Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff in Catholic Church history, reportedly shares distant family connections with some of the world's most recognizable celebrities and political figures.
A comprehensive genealogical investigation by The New York Times, conducted in collaboration with American Ancestors and the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami, traced Pope Leo XIV's ancestry. His family tree traces back to Louis Boucher de Grandpré, who was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec in the 1590s. Through this Canadian ancestor, the Pope is classified as a ninth cousin, various times removed, to both Madonna and Justin Bieber.
The investigation uncovered other notable figures in the pope's family tree, including actress Angelina Jolie, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Canadian Prime Ministers Pierre and Justin Trudeau, and Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac.
Pope Leo XIV's family history also includes complex ties to both slaveholders and freedom fighters. Genealogical research reveals that at least a dozen of the Pope's ancestors were slaveholders, including several who were themselves Black—eight of these twelve identified slaveholders were people of color, with records showing they owned anywhere from one to twenty enslaved individuals.
At the same time, Pope Leo XIV's lineage features notable freedom fighters. His maternal fourth-great-grandfather, Charles Louis Boucher de Grandpre, led the Louisiana militia during the American Revolution and captured British posts, while another distant relative, Antonio José de Sucre, was a hero of South American independence and became the first president of Bolivia after helping defeat Spanish colonial rule.
The research project was led by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., host of the PBS show "Finding Your Roots," who described the findings as groundbreaking. Gates and his team traced the papal lineage as far back as the early 1500s, uncovering ancestors born across multiple continents including France, Italy, Spain, the United States, Cuba, Canada, Haiti, and Guadeloupe.
The revelation carries particular irony regarding Madonna, whose relationship with the Catholic Church has been historically turbulent. The Vatican condemned her 1989 music video for "Like a Prayer" as controversial due to its religious imagery, and Madonna has claimed she was excommunicated three times, though the Church has never formally confirmed this. The pop star even jokingly tweeted to Pope Francis in 2022, suggesting they meet to discuss "some important matters."
Pope Leo XIV was elected on May 8, 2025, marking a historic moment as the 267th pontiff and the first American to hold the position in the Catholic Church's nearly 2,000-year history.
Originally published on Enstarz
