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 ...

Leo XIV is a member of a religious order named for the famous African St. Augustine of Hippo. Louisiana Creole expert Jari Honora has traced Prevost's ancestry to the Black community of New Orleans.

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 ...

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 ...

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.

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.