Pope Leo’s family tree is as surprising as it is amazing, and people are going wild for one celebrity he’s related to.
Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost officially became the newest Pope on May 8, and selcted to go by the name Pope Leo XIV as is tradition.
As the 267th to take on the role, Pope Leo has already been making waves since taking over from his predecessor Pope Francis, who passed away at the age of 88 in April.
In his first Sunday noon (May 11) blessing he confirmed to the masses below him: “Never again war.”
He asked for peace in Ukraine, and a ceasefire in Gaza, as well as an agreement between India and Pakistan.
He’s also been commented about US President Donald Trump and has been known to be fight off many of his policies.
In the past, he has reposted that were constantly against Trump’s beliefs.
For example, in 2018, Pope Leo reposted a thread from Cardinal Blase Cupich, which blamed the Trump administration’s policies.
“There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being performed in our name and the shame is on us all,” the first post of the thread read.
So, when this new thing about Pope Leo was published, people were left wondering, what else is going to publish next?
Henry Louis Gates Jr has hosted PBS’s Finding Your Roots for the last 13 years, and after being hounded by fans to search more about Pope Leo’s ancestry, he consented.
They went as far back as his 12th-great-grandparents, who were born in the early 1500s in collaboration with the genealogists at American Ancestors and the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami.
That’s when they uncovered that Pope Francis is connected to none other than a Queen.
The Queen of Pop, that is.
Yes, Pope Leo and Madonna are family, and that is a wild thought.
Pope Leo is ninth cousins, various times removed, with the singer, and other celebrities through a distant maternal ancestor, who was born in the 1590s.
The internet realized that this slice of trivia, and they’ve not been able to confirm how to take the news.
One person on X commented: “Wait, Pope Leo XIV is actually a distant relative of Madonna?! That’s such a wild and iconic connection , like, royalty meets pop royalty? I’m obsessed with this tea.”
Someone else added: “Papa don’t preach but her distant relative does.”
Another continued: “this is just so random, like two completely different vibes.”
A fourth asked: “how distant though? distant like they can’t kiss because its weird distant? or like 10th cousin distant?”
But this is just the hint: Pope Leo is also linked to Pierre and Justin Trudeau, Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Justin Bieber, and the famous writer, Jack Kerouac.
His closed connection also includes noblemen, freedom fights, enslaved people, slaveowners who were both black and white, and more.
