A Catholic mother of 10 and grandmother of 30 was honored by New Orleans’ Archbishop Gregory Aymond during a special vigil Mass on May 12.

(OSV News) – A New Orleans genealogist has found that the first U.S.-born pope has Black and Creole roots – and the discovery illuminates the nation’s rich multiracial history, the experience of Black Catholics and the importance of the Church’s sacramental records.

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A special noontime Mass at St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter drew a crowd Thursday as local Catholics gathered to honor the Roman Catholic Church’s new pope, Leo XIV.

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 Church in New Orleans, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Marc Morial ...

New Orleans' 7th Ward neighborhood has long been recognized as a cultural stronghold for people of African, French, Spanish and Native American descent.

His ancestry, traced to a historic enclave of Afro-Caribbean culture, links Leo XIV to the rich and sometimes overlooked Black Catholic experience in America.

The new Pope’s French-sounding last name, Prevost, intrigued Jari Honora, who began digging in the archives and discovered the Pope had deep roots in the city. All