Pope Leo XIV’s unexpected New Orleans Creole background excites city’s large Catholic community

By Andy Rose, Taylor Romine and Matthew Rehbein, CNN

(CNN) — When Father Tony Ricard watched Pope Leo XIV deliver his first address to the faithful Thursday in St. Peter’s Square, he felt an instant kinship.

“When he came to the balcony, I looked up, and I was like, ‘That dude looks like he could be my brother,’” said Ricard, a New Orleans Catholic priest with a Creole background.

“And that’s before we even knew what his heritage was.”

As it turns out, Robert Francis Prevost, who became the first elected Pope from the United States, has Creole grandparents who lived in New Orleans, a genealogist says.

The newly elected pontiff is not known to have publicly commented on his Creole ancestry, which includes people of mixed Spanish or French and Black descent. And the family did not identify as Black, his brother told The New York Times.

Still, the revelation of Leo’s background has created a stir in New Orleans, one of the few US cities that is both majority Black and predominantly Catholic.

“From what I’ve seen thus far within 24 hours, the city is beyond excited,” said Arkesha Baquet, co-owner of Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe, a self-described Creole-Soul restaurant in the legendary Tremé, among the nation’s oldest African American neighborhoods.

Grandparents came to US from Haiti

Pope Leo XIV’s grandparents on his mother’s side lived in New Orleans before they migrated to Chicago, where his mother, Mildred Martinez Prevost, was born in 1912, said Jari C. Honora, a family historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection who shared his research and records with CNN.

Leo’s maternal grandparents, Joseph and Louise Martinez, are listed as Black in a Census record from 1900. Joseph is recorded as a cigar maker born in “Hayti.” The Census record shows the couple as living in New Orleans’ 7th Ward, historically a melting pot of cultures in the Crescent City.

Honora also shared a marriage certificate for Mildred’s parents and a photo of a family grave site that shows her parents’ name.

“The family were free people of color prior to the Civil War. When they move to Chicago between 1910 and 1912, they ‘passed’ into the White world,” Honora said.

“And that’s OK. I think that’s important to bring out that this is not accusatory,” added Honora, who has worked as a researcher on the popular PBS genealogy series “Finding Your Roots.” “It’s not meant to be a sort of ‘I got you’ moment. This is taking a long view of history and showing you things that people did hold on to, and their faith is one of them.”

John Prevost, the new pope’s older brother, confirmed that his maternal grandparents came from Haiti but told CNN he didn’t know much more about the family’s background.

“There wasn’t a whole lot spoken about roots in our day,” he said, noting the grandparents on his father’s side came to the US as orphans without any documentation of their ethnic history.

Leo’s own history was already an unusual one: He was a missionary to Peru who has spent decades outside the United States.

“The exciting part is a realization that they’re finally recognizing the role that Catholics from the US are playing in the world church,” Ricard said. “We have guys that have been missionaries all over the world.”

The newly unearthed chapter of the Prevost family story is also representative of New Orleans’ own unique cultural stew.

“I guess we have to start calling him the Gumbo Pope,” Ricard said, “because he’s a little bit of everything mixed together.”

Creole identification has a complicated history

Before the Civil War, free Black Americans held higher social status than those who were enslaved, according to the Data Center, a research non-profit focused on Southeast Louisiana. After the war, all people of color were suddenly categorized together for the first time, which “amounted to a significant social demotion” for those who were previously free.

“They were suddenly denied access to networks and resources (such as education and capital) that had previously been available to them,” an entry on Creole history on the Data Center website says.

On the other hand, the ubiquity of the Catholic Church in this French-settled community provided a space where all people could come together to worship.

“For all of the population – free White, free people of color and enslaved people – all of them you had practicing the faith, taking part in the sacraments,” said Honora, the genealogist.

But while the term “catholic” means all-encompassing, that doesn’t mean life for Black Catholics in the US was always truly equal, he noted.

“It would have been socially unacceptable for women of color to pursue vocations in the existing religious orders … just to live under the same roof was at various points in time against the law,” Honora said. “And all of the challenges of Black men to ascend to the altar to be priests, we have so many stories of that.”

Indeed, while only 6% of Black adults in the US are Catholic, nearly half of them live in the South, a survey from the Pew Research Center found.

“We are a huge Catholic city,” Baquet said of New Orleans.

New Orleans energized by unexpected connection

The city’s newly uncovered bond to the Roman Catholic leader is “a great connection for our local population,” said Honora, one of the founders of New Orleans’ Creole Genealogical and Historical Association.

Ricard – who serves as campus minister of St. Augustine High School, a historically Black Catholic school in New Orleans named for the North African priest who founded the order whose membership includes Leo – says their unexpected ties to the bishop of Rome mean a lot to his students.

“It’s exciting for us because it’s also letting the younger Creole community in New Orleans understand that we do have a legacy that we stand on,” he said.

“All of a sudden, it’s one of our homeboys that’s now the Holy Father,” Ricard added.

The mayor of New Orleans also acknowledged the finding, saying in a statement the city is honored to share this history with the pope.

“The City of New Orleans is a melting pot of different religions and beliefs,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said. “We are thrilled to welcome Pope Leo XIV, who embodies morality, unity, and inclusivity.”

Although Pope Leo XIV has never lived in New Orleans, Honora hopes the Holy Father’s deep heritage in the community will lead to a papal visit. That hasn’t happened since John Paul II came to the Crescent City in 1987.

“So, we’re long overdue,” he said.

A papal visit to his hometown would be extraordinary, Ricard said, adding he hopes the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church has a good sense of humor.

“I would let him know that I was supposed to be the first Creole pope,” Ricard joked.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Michelle Krupa and Whitney Wild contributed to this report.