Ellen Dionne Alverez sat quietly at a circular table in the 1840 Room at Antoine's Restaurant and waited, preparing to meet a long-lost part of her family for the first time.

Alone and facing the private dining room's open door, the native New Orleanian, raised in the 7th Ward, was still with quiet anticipation. What would these Chicago cousins be like, these friendly ladies who had contacted her — seemingly out of the blue — after she herself learned of her own surprising genealogy?

Alverez, through her father's side, was a cousin to Pope Leo XIV .

They were, too.

And then, minutes later, the four women walked in.

Drowning out an introduction by Antoine's waitstaff, they rushed over to Alverez with a chorus of greetings. They exchanged hugs, laughter, wide smiles, names.

Once they

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