Pope Leo XIV becomes first pope to vote in a US election after submitting mail-in ballot
The Vatican has confirmed that the Chicago-born pontiff submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of the 3 November midterm elections, a historic first for a sitting pope.
Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope in history to cast a ballot in a United States election, after the Vatican confirmed on Friday that he had submitted a mail-in ballot for next week's midterm elections.
The Holy See press office said the Chicago-born pontiff had sent in his ballot in Chicago, describing the act as part of a long-standing habit of civic participation. It said he had exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen whenever he was eligible to do so.
The announcement makes Leo, 71, a figure of two overlapping identities: the spiritual leader of about 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, and an American citizen taking part in the democratic process of his country of birth. He was elected pope in May 2025, becoming the first American-born pontiff.
The ballot request was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, which cited the Will County clerk's office. The newspaper said Leo, registered under his birth name Robert Francis Prevost, was listed at an address in New Lenox, a suburb south-west of Chicago, and had requested a mail-in ballot on 3 October.
Leo was born in Chicago and spent more than two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru, where the Vatican said he also voted whenever he was eligible. He holds United States and Peruvian citizenship, alongside his role as head of state of the Holy See, the city-state that governs the Catholic Church and holds no political elections of its own.
United States law allows citizens living abroad to vote by absentee ballot, including those working for a foreign government, and that provision covers the pope in the same way as any other overseas American. The Vatican did not say how the completed ballot was returned, and it did not disclose which candidates he had supported.
Election records reported in the coverage show a voter who has taken part in general elections over many years, including the 2024 presidential election, and who has cast ballots in both Republican and Democratic primaries in Illinois. That history has drawn attention because Illinois primary voters choose one party's ballot each season, rather than registering with a party in advance.
The ballot Leo submitted is expected to cover the races facing Illinois voters on 3 November, including the choice of a successor to retiring Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, a decision on whether Governor JB Pritzker should serve a third term, and contests for the House of Representatives and state and county offices.
The midterms will decide control of the United States Congress, and they are widely viewed as a test of President Donald Trump's second term, with voters weighing the cost of living and the continuing war involving Iran. Leo's own relationship with the administration has been closely watched, and his public comments have at times pressed for civic engagement and attention to humanitarian concerns.
Historians quoted in the reporting described the vote as unprecedented, noting that no sitting pope is known to have voted in a secular democratic election in the Church's roughly 2,000-year history. The Vatican framed the moment in simpler terms, presenting it not as a political statement but as a citizen's participation in a democratic process.
