EU Pope Leo’s Surprising Family Tree: From Pop Stars to Revolutionaries

[Social Media]

 

Pope Leo’s Surprising Family Tree: From Pop Stars to Revolutionaries

 

Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff in the history of the Catholic Church, has a family tree more intertwined with modern celebrity and historical upheaval than many might expect. According to new genealogical research, the Pope shares a distant ancestral link with global pop icon Madonna—making the two ninth cousins through a common ancestor born around six generations ago.

 

 

The discovery is particularly striking given Madonna’s contentious history with the Catholic Church. The singer has frequently courted controversy for her provocative use of religious symbols in music videos and stage performances, most notably in her 1989 hit “Like a Prayer.” Despite their opposing public personas—one a conservative spiritual leader and the other a rebellious pop provocateur—they are bound by shared heritage.

 

This familial connection is just one of many uncovered by a deep investigation conducted by The New York Times Magazine in collaboration with genealogists from American Ancestors and the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami. Their five-century sweep through Pope Leo’s lineage uncovered a host of well-known relatives. Pop singer Justin Bieber, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie, Canadian political figures Justin and Pierre Trudeau, and Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac all share ancestry with the pontiff, through the same 16th-century forebear—Louis Boucher de Grandpré, a Canadian born in the 1590s.

 

The researchers describe Pope Leo’s ancestry as a mosaic of nobility, enslavement, and resistance. “Noblemen, enslaved people, freedom fighters and slaveholders are all part of the family tree of the first American pope,” the magazine stated on social media. One of the most striking revelations was that Pope Leo has 17 identified African American ancestors, a finding the team called “earthshattering.”

 

This complex background includes ancestors who were both enslaved and slaveholders. Pope Leo’s maternal fourth-great grandmother, Marie Jeanne, was enslaved by François Lemelle, who fathered at least six of her children. In 1772, Lemelle freed her and two of their daughters. When he died in 1789, he left Marie Jeanne one-fifth of his estate, which included 15 slaves.

 

Pope Leo also descends from military and revolutionary figures. His fourth-great grandfather, Charles Louis Boucher de Grandpré, served as a militia commander in Louisiana during the American Revolution and was responsible for capturing several British outposts in 1777. Another ancestor, Antonio José de Sucre, was a Venezuelan general who fought alongside Simón Bolívar in the liberation of Latin America from Spanish colonial rule.

 

Sucre’s decisive victory at the Battle of Ayacucho in 1824 helped secure Peru’s independence. He later became Bolivia’s first constitutionally elected president in 1825, only to be assassinated in Colombia five years later.

 

What emerges is a portrait of a Pope whose background defies expectations—marked by unexpected celebrity connections, deep American roots, and a lineage threaded through both the darkest and most triumphant chapters of history.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Telegraph  2025-06-21

 

 

[Celsius]

Like a prayer 

[Caldera]

4 hours ago, Social Media said:

Pope Leo’s Surprising Family Tree: From Pop Stars to Revolutionaries

 

Pop Stars, okay, still less of an embarrassment than Porn Stars would be.

[alex8912]

Papa don't preach. 

[Harrisfan]

How do men live without sex for 50 years? 

[Tarteso]

4 hours ago, Social Media said:

Pope Leo has 17 identified African American ancestors,

So, I told you. He’s Negro.. like in the prophecy.

[Wrwest]

Not at all surprising as he is an American for we are indeed a people of many countries, races. Being a retired Professor Emeritus of History, I spend a good deal of time on my genealogy. The tree is of interest to me to know where my DNA was at different historical periods.