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Robert Francis Prevost, the newly appointed Catholic leader who took the name Pope Leo XIV, has a surprising connection to a Louisiana community with unique origins in the United States.
The 69-year-old, who became the first American pope upon his election last week, it turns out, has ancestral ties to the Creole population. Creole is a term encompasses the mixed raced descendants of early inhabitants of Louisiana.
New Orleans genealogist Jari C. Honora confirmed the pope’s ancestry and her findings were published in a May 10 article in the New York Times.
“Thanks to the brilliant detective work of Jari C. Honora, who has researched guests for ‘Finding Your Roots, the world has learned that Pope Leo XIV’s genealogical heritage embodies,” Dr. Henry Louis Gates, historian and host of “Finding Your Roots” on PBS, said in a statement to TODAY.com.
Kent W. Peacock, the director of Creole Heritage Center at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, confirmed in a statement provided to TODAY.com that its geneologists and historians had also found Pope Leo XIV has roots within Louisiana’s Creole communities and Creoles of African ancestry.
“We are enthusiastic that the research into Pope Leo XIV’s ancestry is shedding light on the complex history of the Louisiana Creole people and the meaning of the term ‘Creole’ itself,” the center’s statement reads in part. “This history exemplifies the deep intertwining of peoples and their cultures that helped shape the United States.”
The revelation has many asking, “What does it mean to be Creole?” and “Why are the pontiff’s roots so significant?”
Here’s what to know.
What does ‘Creole’ mean?
In its earliest usage, Creole referred to people born in the New World, now known as the Americas, as opposed to the Old World — Africa, Asia or Europe, the Creole Heritage Center explains.
The term tends to describe mixed race people — including those descended from Louisiana's free people of color — but it is more cultural than racial, however.
The CHC notes Creole people share a history of “resilience in the face of enslavement, racial discrimination and pressures to assimilate culturally.”
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