But now, it’s not just his policies and global leadership that people are talking about — it’s his jaw-dropping family history.

From the Pulpit to Pop Culture: A Surprising Genealogical Twist

Pope Leo’s roots were recently explored on the long-running PBS series Finding Your Roots, hosted by the ever-curious and meticulous Henry Louis Gates Jr.. The show, known for uncovering surprising truths buried deep in family lines, has previously stunned audiences with celebrity links to royalty, presidents, and revolutionaries.

But even Gates admitted this latest discovery was something special.

Thanks to an intensive genealogical collaboration between American Ancestors and the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami, researchers traced Pope Leo’s lineage back over 500 years — all the way to his 12th-great-grandparents, born in the early 1500s.

And somewhere along that long and winding ancestral path, a remarkable name