To the shock of many, the new Pope is not only the first Pope from the United States, but the Pope has Haitian and Creole ancestry as well. Those facts are just some of what we learned as we try to meet Pope Leo XIV.
Robert Francis Prevost, 69, now known as Pope Leo (Leone) XIV, was born in Chicago and is a graduate of Villanova University.
The Pope’s father, Louis Prevost, served in the Navy during World War II and worked as a superintendent of schools in the south suburbs of Chicago. His mother, Mildred Martinez Prevost, was a librarian with a master’s degree in education and had two sisters who were nuns, which may explain his devotion to the Catholic Church.
Pope Leo is said to be similar in his beliefs to his friend Pope Francis, who was a centrist, which thrilled several Catholics. He is pro-immigration and an advocate for the poor. Many of his views clash with the current Trump administration, and in fact, an old post found on Twitter showed him disagreeing recently with current Vice President JD Vance on immigration issues.
But maybe the most interesting thing about the new Pope is his nationality.
According to genealogists, Pope Leo comes from a mixed family.
According to Jari C. Honora, a genealogist with the Historic New Orleans Collection, a research center documenting the city’s history who spoke to Forbes on the Pope’s heritage, the Pope’s maternal side of his family can be traced back to at least the 1840s among “free people of color” in New Orleans, known as Creoles.
Honora said that the Pope’s mother’s siblings were “identified in records as Black or mulatto,” Honora also said, that the family “passed … into a white racial identity” when they relocated to Chicago, where the pope’s mother—Mildred Martinez—was born in 1912.
Records also confirmed that the Pope’s grandparents lived in the 7th Ward, a historically Black neighborhood in New Orleans, before moving their family up north, as many did.
Many Black families who were of lighter skin tone passed as white during those times to protect themselves and their families from racial prejudice and violence.
Although Pope Leo’s background is more lined with Spanish descent because of his father’s Italian and French heritage and because he was a Cardinal in Peru, it’s clear he does have Creole African and Haitian roots in his background.
Honora further confirmed the information on his Facebook page by posting: “Our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has Creole of color roots from New Orleans on his mother’s side!” He continued and said “The Times-Picayune (the local New Orleans newspaper) listed a marriage license that 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 many say significantly disrupted vibrant Black neighborhoods in the city.”
Thursday turned out to be a historic day on many levels for not only Americans but those of African descent as well. Unfortunately Pope Leo XIV has said that he does not identify as Black, so we don’t get the first Black Pope, but ancestry does not lie.
