The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Leo XIV cast a mail-in ballot in this year’s U.S. midterm elections. He is the first pope in history to take part in an American election.
Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost is still listed on the Illinois voter rolls. As the Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday, he requested a mail-in ballot in early October through the Will County clerk’s office. On Friday, the Holy See Press Office confirmed that the pope “exercised his right to vote as a citizen of the United States.”
Leo XIV’s ballot included, among other races, the U.S. Senate election for the seat being vacated by Dick Durbin, the Illinois governor’s race and local contests in Will County, including those for judges.
Records show that the future pope voted regularly: in the general elections of 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2024, as well as in the primaries of both parties. He did not vote in Illinois’ March primary. The Vatican stressed that the pope has always voted when he was eligible to do so, including during his ministry in Peru, because he considers participation in democracy both a right and a duty of a citizen.
The state election commission noted that every registered voter in Illinois can vote by mail, and that U.S. citizens living abroad have the right to do so under the federal UOCAVA law. Gov. JB Pritzker encouraged voters on social media: “If the pope can vote all the way from the Vatican, you can too!”
The midterm elections will take place Tuesday, Nov. 3.
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Source: Polski.FM
