‘To Pope Leo XIV’
Campus & Community ‘To Pope Leo XIV’ Henry Louis Gates Jr. shares a printout of the papal family tree with Pope Leo XIV.Photos by Vatican Media © Christy DeSmith Harvard Staff Writer July 21, 2025 4 min read Gates meets with ‘ecumenical’ pontiff to present copy of family tree produced from research the scholar did for Times magazine piece Covering Pope Leo XIV’s entire desk was his family tree, its corners secured by weights. “Your Holiness,” announced Henry Louis Gates Jr., “your ancestry goes back to your 12th-great-grandparents, who were born 500 years ago — when Leo X was pope.” The Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research took an in-depth look at the pope’s family history for a recent article in The New York Times Sunday Magazine. Gates and his wife, historian Marial Iglesias Utset, were planning to vacation in Rome anyway. So the celebrated literary scholar and Emmy Award-winning host...