The phrase "Like a Prayer" has taken on a whole new significance for Madonna, as a recent discovery has revealed a surprising family connection to the Pope. In a collaborative article between The New York Times,

Henry Louis Gates Jr., best known for helping people and celebrities uncover ancestral connections on his long-running PBS series “Finding Your Roots,” has made headlines again with a viral family tree revelation involving the newly elected Pope Leo XIV.

Through a distant maternal ancestor, who was born in the 1590s, Pope Leo is ninth cousins, various times removed, with some well-known figures, including Pierre and Justin Trudeau, Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Justin Bieber, Jack Kerouac and Madonna.