Exhibit: “The Ancestry of Pope Leo XIV: An American Story
On View: Through December 31, 2025
American Ancestors’ Family Heritage Experience, 97 Newbury Street, Boston
Admission: $10 for adults. American Ancestors members and children under 12 are admitted for free
“The Ancestry of Pope Leo XIV: An American Story” is more than a family history—it’s a living dialogue between faith, culture, history, and genealogy. The exhibit invites visitors to read stories and explore vital records containing information about the Pope’s ancestors, illuminating the Pope’s diverse lineage as researched and compiled by Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., American Ancestors’ expert genealogists Jari H. Honora, and Lourdes Del Pino of the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami, Judge Raymond Moore, Archivist Sarah Waits of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, and others.
The exhibit features a chart of the Pope’s lineage that spans 15 generations, tracing the pontiff’s connections to Spanish nobility, freedom fighters, enslaved individuals, and modern-day cultural icons, including Justin Bieber and Angelina Jolie. Visitors are welcome to explore the Family Heritage Experience’s many exhibits.
When Pope Leo XIV’s was revealed earlier on June 11 in The New York Times Magazine, the world marveled at the sweeping, complex ancestry of the first American-born pontiff. Now, for the first time, the public can explore this extraordinary story in depth in New England. “The Ancestry of Pope Leo XIV: An American Story” exhibit sheds light on the Pope’s Creole and Latin American heritage, the first to be publicly acknowledged by a pontiff, as well as his ancestral ties to New Orleans, Cuba, Haiti, Italy, and beyond. His story is not only personal—it’s emblematic of the broader histories of migration, memory, and identity that continue to shape global conversations today.
Exhibit Highlights:
A comprehensive installation of his extensive family tree
Newly uncovered ancestors and migration stories not previously revealed
Records documenting information about the Pope’s ancestors
Contextual explorations of immigration, race, slavery, and freedom woven through his lineage
The Family Heritage Experience is open from Tuesday through Saturday, am to 6 pm. NOTE: On Wednesday, November 26, Family Heritage Experience closes at 1 pm, and remains closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 27 and Friday, November 28. For tickets, visiting information, and details about the exhibition, please visit fhe.americanancestors.org.
The Family Heritage Experience—an interactive, state-of-the-art exhibition that introduces visitors to the joy of family history research—was launched in 2025 by American Ancestors®, a national center for family history, heritage & culture. The Family Heritage Experience is located on the first floor of American Ancestors’ headquarters at 97 Newbury Street, in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, visit fhe.americanancestors.org.
American Ancestors® is a national nonprofit center for family history, heritage and culture based in Boston, Massachusetts that has been setting the gold standard for genealogical research since its founding in 1845. Today, American Ancestors serves 400K+ members and subscribers through AmericanAncestors.org, one of the world’s largest online collections of family history resources. In 2025, American Ancestors launched the Family Heritage Experience, an interactive, state-of-the-art exhibition that introduces visitors to the joy of family history research, located at 97 Newbury Street at our headquarters in Boston. American Ancestors is also home to the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center, which preserves New England’s Jewish history, and 10 Million Names, a project dedicated to finding the names of the enslaved men, women, and children in pre- and post-colonial America before emancipation. For more information, visit americanancestors.org.