WORLD NEWS – Pope Leo XIV discovers hidden black ancestry in revealing family tree

Ananya Roy, News Writer

Pope Leo XIV was recently presented with a detailed family tree highlighting his previously unknown Black ancestry. PBS host Henry Louis Gates Jr., known for the series Finding Your Roots, personally delivered the genealogy to the pope at the Vatican. Gates described the event as deeply meaningful, tracing Leo’s lineage back 500 years and revealing ancestral ties to Haiti and Creole roots from New Orleans.

The American-born pope, originally named Robert Prevost, has not publicly discussed his racial heritage, and family members report that his siblings identify as white. The research also uncovered connections to prominent figures such as Madonna, Hillary Clinton, and Angelina Jolie, as well as both enslaved individuals and enslavers among his ancestors, prompting renewed conversations about racial identity and history.