Spanish
During a lunch with cardinals in the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV shared that his mother was born in the Dominican Republic, clarifying previous rumors about the birth origin of his relatives.
The information was released by the Ecuadorian Cardinal Luis Cabrera, Archbishop of Guayaquil, who recounted that the pontiff mentioned: “He told us that his mother was not born in Ecuador, she was born in the Dominican Republic”.
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According to genealogical records, the pope's mother, Mildred Agnes Martínez, was born in Chicago in 1912, daughter of Joseph Norval Martínez, who appears in some documents as being from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, is American by birth and has developed a deep relationship with Latin America throughout his ecclesiastical career. Before his election as pontiff, he worked as a missionary in Peru and has visited several countries in the region, including Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.
The confirmation of his Dominican roots adds a Caribbean dimension to his multicultural heritage, which also includes French, Italian, Spanish, and African-American ancestry.
Cardinal Cabrera highlighted Pope Leo XIV's closeness and spontaneity during the meeting, describing him as "a man of the people, a North American with a Latin American soul." These qualities have been well-received by the faithful, who see in the new pontiff an accessible leader committed to the communities of Latin America.
