Originally appeared on E! Online
The Father, the Son and the Hollywood cousins.
It turns out, the newly appointed Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost) has an astonishingly celebrity-ridden family tree.
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WATCH HEREAccording to "Finding Your Roots" host Henry Louis Gates Jr., through a maternal ancestor born in the 1590s, the Chicago-born Pope Leo is ninth cousins — various times removed — with stars such as Justin Bieber, Madonna and Angelina Jolie.
Other significant ninth cousins include politicians Hillary Clinton and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as his father and fellow Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and famed writer Jack Kerouac.
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SIGN UP Gates' investigation into the new pope’s family tree also revealed an especially American background, reflective of the centuries of immigration the country has experienced. Of the ancestors found in Pope Leo’s family tree, he had family born in France, Italy, Spain, Cuba, Canda, Haiti and the French overseas department of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.
Pope Leo’s ascension marks the first time a North American was elected to head the Catholic Church, and his first remarks as Pope spoke to the idea of bridging global boundaries.
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READ: Has Pope Leo XIV Seen "Conclave"? His Brother Says…
"We can be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, that is always open to receive everyone,” Pope Leo said on May 8 in front of the thousands of spectators in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square. “Just like in this square, to welcome everyone, in charity, dialogue and love.”
Referencing the final Easter blessing the late Pope Francis gave before his death on April 21, the new pontiff added, “Allow me to continue that same blessing: God loves everyone; evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God. So, without fear, united hand and hand with God and among ourselves, we go forward."
Even the name he chose — that of Pope Leo — speaks to the kind of religious leader the American pope hopes to be.
The former Pope Leo XIII, who led the church from 1878 until 1903, was known as the "Social Pope" and the "Pope of the Workers," and was considered an intellectual and a modern thinker.
Peruvian Deacon Cledier Pérez Mejía, who worked with the future Pope Leo during his time in the country, told NBC News of the moniker choice, “I believe the name he chose is also meaningful: Leo XIII was the pope who mediated between modernity and the ancient régime. By choosing this name, he has sent a clear signal about what his role will be in such difficult times as these.”
The new pope’s brother likewise spoke to the road Pope Leo will likely choose to travel.
“The best way I could describe him right now is that he will be following in Francis’ footsteps,” John Prevost told The New York Times May 8. “They were very good friends. They knew each other before he was pope, before my brother even was bishop.”
Prevost continued, “I don’t think we’ll see extremes either way. How far he’ll go with it is only one’s guess, but he won’t just sit back. I don’t think he’ll be the silent one.”
