BATON ROUGE - Bishop Michael Duca issued a statement Saturday on behalf of the Baton Rouge Diocese congratulating Pope Leo XIV on his election Thursday as the leader of the Catholic Church.

"His election is certainly a groundbreaking one since Pope Leo will serve as the first pope born in the United States," Duca said. "This election also brings great pride to the people of south Louisiana having learned of his ancestral roots here."

The pontiff, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, spend much of his career in Peru but was born in Chicago into a family with ties to New Orleans.

Just hours after Prevost's election, Historian Jari Christopher Honora located a marriage certificate that says Prevost's maternal grandparents - Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquie - were married at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart on Annette Street in New Orleans in 1887.

Duca said Prevost's choice to take the name Leo suggests "a pontificate that focuses on the rich social teaching of the Church, emphasizing solidarity, respect for the dignity of the human person, and a preferential option for the poor."

"As he indicated in his first words to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, it is our common responsibility as a Church to proclaim the never-changing truth of the Gospel in these times through peace, unity, and missionary work through the guidance of the Holy Spirit," Duca said. "We thank God for giving us this new Shepherd, and we pray for him and his Petrine ministry that he will inspire us to live in the hope of the Gospel."

Archbishop Gregory Aymond said in a press conference after the election that the New Orleans archdiocese is eager to learn more about Prevost's family history.

"If relatives of his were baptized or attended churches here — if there's a Creole dimension in his family — we certainly want to know that so we can even more claim him as one of our own," Aymond said.

Other Louisiana officials have publicly celebrated news of the new pope's Louisiana connections.

U.S. Representative Troy Carter said news that his family may have been of Creole ancestry was a testament to "the enduring strength and global reach of New Orleans' diverse faith community."

“The news that the first American Pope has roots here in New Orleans, with ancestral ties to our Creole and Haitian families, is nothing short of extraordinary. It reminds the world that greatness rises from every corner — including communities that history has too often overlooked or underestimated," Carter said.