ROME — Pope Leo XIV cast a mail-in ballot in the U.S. midterm elections, the Vatican confirmed Friday, making the Chicago-born pontiff the first leader of the Catholic Church to vote in the United States.
The Vatican did not say how he voted.
Leo — formerly known as Robert Prevost — “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so. … In keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, he has submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago,” the Vatican said.
“The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes,” it added.
The announcement came amid the tension of a high-stakes U.S. election and after President Donald Trump has sought to cast doubt on mail-in voting.
In April, the U.S. leader sharply criticized the pope, calling him “terrible for Foreign Policy” and “WEAK on crime.” Trump’s outburst followed weeks in which Leo had repeatedly condemned the war in Iran, and urged those opposed to it to call their “congressmen” to say “we don’t want war, we want peace.”
Leo is viewed as more measured than his predecessor, Pope Francis, on a range of issues including migration, but the U.S.-born pope also has denounced Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the United States as “inhuman.” He also denounced those who seek to use God’s name to defend war — issuing his statements after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had done just that.
The Chicago Sun-Times first reported Leo’s request for a ballot, citing Kim Fladhammer, chief of staff of the Will County clerk’s office as saying “Robert Francis Prevost is on the list of individuals who requested a vote by mail ballot for the upcoming election.” The pope, the outlet said, is registered at an address in the town of New Lenox, 41 miles southwest of Chicago.
Before becoming pope, Leo voted in the 2012, 2014 and 2016 Republican primaries, and in the Democratic primaries of 2008 and 2010. He also voted in the 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2024 general elections, the outlet reported. Illinois voters do not have to register by party and can choose which party’s primary to vote in.
The Vatican noted that Leo — who became a naturalized dual citizen of Peru while he served there as a missionary and bishop — also had voted in the South American country “whenever he was eligible to do so.”
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