July 14, 2025
Pope Leo received an official copy of his family tree, which includes his ties to “free people of color” in New Orleans.
Pope Leo XIV received a copy of his family tree from Henry Louis Gates Jr., marking his first public acknowledgment of his lineage, which includes Black ancestry.
On July 10, Finding Your Roots host Henry Louis Gates Jr. shared a photo on Facebook from a private meeting at the Vatican, where he and his wife, historian Dr. Marial Iglesias Utset, presented Pope Leo with an official copy of his family tree.
“She and I had worked with an outstanding team of researchers to publish it in The New York Times Sunday Magazine and were deeply grateful for the chance to walk His Holiness through the branches of his family tree, sharing stories of his ancestors back to his 12th great-grandparents who were born some 500 years ago,” Gates wrote. “This was one of the most meaningful and deeply moving moments of our lives.”
The meeting comes exactly two months after New Orleans genealogist Jari Honora revealed that the new Pope’s ancestry traces back to Black roots in New Orleans. Curious about Pope Leo’s French-sounding last name, Prevost, Honora began researching and discovered that all four of his maternal great-grandparents were “free people of color” with Haitian, Creole, and Mulatto roots.
“It was special for me because I share that heritage and so do many of my friends who are Catholic here in New Orleans,” Honora, a historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection, told The Associated Press.
Andrew Jolivette, a professor of sociology and Afro-Indigenous Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, did his own research and discovered that the Pope’s Creole ancestry reflects the rich cultural tapestry of southern Louisiana.
“There is Cuban ancestry on his maternal side. So, there are a number of firsts here, and it’s a matter of pride for Creoles,” said Jolivette, whose family is Creole from Louisiana. “So, I also view him as a Latino pope because the influence of Latino heritage cannot be ignored in the conversation about Creoles.”
Honora, Jolivette, and members of the Black and Creole Catholic communities are now crediting Pope Leo for uniting the global Catholic Church and bringing long-overdue recognition to the history and contributions of Black Catholics. Other notable names Pope Leo shares ancestry with include Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Justin Bieber, and Hillary Clinton.
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