Is Pope Francis really Latino?

Excitement over Pope Francis has led to hope for the Latino Catholic community in reviving the religion among the Latino community and youth. However, the Argentine native is not actually Latino to some. His ancestry is of Italian immigrants who went to Argentina. Although he is a fluent Spanish speaker, many people think this is not enough. His lack of indigenous blood has stirred the pot for Latinos who say that the pope is just not cutting it as a Latino.

The question has now arisen, what makes one a Latino?

 It is true that Latinos come from many geographical places and have a wide variety of features, but is being from a country of Latino origin not enough?

 According to an article from Fox News Latino, “Latinos also can be of any race; many identify themselves as both Latino and white, or Latino and black.” Due to censuses and continuous analysis of people’s race, there has been more of a push for people to identify themselves with technical terms and not necessarily their personal definitions of what their roots are.

 Regardless of if the pope is technically a Latino or not, the Spanish-speaking religious leader seems to still have the vote of Latinos and will spur outreach to Spanish-speaking Catholics.