By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Leo XIV has become the first pope to vote in a U.S. general election, casting a mail-in ballot in a contest that will decide America’s political future as the Trump era slowly comes to an end.
The Vatican confirmed Friday that the Chicago-born pontiff had submitted a mail-in ballot in the city ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, citing his long-standing belief in civic participation.
Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen” as he has done “whenever he was eligible to do so,” the Holy See press office said.
The statement said he had also voted while living in Peru, where he lived as a missionary priest and bishop for over 20 years.
“The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes,” it added.
Leo holds U.S. and Peruvian citizenship, and is also the head of state of a foreign country, the Holy See. The city-state is an absolute monarchy with no political elections.
U.S. federal law allows citizens living abroad, even those working for foreign governments, to vote via absentee ballot. Americans working for foreign governments aren’t automatically at risk of forfeiting their U.S. citizenship, though the U.S. State Department says on its website that it may “actively review” the citizenship status of Americans who “serve as a foreign head of state, foreign head of government, or foreign minister.”
This election, Illinois voters are deciding whether to elect Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to his third term, and they’re also filling an open U.S. Senate seat after longtime Catholic Democrat Dick Durbin’s retirement. There are no statewide issues on the Illinois ballot. President Donald Trump is not on the ballot but he has campaigned hard to try to preserve Republican control of the U.S. House and Senate for the final two years of his second term.
The pope, registered at a New Lenox, Illinois, address, requested a mail-in ballot on Oct. 3, said Kim Fladhammer, chief of staff to the Will County clerk, on Friday. The Chicago Sun-Times first reported the request.
The request was made just 10 days before Leo underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his right lung. Leo has been slowly resuming his activities at the Vatican after being released from the hospital Oct. 17.
It is unclear how Leo returned the ballot. The pope’s older brother, John Prevost, was in Rome this week accompanying parishioners from St. Jude’s, an Augustinian-run parish in New Lenox, Illinois. The elder Prevost attends Mass there, and Leo gave a talk at the parish in 2024 while still a cardinal.
Prevost’s past votes have gone Democratic and Republican
Since 2000, Robert Prevost has voted in five primary elections, requesting Democratic ballots twice and Republican ballots three times, according to records held by the Illinois State Board of Elections.
The records do not show which candidates he supported. Illinois voters must declare a party preference to receive a primary ballot. No such declaration is required in general elections.
While registered in heavily Democratic Cook County, Prevost requested Democratic primary ballots in 2008 and 2010. After moving to the more conservative suburban Will County, he requested Republican primary ballots in 2012, 2014 and 2016.
The records also show that he submitted ballots in every general election since 2000 except those in 2020 and 2022.
Clashes with Trump
Since becoming pope, Leo has drawn criticism from Trump for repeatedly condemning the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and calling for dignified treatment of immigrants, following the Trump administration’s crackdown and mass deportation program.
Earlier this year, Trump called Leo “weak” and captive to the “radical left,” kicking off a remarkable back-and-forth public argument that dominated Leo’s April trip to Africa.
Responding to Trump, Leo told reporters en route to Algeria: “I’m not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the church works for.”
The public dispute has subsided in recent months.
“We try to let things pass if there are misunderstandings,” the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Richard Paul Gallagher, told reporters this week. “With anybody, we would be looking to approach it and say, ‘OK, there may be a misunderstanding, let’s move on and try to rebuild trust and confidence.’”
Leo and Trump have not spoken by phone since the pope’s May 2025 election. Last week, however, Leo spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the humanitarian crisis in the Ukrainian city of Oleshky.
Asked why Trump and Leo haven’t spoken, Gallagher said the Holy See has found a capable conduit in the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, and hadn’t needed to elevate any issue higher.
A pope who follows US politics closely
Leo has made clear on several occasions that he follows local and national U.S. politics closely and is not afraid to intervene.
Recently, Leo reiterated official church teaching declaring the death penalty “inadmissible.” He made the pronouncement in a social media post on the World Day Against the Death Penalty, which came as the U.S. announced plans to livestream an execution by firing squad. The plans were later scrapped.
In 2025, Leo intervened in a debate over abortion, after Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich announced plans to give a lifetime achievement award to Sen. Durbin. The plans drew objection from some conservative U.S. bishops given the powerful Democratic senator’s support for abortion rights. Leo called for respect for both sides, but he also pointed out the contradiction between people who call themselves “pro-life” but also support the death penalty.
Also in 2025, Leo said he was “very disappointed” that his home state of Illinois approved a law allowing medically assisted dying, which is condemned by the Catholic Church.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a note commenting on the confirmation of Leo’s midterm vote, urged Catholics to put “our faith before our politics” and uphold human dignity and the common good.
“As Catholics and Americans, we are blessed to be able to participate in our nation’s political and public life,” said the conference’s director of public affairs, Chieko Noguchi. “In voting, our Holy Father sets the example that encourages each citizen to exercise their civic responsibility.”
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Associated Press writers Holly Meyer in Nashville, Tennessee, and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.
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