The Vatican said Pope Leo XIV submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago for Illinois’s Nov. 3 midterm elections.
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The Vatican confirmed that Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope to vote in a U.S. general election by submitting a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of Illinois’s Nov. 3 midterm elections.
The Holy See press office said Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen” and has done so “whenever he was eligible to do so.”
It said he also voted while living in Peru whenever he was eligible, noting that Leo lived there for more than 20 years as a missionary priest and bishop.
The press office statement said Leo “expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes.”
The Vatican linked Leo’s vote to his stated long-standing civic participation, while noting that he was undergoing a period of recovery at the time.
The statement said Leo underwent surgery on Oct. 3 to remove a cancerous tumour from his right lung and had been slowly resuming activities at the Vatican after being released from hospital on Oct. 17, though the evidence provided does not clarify how the ballot was returned.
The Nov. 3 election in Illinois includes voters deciding whether to elect Gov. J.B. Pritzker to a third term and filling an open U.S. Senate seat after longtime Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin’s retirement.
The evidence provided also stated that records held by the Illinois State Board of Elections show that Robert Prevost has requested Democratic primary ballots twice and Republican primary ballots three times since 2000, and that those records do not show which candidates he supported.
Those records also said he submitted ballots in every general election since 2000 except those in 2020 and 2022.
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