The pope’s family history of “gens de couleur libre,” or free people of color, can be traced back to Opelousas, a ...

The clerk’s office discovered a Declaration of Intention form signed by Pope Leo XIV’s paternal grandfather, the first step in becoming a U.S. citizen.

Pope Leo's grandfather was born in Italy in 1876 and came to the United States in 1905, eventually making his way to Chicago. His grandson took the opposite route, starting in Chicago and moving to ...

I share an ancestral connection with Pope Leo XIV. What does that story say about race, religion, and ancestry in America?

adding another layer to the pope’s complex family history. Salvatore Giovanni Riggitano, the pope’s paternal grandfather, in a newspaper advertisement featured in The Daily Gate City in 1910 ...

Lee said the Lemelle family, which traced its wealth to cattle ranching, became one of the most prominent Creole families during the Antebellum period in Louisiana. The pope’s great-great ...

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of ...

In a historic decision, the Roman Catholic Cardinals have elected the first American pope, and one Raleigh couple found themselves in the midst of the excitement while vacationing in Rome.

ABC News has obtained several records, including U.S. Census records from the early 1900s, demonstrating that the first American pope's family tree reflects the complex racial history of this country.