White smoke, Black pope? Genealogist says Leo XIV has Louisiana African roots
White smoke, Black pope? Genealogist says Leo …
The Catholic Church has a new leader, with the Augustinian Cardinal Robert Prevost elected as Pope Leo XIV, his chosen name as bishop of Rome. He is the first North American pope and, according to a prominent genealogist, a pope with African-Creole ancestry.
The understated candidate triumphed on the second day of voting in a count kept under permanent Vatican seal. The results were announced with white smoke in St. Peter's Square Thursday evening, May 8, with the new pope making his first appearance to a crowd of more than 100,000 from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.
"Thank you to my cardinal brothers who chose me to be the successor of Peter and to walk together with you as a united church searching all together for peace and justice," the 69-year-old Chicago native said in a bilingual (Italian and Spanish) address that included odes of thanks to his predecessor, Pope Francis.
"We have to look together how to be a missionary church, building bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving with open arms for everyone, like this square, open to all, to all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, love."
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. His maternal ancestors lived in the Crescent City before migrating to Chicago in the early 20th century, Honora said.
Leo XIV is not known to have publicly commented having African ancestry, which is part of a mixed heritage that also includes French, Italian and Spanish roots. According to the U.S. Census, Prevost's mother, the late Mildred Martinez, was the mixed-race daughter of Black property owners, the Haitian-born Joseph Martinez and New Orleans native Louise Baquié, a Creole.
As such, Leo XIV could be considered the first Black pope in the history of the Catholic Church, though it is unclear how he identifies racially.
"It's more complicated than that," Honora told Black Catholic Messenger. "I think that a person can be of Black ancestry or have Black roots, but to identify as Black, I think, is all about the lived experience."
According to Holy See press director Matteo Bruni, the name Leo XIV was chosen in reference to the pioneering Pope Leo XIII, who reigned in the late 19th century. He steered the church toward its teachings on justice and labor with his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, an enduring text that continues to form a baseline for Catholic social teaching.

"La pace sia con voi, Dio ama tutti"

Der erste Papst, der eine Siegerrede vorbereitet hat. Erste Worte: "Friede sei mit euch"

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Irapuato8 mag

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Léon XIV
Robert Francis Prevost, OSA, né le 14 septembre 1955 à Chicago, est depuis le 8 mai 2025 le pape de l'Église catholique sous le nom de Léon XIV. Il est de nationalité américano-péruvienne et membre de l'ordre de Saint Augustin. Il est en poste au Pérou entre 1985 et 1998, puis exerce des responsabilités à la maison-mère de son ordre à Rome de 2001 à 2013. Il est alors nommé évêque du diocèse de Chiclayo. Le 30 janvier 2023, il est nommé pour succéder au cardinal Ouellet à la tête du Dicastère pour les évêques et prend ses fonctions le 12 avril suivant. Il est créé cardinal le 30 septembre 2023. Il est élu pape le 8 mai 2025.

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Pierre Huant8 mag

Je ne sais s'il est péruvien puisque son père était français émigré aux USA

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Irapuato8 magmodificato

He has Peruvian citizenship, and definitely, has some FRENCH blood.
Antoine François Prévost — Wikipédia
L’abbé Antoine François Prévost [pʁevo] dit l'abbé Prévost, né le 1er avril 1697 à Hesdin et mort le 25 novembre 1763 à Courteuil (France), est un romancier, historien, journaliste, traducteur et homme d'Église français.

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