Pope Leo XIV Casts Mail Ballot in Chicago, Becomes First Pontiff to Vote in a US Election
The Chicago-born pope requested his ballot weeks before lung cancer surgery, the Vatican says, continuing a voting habit that stretches back a quarter-century.
Pope Leo XIV has cast a mail-in ballot in next week's U.S. midterm elections, the Vatican confirmed Friday, making him the first pontiff in history to vote in an American election while serving as pope.
Leo XIV, born Robert Prevost in Chicago, requested the ballot on Oct. 3 and voted through Cook County, where Illinois election records show he is registered; the Will County clerk's office said he maintains a mailing address in New Lenox. The request came just weeks before he underwent lung cancer surgery; he was discharged from the hospital on Oct. 17 and has since been resuming his schedule, with a trip to South America planned for next month, according to CBS News.
"THE HOLY FATHER EXPRESSES HIS BELIEF IN THE RIGHT AND THE DUTY OF CITIZENS TO PARTICIPATE IN DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES."
A quarter-century voting record
The Holy See said in a statement that Leo XIV "has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so," framing the ballot as consistent with decades of civic participation rather than a political statement. The Associated Press reports he has voted in five primaries since 2000 — choosing Democratic ballots in 2008 and 2019 and Republican ballots in 2012, 2014 and 2016 — and cast a general-election ballot in every cycle since 2000 except 2020 and 2022. A dual U.S. and Peruvian citizen, he voted by mail throughout nearly two decades spent as a missionary and bishop in Peru.
The vote comes as Leo XIV has leaned into themes of civic engagement since his election last year. At a general audience on Sept. 2, he urged the faithful to move past "all passivity and indifference" toward current events, adding that Catholics cannot remain "unengaged spectators." Illinois does not require voters to declare a party affiliation for a general election, only for primaries, which is why past coverage of his voting history has focused on which primary ballots he chose.
The disclosure landed four days before Election Day, as celebrity and mainstream outlets alike seized on the novelty of a sitting pope weighing in, however quietly, on American democracy from his ballot box rather than the pulpit.