Exhibit Launch and Panel Discussion: The Ancestry of Pope Leo XIV, An American Story

A Conversation with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Lourdes Del Pino, and Jari C. Honora, CG®; Moderated by Lindsay Fulton

October 3, 6:00 – 8:00 PM (ET)
American Ancestors headquarters, 97 Newbury Street, Boston, MA

Join us for an illuminating evening as we celebrate the launch of a new temporary exhibit within the Family Heritage Experience, The Ancestry of Pope Leo XIV: An American Story. This special event will feature a panel discussion between leading genealogists and cultural historians who helped uncover the Pope’s ancestral ties to New Orleans, Cuba, Haiti, Italy, and beyond. Pope Leo XIV is the first pope with publicly acknowledged Creole and Latin American heritage. His diverse family history has captivated global audiences since it was featured in The New York Times Magazine (June 2025). Yet the Pope’s genealogy goes beyond one man’s family history—it’s a window into the histories of migration, memory, and identity that shape our world today. Don’t miss this opportunity to delve into the past to better understand the present. Reception to follow panel discussion.

Thank You to our Sponsors

Presenting Benefactors
Gerry and MaryLee Halpin
David and Jean Kruger
Mark Nichols and Lowell Massey
Morrison D. Webb

This event is now at capacity. A recording will be posted to our website in the coming weeks. If you would like to make a gift to benefit this program, please contact: Advancement@AmericanAncestors.org.

 

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. He is an Emmy and Peabody Award winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder. Gates has produced and hosted an array of documentary films, including The Black Church (PBS), Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches (HBO), and Making Black America: Through the Grapevine (PBS). Finding Your Roots, Gates’s groundbreaking genealogy and genetics series, has completed eleven seasons on PBS and will return for its twelfth season in 2026.

Lourdes Del Pino is Vice President of the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami and currently Lead Latin American Genealogist for Finding Your Roots. She specializes in Colonial-era Cuban and Spanish research. Ms. Del Pino was born in Cuba and has a master’s degree in industrial engineering.

Jari C. Honora, CG®, is a New Orleans native and proud Louisiana Creole with roots dating back more than two centuries along Bayou Lafourche and the German-Acadian Coast. He is a graduate of St. Augustine High School and Tulane University. He works as Family Historian at the Williams Research Center of the Historic New Orleans Collection. He also does historical and genealogical research professionally, including for the TV programs Finding Your Roots, We’ll Meet Again, and the Georgetown Memory Project. He is a trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and a board member of the Louisiana Historical Society and Genealogical Research Society of New Orleans.

Lindsay Fulton, Chief Research Officer at American Ancestors, is a nationally recognized professional genealogist and lecturer. She oversees the Research and Library Services teams as well as the research team working on 10 Million Names. In addition to helping constituents with their research, Lindsay has authored a Portable Genealogists on the topics of Applying to Lineage Societies and the United States Federal Census (1790–1950) and is a frequent contributor to the American Ancestors blog, Vita-Brevis. She was featured in the Emmy-Winning Program: Finding your Roots: The Seedlings, a web series inspired by the PBS series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., as well as another popular PBS series, Samantha Brown’s Places to Love.

• 6:00 - Panel discussion followed by audience Q&A
   
• 7:15 - Reception and exhibit viewing
   
• 8:00 - End