Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope known to have voted in a United States election, casting a mail-in ballot from Vatican City ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections. The Vatican confirmed on Friday that the pontiff, born Robert Prevost in Chicago, submitted his ballot to Illinois. It is a small administrative act with an outsized symbolic charge: the head of the Roman Catholic Church is also an American citizen exercising a citizen’s right.
Pope Leo XIV’s Ballot Cast From Vatican City
American citizens living abroad are entitled to vote by mail, and the pope, who retains his US citizenship, has done what millions of expatriates do each cycle. The confirmation from the Vatican was brief and factual, but the story travelled quickly because no previous pope has been in this position. Earlier pontiffs were Italian, Polish, German and Argentinian; none held a vote in the United States. More background on how unusual the moment is can be found across our blog coverage of this week’s stranger headlines.
The Chicago-Born Pontiff
Leo XIV’s American roots were a sensation when he was elected, and they continue to shape his pontificate in small, human ways. He spent years as a missionary and bishop in Peru before being called to Rome, yet his Illinois registration remained active. Vatican watchers note that the ballot was reportedly cast without any public statement about candidates or parties, keeping the act civic rather than political, and consistent with the Church’s insistence that it does not campaign.
Why the Moment Resonates
The midterms themselves are already historic in scale, with a record 47.9 million early votes cast before election day. In that context, the pope’s ballot is one more, except that it belongs to the most recognisable religious figure on earth. As the daily briefing podcast observed, it is the kind of story that reminds voters how global the American electorate has become, stretching from military bases to missionary posts to, now, the Apostolic Palace.
The Vatican is unlikely to say more, and the pope’s choice will remain private, as every voter’s should be. But the fact of the ballot will enter the history books: a Chicagoan on the throne of St Peter, voting in an election an ocean away from the city where he was born.
