Research into Pope Leo XIV's family history reveals a diverse ancestry spanning multiple countries including France, Italy, Spain, the United States, Cuba, Canada, Haiti, and Guadeloupe. The study traced his lineage back to his 12th-great-grandparents.
A significant finding is the identification of seventeen American-born Black ancestors, described in historical records using various terms reflecting the complexities of racial classifications at the time. One Black ancestor, the pope's grandfather, was born in Haiti.
The research also uncovered that a dozen of Pope Leo XIV's ancestors were slaveholders, notably including some who were Black themselves, further highlighting the intricate and often contradictory nature of historical family legacies.
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.
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.
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 crĂ©ole” and “quadroon.” Another Black ancestor, the pope’s grandfather Joseph Nerval MartĂnez, was born in Haiti, to which his African Americans parents migrated from New Orleans before returning to the city in 1866.
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