When Father Tony Ricard watched the new pope deliver his first address to the faithful Thursday in St. Peter’s Square, he felt an instant kinship.

While Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago, Illinois, records show that his family lineage has deep roots in Louisiana.

The pope's Creole roots in New Orleans are a source of pride among the city's Black Catholics. But the revelation also recalls a painful chapter in the city's past. “In New Orleans, everyone treats visitors as family.

Pope Leo XIV's family tree reflects America's complex racial history, according to records obtained by ABC News.

Early coverage of Pope Leo XIV has explored the first American pontiff’s Chicago upbringing, as well as the many years he spent in Peru, first as a missionary and then as a bishop. Genealogist Jari Honora broke the story of the pope’s ancestors’ connection to the Creole of color community in New Orleans.

When [Pope Leo] came to the balcony, I looked up, and I was like, ‘That dude looks like he could be my brother,” a New Orleans priest said.

A genealogist hopes when the pope will stop in New Orleans when he comes to the U.S.: "We have to have a second-line. We have to have St. Aug's band. We have to have the best gumbo from Dooky Chase for him.

The pope's maternal grandparents are described as Black or a person of mixed white and Black ancestry in historical documents dug up by New Orleans-based genealogist Jari Honora.

Pope Leo XIV may have been born in Chicago, but he has Creole roots in New Orleans. Why it matters: The new pope, formerly known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, has a family history that tells a uniquely American story.