Pope Leo XIV casts historic vote in US election - Newsweek
Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope to vote in a U.S. general election, after the Vatican confirmed that the Chicago-born pontiff submitted a mail-in ballot in Illinois ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
The Vatican said Friday that Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost, had “exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen,” turning an unusual election story into a historic first for the papacy.
The Will County Clerk's Office previously disclosed that Leo requested a vote-by-mail ballot on October 3. He remains a registered voter at a New Lenox, Illinois, address despite now leading the world's 1.4 billion Catholics from Vatican City.
“Robert Francis Prevost is on the list of individuals who requested a vote by mail ballot for the upcoming election,” Kim Fladhammer, chief of staff for the Will County Clerk's Office, previously told the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Vatican did not specify how Leo returned his ballot. It said the pope has voted whenever eligible as a U.S. citizen and had also voted while living in Peru, where he spent more than two decades as a missionary priest and bishop.
“The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes,” the Holy See press office said.
More than 20 million Americans and 1.16 million Illinois residents have already voted early. Any registered Illinois voter can vote by mail, including citizens living abroad under election law.
Newsweek reached out to Will County election officials for comment.
The Illinois ballot Leo voted on includes the U.S. Senate race to replace retiring Senator Dick Durbin, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker's reelection campaign, and various Will County contests.
Public records show Leo has participated in both Democratic and Republican primaries in Illinois over the years, requesting Democratic ballots in 2008 and 2010 and Republican ballots in 2012, 2014 and 2016. Illinois voters declare a party preference when requesting a primary ballot, but they do not need to for general elections. Records also show that Prevost submitted ballots in every general election since 2000 except 2020 and 2022.
The November election marks Leo's first major U.S. election vote since becoming pope last year.
Leo, the first American-born pope, has at times been at odds with President Donald Trump and some Republican officials over immigration policy and foreign affairs, particularly the war in Iran, although the Vatican has generally avoided direct involvement in U.S. electoral politics.
In April, Trump criticized the pope as "weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy," with the pontiff responding that he had "no fear" of the Trump administration.
Leo has strongly condemned the conflict in the Middle East and the "delusion of omnipotence" that caused it, saying this had led to "absurd and inhuman violence."
The pope remembered to request a ballot just before he underwent surgery earlier this month to remove a portion of his lung, which was found to have cancer.
Leo will not need further cancer treatment following surgery to remove a tumor from his right lung, the Vatican said, after final tests confirmed it was a localized lung adenocarcinoma.
The pope's personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, and his surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora, said in a statement that results of the final post-operative tests on tissue removed during the surgery confirmed the initial diagnosis and that the cancer had not spread.
"Today, the final histological examinations and molecular biology tests on the material removed during the Holy Father's surgery were reported. The results confirmed that the tumor was a localized lung adenocarcinoma. A subsequent oncological evaluation confirmed that no further treatment is necessary," the statement from the doctors read.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gabe Whisnant and Edward T. Cummins
