US EditionPope Leo XIV's Creole heritage highlights complex history of racism and the church in America
- On Thursday, Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was chosen as Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first pontiff from the United States to head the Roman Catholic Church.
- Genealogist Jari C. Honora identified the parents of Pope Leo XIV’s mother, Mildred Martinez, as a Creole couple living in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward, a historic neighborhood known for its Afro-Creole heritage.
- Records show Martinez and Baquié were identified as Black in the 1900 Census and the family moved to Chicago by 1912, with their daughter Mildred Martinez born in Chicago in 1912.
- Honora revealed that the Holy Father’s family heritage includes ancestors recorded as Black or Mulatto, highlighting the often overlooked Louisiana Creole background in his lineage.
- This discovery highlights complex Creole heritage tied to American Catholicism and suggests Leo XIV's lineage may deepen understanding of diversity in US religious history.
137 Articles
137 Articles
Is the new pope Black? The answer isn’t so simple – The Bay State Banner
Did the Catholic church just choose its first African American pope? That question set Black social media on fire in the hours following the election of Robert Prevost, the first American to become pontiff in the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history.
Pope Leo XIV’s Link to Haiti is Part of a broader American Story of Race, Citizenship and Migration
By Chelsea Stieber, Tulane University (The Conversation) – Early coverage of Pope Leo XIV has explored the first American pontiff’s Chicago upbringing, as well as the many years he spent in Peru, first as a missionary and then as a bishop. Genealogist Jari Honora broke the story of the pope’s ancestors’ connection to the Creole of color community in New Orleans. A family historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection’s Williams Research Center…
Central Maine News
Portland Press HeraldPortland offers insight into Pope Leo’s Black heritage
From 1875 to 1900, a former slave guided Maine’s largest diocese, passing for white.
'The Pope Got Some Black In Him': MAGA Erupts at Old Leo XIV Tweets Criticizing Donald Trump as Fans Refer to His Haitian Roots
It seems that Cardinal Robert Prevost, the first American to lead the Catholic Church, has previously condemned President Donald Trump’s border policies and deportations long before his historic election on Thursday, May 8. MAGA maniacs have taken to social media to drag him, bypassing that he is considered the highest-ranking minister in the Catholic Church. Others have defended the new pope, claiming his views are close to Jesus — further sugg…
Pope Leo XIV’s link to Haiti is part of a broader American story of race, citizenship and migration
Pope Leo XIV appears before thousands of journalists on May 12, 2025, in Vatican City. Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images by Chelsea Stieber, Tulane University Early coverage of Pope Leo XIV has explored the first American pontiff’s Chicago upbringing, as well as the many years he spent in Peru, first as a missionary and … Continued
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