Profile Text
Birth Name: Robert Francis Prevost
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Date of Birth: September 14, 1955
Ethnicity: * paternal grandfather – Italian [including Sicilian] * paternal grandmother – French * mother – Louisiana Creole [African, French, Spanish, more distant Italian], Cuban, Guadeloupean, possibly Maltese
Pope Leo XIV is the 267th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of the Vatican City. His Papacy began on May 8, 2025. He was previously Prior Provincial of Our Mother of Good Counsel, from 1998 to 2001, Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine, from 2001 to 2013, Titular Bishop of Sufar, and Apostolic Administrator of Chiclayo, both, from 2014 to 2015; Bishop of Chiclayo, from 2015 to 2023; Apostolic Administrator of Callao, from 2020 to 2021; Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and Cardinal Deacon of Santa Monica, all, from 2023 to 2025; and Cardinal Bishop of Albano, in 2025. He is the first U.S.-born Pope, the first Pope from the Order of Saint Augustine, and the first Pope with significant sub-Saharan African ancestry.
Pope Leo is the son of Mildred Agnes “Millie” (Martínez) and Louis Lanti Omarius Prévost, or Louis Manius Prévost, a school superintendent.
His father was born in Chicago, Illinois, to an Italian father and a French mother. His father’s family was originally named Riggitano. His grandfather changed the name to Prévost, the surname of his own mother-in-law, the Pope’s great-grandmother.
Pope Leo’s mother was also born in Chicago, to a Haiti-born father and a Louisiana-born mother. His mother’s family was Louisiana Creole, of African, French, Spanish, and more distant Italian, descent. His Spanish roots include Andalusian, Cantabrian, Galician, and Catalan. His mother’s Italian roots were in Lombardy, Piedmont, and Liguria. His mother also had ancestors born on Cuba and Guadeloupe, as well as possibly distant Maltese roots.
Pope Leo’s paternal grandfather was Giovanni Salvatore Gaetano/John Riggitano, or Jean Lanti Prévost (the son of Santi/Santo Riggitano and Maria Alioto). Giovanni was born in Milazzo, Messina, Sicily, Italy. Santi was born in Milazzo, Messina, the son of Giuseppe Riggitano and Concetta Buccafusca. Pope Leo’s great-grandmother Maria was the daughter of Francesco Alioto and Vittoria Trusiano.
Pope Leo’s paternal grandmother was Suzanne/Susanne Louise Marie Fabre-Fontaine (the daughter of Ernest Auguste Fontaine and Jeanne Eugénie/Eugéne Prévost). Suzanne was born in Le Havre, Normandy, France. Ernest was born in Calvados, Normandy, the son of Pierre Gustave Fontaine and Louise Adrienne Aubin. Pope Leo’s great-grandmother Jeanne was born in Paris, the daughter of Romain Pascal Prévost and Jeanne Chauvin.
Pope Leo’s maternal grandfather was Joseph Norval/Norvale Martinez (the son of Antonio Jacques Martinez and Marie Rosa/Rose Panteléon Ramos). Joseph was born on Santo Domingo, Hispaniola, to American parents, from New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana. His family was of Louisiana Creole descent. Pope Leo’s great-grandfather Jacques was the son of Raphael Eleodoro Martinez and Marguerite Cadenette/Cadeneth/Cadnet. On most census records, Jacques is listed as Louisiana-born, and mixed-race. On the 1910 U.S. Census, Pope Leo’s grandfather Joseph’s own father is listed as “Maltese;” his own mother is listed as “Spanish” on the same census. Pope Leo’s great-grandfather Jacques’s death record lists both his own parents as Cuban-born. Most census records list Pope Leo’s great-great-grandmother Marguerite Cadeneth’s birthplace as Louisiana. Her own mother, Marie Burette, was a slave, born on St. Marc, Haiti.
Pope Leo’s great-grandmother Marie Rosa had African, Spanish, and French/French-Canadian roots. She was the daughter of George/Georges Azenor/Agenor Panteleon/Pantaléon Ramos and Julien/Julienne Montreuil Jacquet/Jaquet. George Ramos’s father, Pope Leo’s great-great-great-grandfather Vicente/Vicent/Vincent/Vincente Ignacio/Ignace/Ygnacio Santiago Jacques Ramos, was born in New Orleans, the son of a Cuban father, Manuel Joseph/José Ramos y Bastos, from La Habana; and of a New Orleans-born mother, Marie/Maria Catalina/Cathalina/Catherine Guesnon. Manuel was the son of Vicente/Vincente Ignacio de Ramos y Zenea and María Nicolasa de los Dolores Bastos y Tadino.
Pope Leo’s maternal grandmother was Louise Baquié/Baquiet (the daughter of Ferdinand David Baquié and Eugénie Grambois). Louise was born in New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana. Ferdinand was born in New Orleans, the son of Joseph Aristide Fleury Baquié, who was born on Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, to French parents, with roots in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Marseille, and Monaco; and of Célèste Lemelle, who was a Louisiana Creole, from Opelousas, St. Landry. Célèste’s maternal grandfather, Charles Louis Boucher de Grandpré, had French-Canadian roots, in Québec, including in Trois-Rivières. Célèste’s maternal grandmother, Pope Leo’s great-great-great-great-grandmother Jeanne Antoinette Glapion, was a slave, who was manumitted in 1780.
Pope Leo’s great-grandmother Eugenie Grambois was born in Louisiana, the daughter of Paul Eugène Joseph Grambois, who was French; and of Odile Copele/Copelle, who was a Louisiana Creole.
Pople Leo is a second cousin, three times removed, of actress Shailene Woodley . Pope Leo IV’s maternal great-grandparents, Antonio Jacques Martinez and Marie Rosa Panteléon Ramos, were also Shailene’s maternal great-great-great-great-grandparents.
Each of Pope Leo XIV’s grandparents was born in a different country, something that is fairly rare. Actors Remy Auberjonois , Hart Bochner , Raymond Cham, Jr. , Noah Emmerich , Lily James , Adam Korson , Stephen Lang , Jessica Lange , Logan Lerman , Robert Morley , Brett Pierce , Ben Rosenfield , Andy Samberg , and Wallace Shawn , filmmaker John G. Avildsen , musicians Tom Cochrane , Paula Cole , Alex Pall , and Jeff Stinco , professional baseball player Bob Feller , politicians Nick Clegg and Ricardo Maduro , and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , are others whose grandparents were born in four individual countries.
Sources: Discussion of the ancestry of Pope Leo XIV and Shailene Woodley – https://famouskin.com
Genealogies of Pople Leo XIV – https://www.geni.com https://www.wikitree.com https://famouskin.com https://gw.geneanet.org
Genealogies of Pople Leo’s parents – https://www.findagrave.com
Article about Pope Leo’s ancestry – https://www.elmundo.es