In 1900, Leo's maternal grandparents Louise Baquié and Joseph Martinez lived in the predominately Black 7th Ward of New Orleans, according to U.S. Census records, the same part of the city where ...

Pope Leo XIV, who made history as the first American-born pope, was born in Chicago and identifies as white, but comes from a family with ties directly to the Black American South, according to ...

On the 1900 census, while his family lived in New Orleans, both Leo XIV's maternal grandparents and his aunts -- Irma and Margaret -- were identified as Black. However, in 1920, after the family ...

Interestingly, while Pope Leo XIV’s mother, Mildred Martinez Prevost, is listed as white on her birth certificate, her father, Joseph Martinez, was recognized as Haitian.

The first American pope, Pope Leo XIV's ancestry reveals that he may be the first Black pope, with roots tying back to Haiti and New Orleans. Haniyah Philogene May 9, 2025 ...

A prominent Catholic newspaper is among those suggesting Pope Leo XIV may be the first Black pontiff in the Catholic Church’s history. The National Catholic Reporter, citing cenus records over a ...

Pope Leo XIV, who is the first American pope in history, has lineage among “free people of color” in the U.S. dating back to at least the 1840s, a genealogist told Forbes.

She, too, is hopeful and excited about Pope Leo, regardless of how he identifies. But his lineage, she said, signals that Black Catholics are present in the church.

Pope Leo, a native of Chicago's south side and a long-time fan of his beloved but beleaguered White Sox, sent a video message on Saturday to a sellout crowd attending Catholic Mass in his honor at ...