Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago in 1955, has been linked to the actress Catherine Deneuve through shared French ancestry.
According to Jean-Louis Beaucarnot, a prominent French genealogist, Pope Leo XIV’s paternal grandmother, Suzanne Fontaine, was born in 1894 to a family of pastry chefs in Le Havre, France. She appears to have emigrated to the US as an adult.
Through her father, a native of Calvados, the Pope is distantly related to the Nobel laureate JMG Le Clézio, while his great-grandmother indirectly links him, intriguingly, to Catherine Deneuve.
French film star Catherine DeneuveTinseltown/Shutterstock
Mr Beaucarnot’s research, conducted using the Geneanet platform, uncovered 35 family trees detailing the Pope’s French roots within hours of his election in May. While the maternal side of his family is of Spanish descent, the paternal lineage shows a rich French heritage.
“The Pope has a genealogy that is very much not the usual American family tree,” Mr Beaucarnot told The Connexion.
“Half of his ancestors, at least, can be traced to France,” he said, adding that it could potentially climb to two thirds as more branches of the family are found.
French media has also speculated that the great-great-grandfather of Pope Leo XIV may share roots with Charles Prévost, a French Catholic priest known for hiding Jewish children during World War Two.
The new pope’s surname is of French origin too, historically associated with an administrative role in medieval France. The term “prévôt” comes from the Latin “praepositus,” meaning an official or dignitary.
Another French connection is the new Pope’s mastery of the language. He is fluent in French, as well as English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. He also reads Latin and German.
