy officer during the significant 1944 Normandy landings.
Prevost, born in Chicago in 1920, was commissioned into the Navy in November 1943.
He served as the executive officer of a tank landing ship during Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France June 6, 1944.
Pope Leo XIV is pictured as he autographs a baseball in St. Peter’s Square during his weekly audience on June 4, 2025, in Vatican City. (Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
In 1949, Prevost wed Mildred Agnes Martinez, and together they had three sons. One of them, Robert Francis Prevost, was elected as Pope Leo XIV on May 8, 2025, making history as the first American-born Pope.
Earlier this week, Pope Leo XIV signed a baseball at the Vatican, a nod to his Chicago roots and lifelong support for the White Sox. The team has honored him with a commemorative installation at Guaranteed Rate Field.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower talking with American paratroopers on the evening of June 5, 1944, as they prepared for the Invasion of Normandy. (Underwood Archives/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Vatican for comment but has not yet received a response.
