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On this 81st anniversary of D-Day, the Pentagon has shared a powerful connection between the Vatican and the U.S. military. Pope Leo XIV’s father, Louis Marius Prevost, served as a Navy officer during the historic 1944 Normandy landings.
Prevost, born in Chicago in 1920, was commissioned into the Navy in November 1943.
He served as the executive officer of a tank landing ship during Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France June 6, 1944.
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The Normandy landings were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II Tuesday, June 6, 1944. (Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Later, he commanded an infantry landing craft in Operation Dragoon, the August 1944 Allied landing in southern France.
After the war, Prevost returned to Illinois, where he became superintendent of Brookwood School District 167 and later principal of Mount Carmel Elementary School in Chicago. He was also a catechist, teaching Christian doctrine.
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Pope Leo XIV signs a baseball during his weekly general audience at St. Peter’s Square June 4, 2025, in Vatican City, Vatican. (Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
Prevost married Mildred Agnes Martinez in 1949, and they had three sons, including Robert Francis Prevost, who was elected Pope Leo XIV May 8, 2025, becoming the first American-born Pope.
Earlier this week, Pope Leo XIV signed a baseball at the Vatican, a nod to his Chicago roots and lifelong support for the White Sox. The team has honored him with a commemorative installation at Guaranteed Rate Field.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower talking with American paratroopers on the evening of June 5, 1944, as they prepared for the Invasion of Normandy. (Underwood Archives/Getty Images)
The Pope’s father died in 1997, but his legacy endures through his son’s historic papacy and the shared values of service and faith.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Vatican for comment but has not yet received a response.