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More details here: Prevost’s paternal grandfather is from Haiti and his paternal grandmother’s name was Baque. His family switched racial identities when they moved north.
www.nola.com/news/first-a...
Robert Francis Prevost, now Leo XIV, was named the first American pope of the Catholic Church on Thursday - and his lineage traces back to New Orleans, according to Jari Honora, a local genealogist and historian. When Honora heard the last name "Prevost," he started sleuthing to find out if Leo XIV's paternal lineage might be French Canadian or even Acadian. What he found, to his surprise, was that Prevost's mother, Mildred Martinez, was "entirely from New Orleans," Honora said. In less than an hour, Honora - who works for The Historic New Orleans Collection — was able to track the pope's maternal ancestry to the 7th Ward. The pope has "Creole of color roots" on his mother's side, Honora wrote in a Facebook post. Leo XIV, 69, was born and raised in Chicago and has said that was open to religious life because neighborhood priests were always in and out of his childhood home, as his mother often fed them. "Now we know why her cooking was so good," Honora said. "Both (of her parents) were from New Orleans." He said Joseph claimed Haiti as his birthplace, “which could very much be true, given the back-and-forth that has always existed between New Orleans and Haiti." Or, Honora said, "he could have deeper New Orleans roots - still working on that." The historian also found that in 1900, the young couple bought a home at 1933 North Prieur Street, a site later demolished due to the construction of the Claiborne Avenue overpass. The family then moved to Chicago about 10 years later, where the pope's mother was born. "Martinez's older brothers and sisters were all born in New Orleans, in the 7th Ward," Honora said. “They moved to Chicago between 1910 and 1912, and like so many Louisiana families, they shifted their racial identity. They moved to a big metropolis and go about what people assume you are." U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, expressed excitement Wednesday about the pope's apparent ties to the city. "The news that the first American Pope has roots here in New Orleans, with ancestral ties to our Creole and Haitian families, is nothing short of extraordinary," he said.
May 8, 2025 at 10:31 PM