Incredible as it may seem, the news in Turkey in recent days is that the newly elected Pope Leo XIV may have a Turkish past… At least, that is what it’s said of the town of Develi, a district in the province of Kayseri, in the heart of Anatolia, where Turkish media claim that Robert Prevost’s great-grandfather, of Armenian descent, lived until he emigrated from Turkey to Argentina in 1915.
Turkish news agencies quoted the testimony of Yusuf Çelik, muhtar (elected head) of the neighbourhood of Reşadiye in the town of Develi, a district with a population of around 70,000, who said he was surprised to learn that the great-grandfather of the new Supreme Pontiff was Setrak Parsehyan, a member of the Armenian community who lived in this neighbourhood in the early 20th century, before the First World War.
Due to its geographical location at the eastern and south-eastern gates of Anatolia, Develi was one of the epicentres of the conflict that broke out at the time when Armenian communities, armed and instigated by Russia, tried to rebel against the Ottoman State by taking up arms: the fighting and subsequent repression by Ottoman forces led to what the Armenian diaspora claims was the so-called Armenian genocide, which Turkey denies as such, although Ankara acknowledges that thousands of Armenians died as a result of the fighting, the hardships of war and the chaos caused by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Evidence of this Armenian past can be found in the fact that today in Develi there are still some old houses of Armenian origin, and even the local Fatih Mosque is actually an old Armenian church that was converted after the rebellious Armenians were sent by the Ottomans to Syria. The region was also home to a significant Greek minority, who supported the Turks during the Armenian uprising but later were sent to Greece during the population exchange agreed between Ankara and Athens in 1920, after the Turkish War of Independence and the founding of the new Republic of Turkey. Turks/Muslims from the Greek region of Thrace arrived in exchange to Develi.
Family from New Orleans… or Anatolia?
‘We have learned through social media that the Pope has roots in Develi, we are surprised. It is said that the ancestors of Leo XIV, the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church, lived in this neighbourhood. We wish him all the best,’ said the surprised muhtar, commenting on the news, which has been widely reported in recent days not only on social media but also by main Turkish media outlets.
However, this news would clash with information published by newspapers such as The New York Times, as reported in recent hours by the well-known Turkish news portal NTV, which points out that the maternal grandparents of the Pope appear in historical records as ‘black’ or ‘mulatto’ people living in the Seventh Ward neighbourhood of New Orleans, a predominantly Catholic area populated by immigrants with origins in Europe, the Caribbean and Africa.
From there, Leo XIV’s maternal grandparents, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, moved to Chicago in the early 20th century, where they would have a daughter who would eventually become the Pope’s mother, Mildred Martinez. Could the news reports in Turkey perhaps refer to the Pontiff’s family on his father’s side? Who knows, the information published in the Turkish press does not specify.
It is unclear where the news of the possible Turkish past of at least part of Pope Leo XIV’s family originated. No one has officially confirmed this information, despite the fact that much of the Turkish press has reported that Leo XIV’s great-grandfather was an Armenian living in the heart of Turkey. Not even in Develi, where the ancestors of the Bishop of Rome supposedly lived, do they seem to know about this story. Whether it is true or simply gossip fuelled by speculation on social media, the news will probably remain a mere anecdote ahead of the Pope’s eagerly awaited visit to Turkey, scheduled for this month of May if there are no changes to the Pontiff’s agenda.
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As a history lover, Pablo Gómez was captivated by Turkey from the first day he visited it in 2006: he got married there, has a house there… and has since become an expert on Turkey’s current affairs. With a long experience in media, he has been at the helm of hispanatolia.com since 2011.
