While there’s plenty of room for views to shift as Pope Leo’s agenda becomes clear, people are watching how the first American-born leader of the

According to Gates Jr., Pope Leo is also related to Boucher de Grandpre, who fought against the British during the Revolutionary War with the Louisiana militia, as well as Antonio José de Sucre, who opposed Spanish forces during the Battle of Ayacucho.

Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. takes a deep dive into the pope's past in New York Times Magazine piece.

In a sermon on a major Christian holiday, Pope Leo XIV appeared to take a shot at travel bans recently put in place by President Donald Trump. GB News in Great Britain reported that the newly elected pontiff used his first Pentecost Sunday Mass to slam the rise of “nationalist political movements” and to condemn an “exclusionary mindset.”

Leo's message contrasts sharply with Trump's vow to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. The late Pope Francis also clashed with Trump over immigration, once saying the president was "not Christian" for wanting to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Noblemen, enslaved people, freedom fighters, slaveowners: what the complex family tree of the first American pontiff reveals.

COMMENTARY: Not since 1808 when Bishop John Carroll was the bishop of Baltimore — then the only diocese in the United States — has the Catholic Church in our country had a clear national leader.

One of the greatest challenges facing Pope Leo XIV is financial. He has inherited the Holy See’s chronic, 50 million to 60 million euro ($57-68 million) structural deficit, a 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall and declining donations.