Pope Leo XIV made history in May 2025 as the first American pope. Born Robert Prevost and raised in the Chicago area, he found his calling early: as a boy, he would set up an ironing board as an altar and play priest while his brothers played cops and robbers. Here are three facts about him that sound made up, and every one of them is true.
1. Why he chose the name Leo
He picked it partly because of artificial intelligence. Two days after his election, he explained the choice to the College of Cardinals.
His namesake, Pope Leo XIII, led the Church from 1878 to 1903 and wrote a landmark document, Rerum Novarum, about workers' rights during the first Industrial Revolution. Leo XIV said the world is now facing another industrial revolution, driven by developments in AI, that poses new challenges for human dignity, justice and labor.
A cardinal who had dinner with him after the conclave said the new pope is deeply concerned about the shifts happening today, from artificial intelligence to robotics, and believes the Church has a vital role to play. It was one of the very first priorities he named as pope.
2. How he spent the hours before the conclave
Like millions of people, he was playing word games. His older brother John told NBC that the two did Wordle, then Words With Friends, during their last call before voting began.
Then John asked the obvious question: had he watched the Oscar-winning movie "Conclave" so he'd know how to behave? He had just finished watching it. The 2024 film, starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, tells a fictional story of a papal election.
Neither brother saw what was coming. According to John, the future pope didn't believe an American would ever be chosen. He was elected on the fourth vote.
3. The celebrities in his family tree
Pope Leo XIV is distantly related to Madonna, Justin Bieber, Angelina Jolie, Hillary Clinton and Canadian Prime Ministers Pierre and Justin Trudeau. Many of the links run through a French-Canadian ancestor named Louis Boucher de Grandpré.
Genealogists from American Ancestors and the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami traced more than 100 of his ancestors in research published with the New York Times. Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., who led the work, called it one of the most diverse family trees his team had ever created, with roots in France, Italy, Spain and New Orleans.
The Madonna connection got the biggest reaction, including from Madonna herself, who joked online, "Silvio! We're related to the Pope!" It's an especially funny twist given her long, rocky history with the Catholic Church.
