When Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost took the name Pope Leo XIV on May  8, 2025, he made headlines as the first American to sit on the papal throne. The real surprise came just weeks later when a deep‑dive family tree project by The New York Times, American Ancestors and the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami uncovered some star‑studded cousins in his branches.

It turns out the pontiff and pop superstars Madonna and Justin Bieber all trace their roots to Louis Boucher de Grandpré, a French settler who arrived in Trois‑Rivières, Quebec, in the early 1500s. That makes them ninth cousins, various times removed, of the man now leading more than a billion Catholics worldwide.

From that one 400‑year‑old migration, the pope’s lineage fans out across France, Italy, Spain, the United States, Cuba, Canada, Haiti and Guadeloupe. He even shares African American ancestry thanks to his grandfather Joseph Nerval Martínez, who left Haiti for New Orleans in 1866.

Beyond Madonna and Bieber, the DNA detective work links Pope Leo XIV to Hollywood’s Angelina Jolie, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Canada’s political power couple Pierre and Justin Trudeau. Social media lit up with memes and marvels at the fact that the Bishop of Rome now has pop idols and world leaders as distant relatives.

Genealogist Brenton Simons summed it up best when he told The New York Times, “The pope’s ancestry is a rich tapestry of global migration, cultural fusion and resilience.” Of course the new pope isn’t spending his days swapping playlists with Madonna or hit‑making tips with Bieber. In his first Sunday homily on May 11, he called for peace in Ukraine and Gaza and urged fresh talks between India and Pakistan. The story of his pop culture connections offers a welcome reminder that in today’s world even the Vatican can share a family reunion vibe with the music charts.