Pope Leo XIV's Creole heritage highlights complex history of racism and the church in America Cardinal Robert Prevost celebrates Mass at St. Jude Parish in New Lenox, Ill., in 2024. Credit: AP ...

Pope Leo received an official copy of his family tree, which includes his ties to "free people of color" in New Orleans.

Catholics from around the world happily celebrated Leo’s Creole and Haitian heritage. Many who live on the African continent had hoped the new pope would come from there.

Reynold Verret, president of Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, the only historically Black Catholic university, said he was “a little surprised” about the pope’s heritage. “It ...

Reynold Verret, president of Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, the only historically Black Catholic university, said he was “a little surprised” about the pope's heritage. “It's ...

Reverend Ajani K. Gibson, pastor of St. Peter Claver, a Catholic Church in the 7th Ward neighborhood where the grandparents of Pope Leo XIV lived, speaks with The Associated Press inside the ...

Reynold Verret, president of Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, the only historically Black Catholic university, said he was “a little surprised” about the pope’s heritage. “It ...

Pope Leo XIV’s Creole heritage highlights complex history of racism and the church in America. ... (Leo’s) story also reminds us that Black history is, and always has been, ...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The new pope's French-sounding last name, Prevost, intrigued Jari Honora, a New Orleans genealogist, who began digging in the archi ...