Pope Leo XIV has a connection to some of the biggest names in pop culture, like Justin Bieber and Angelina Jolie. According to genealogical research featured in The New York Times magazine, the new head of the Catholic Church shares ancestry with pop icons Justin Bieber and Madonna, actor Angelina Jolie, and politicians like Hillary Clinton and Justin Trudeau.
These connections trace back to a shared ancestor named Louis Boucher de Grandpré. Descendants of a 17th-century French Canadian settler spread across Quebec and into the United States over centuries.
Madonna and the Pope are “ninth cousins, various times removed,” said Henry Louis Gates Jr., host of the PBS show Finding Your Roots. His team traced the new pope to the pop star through a distant maternal relative born in the 1590s.
Madonna responded to the revelation with humor, posting a photo of her father on Instagram with the caption: “Silvio! We’re related to the Pope! Strike a Pose!”
The pop icon’s 1989 Like a Prayer video was famously condemned as “a blasphemy and insult” to the Catholic Church.:
Diverse Heritage
Beyond the celebrity links, Pope Leo XIV’s ancestry paints a portrait of colonial and multicultural history. His maternal line includes Spanish, French, Cuban, and American roots, particularly in New Orleans’ historic Seventh Ward.
Archival records describe at least 17 of his maternal ancestors as Black or multiracial. The period terms like “mulatto,” “quadroon,” and “free people of color” were used.
On his paternal side, the story includes an Italian grandfather who left the priesthood for love. He marryied a French woman and passing down the surname “Prevost.” The pope’s lineage also includes notable historical figures, such as Antonio José de Sucre, a key figure in South America’s independence movement and Bolivia’s first president, through shared Spanish military ancestry.
In Pope Leo XIV, the Catholic Church now has a leader whose family story spans continents, cultures, and centuries. Interestingly, the Chicago native stepped into a role that, according to those close to him, always seemed like his destiny.
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