New Pope has Creole roots in New Orleans

His ancestry, traced to a historic enclave of Af-

ro-Caribbean culture, links Leo XIV to the rich

and sometimes overlooked Black Catholic experi-

ence in America.

Robert Francis Prevost, the Chicago-born car-

dinal selected on Thursday as the new pope, is

descended from Creole people of color from New

Orleans.

The pope’s maternal grandparents, both of

whom are described as Black or “mulatto” in var-

ious historical records, lived in the city’s Seventh

Ward, an area that is traditionally Catholic and a

melting pot of people with African, Caribbean and

European roots.