Rather than focus on new pope’s US-birth, look at his Haitian roots
Everyone is making a big deal about the fact that Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was born and bred in the United States and is the first north American pope in history.
But how about this? Pope Leo XIV is mixed race and had a Haitian grandfather.
Not only that, he is the first pope to have had a Haitian cardinal cast a vote in the papal conclave.
This, because it was the late Pope Francis who gave Haiti its first cardinal. I interviewed Cardinal Chibly Langlois for The Guardian when I was based in Port au Prince.
Back to the new pope’s Haitian roots. National Catholic Reporter says that Louisiana Creole expert Jari Honora has traced Prevost’s ancestry to the Black community of New Orleans.
The outlet said: “Leo XIV is not known to have publicly commented having African ancestry, which is part of a mixed heritage that also includes French, Italian and Spanish roots. According to the US Census, Prevost’s mother, the late Mildred Martinez, was the mixed-race daughter of Black property owners, the Haitian-born Joseph Martinez and New Orleans native Louise Baquié, a Creole.
“As such, Leo XIV could be considered the first Black pope in the history of the Catholic Church, though it is unclear how he identifies racially.”
