by Gina Christian
(OSV) — The discovery that the first U.S.-born pope has black and Creole roots is a finding that illustrates the nation’s rich, multiracial history, the experiences of black Catholics, and the importance of the Church’s sacramental records. Jari Honora, a certified genealogist and a family historian for the Historic New Orleans Collection museum, told OSV News that Pope Leo XIV’s former surname, Prevost, immediately piqued his interest.
Yet for all his extensive research experience, even Honora was surprised when he discovered that the maternal grandparents of Pope Leo, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, were listed on several census documents as black or mulatto. Their 1887 marriage license names Martinez’s country of birth as Haiti, and birth records show his city of birth as Santo Domingo (then part of Haiti, and now the capital of the Dominican Republic).
Honora ultimately found Pope Leo’s mother’s birth certificate and Social Security death index entry, which showed her parents’ names as Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié. While Honora surmised “Martinez could come from a lot of places,” he said the name Baquié “sounds like it comes from quite close to home. That’s a New Orleans name. And sure enough, the birth certificate gave … the birthplace of the mother as New Orleans.”
Once the family moved from New Orleans to Chicago, however, they began identifying as white, as indicated in the 1920 Census. The practice — known as “passant (passer) à blanc,” French for “passing (to pass) for white” — was then a common means of avoiding racial discrimination.
As a Catholic, Honora is “thrilled” by his findings. “This is such a Catholic city,” he said. “The fact that we sort of share this distinction … with the Archdiocese of Chicago as being home to the first American pope is just incredible.”
Honora plans to develop an exhibit “showcasing the wonderful sacramental sources we have on the Holy Father’s ancestry.” He said those “sacred volumes” can help find “some of the poorest, the illiterate, immigrants, as well as the ancestors of millionaires and popes and kings.”