Pope Leo XIV has become the first sitting pontiff to vote in a United States general election, after the Vatican confirmed on Friday, October 30, 2026, that he has submitted a mail-in ballot for the upcoming midterm elections. The Chicago-born pope, who remains a United States citizen, cast his ballot in Illinois ahead of Election Day on November 3.
The Holy See Press Office said Leo had exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen whenever he was eligible to do so, and had done the same during his years living in Peru. In a statement, the Vatican said that, in keeping with his long-standing practice of civic participation, he had submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago, and that he believes citizens have both a right and a duty to take part in democratic processes.
Key Takeaways
- The Vatican confirmed on October 30, 2026, that Pope Leo XIV has submitted a mail-in ballot for the US midterm elections.
- Leo is the first sitting pope to vote in a US general election, and is registered to vote in Illinois under his birth name, Robert Francis Prevost.
- The Vatican did not say which candidates or party he voted for, and his ballot covers Illinois races including the governor and an open US Senate seat.
A Chicago-born pope, still an Illinois voter
Leo, 71, was born in Chicago as Robert Francis Prevost and is the first American-born pope, elected to lead the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church in May 2025. He holds both American and Peruvian citizenship, and he is registered to vote in Will County, Illinois, at an address in New Lenox, the suburban Chicago town where his elder brother John lives.
According to the Will County clerk’s office, as first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, Prevost requested a mail-in ballot on October 3. That request came ten days before he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his lung, after which he was released from hospital on October 17 and has been slowly resuming his activities at the Vatican. The Vatican did not say how the completed ballot was returned, and it did not disclose which candidates he supported.
Illinois voters in this election are choosing whether to re-elect Governor JB Pritzker to a third term and filling an open US Senate seat after the retirement of longtime Senator Dick Durbin, alongside races for the US House of Representatives and various state, county and judicial posts. The ballot itself is a private matter: the Vatican’s statement revealed that he had voted, but nothing about his choices.
The Vatican said that, in keeping with his long-standing practice of civic participation, he had submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago.
What his voting record shows, and what it does not
Records from the Illinois State Board of Elections show that Prevost has taken part in five primary elections since 2000, requesting Democratic ballots twice and Republican ballots three times. He also voted in the general elections of 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2024, according to reports citing those records, but he did not vote in the state’s March primary this year. Illinois does not register voters by party, so his registration is listed as undeclared, and primary ballot requests do not reveal which candidates a voter chose.
That distinction matters. A primary ballot in Illinois requires a voter to declare a party preference for that ballot, but it is not a party membership, and it says nothing about how the voter marked a general-election ballot. Commentators have therefore been careful not to label the pope’s politics from his voting history alone, and the Vatican has offered no clue about his vote this time.
Leo lived in Peru for more than 20 years as a missionary priest and later a bishop, and the Vatican said he voted there too whenever he was eligible. His case is unusual in another way: as head of the Vatican City State and the Holy See, he leads an absolute monarchy that holds no democratic elections of its own, which makes his participation in another country’s election a historic first rather than a routine civic act.
- Pope Leo XIV requested his Illinois mail-in ballot on October 3, according to the Will County clerk’s office.
- He is registered in New Lenox, Illinois, under his birth name, Robert Francis Prevost.
- His voting record since 2000 includes five primaries and four general elections, with no party registration in Illinois.
- The Vatican confirmed the ballot was submitted, but not which candidates he chose or how it was returned.
Why the moment caught attention
The announcement landed in the final days before the November 3 midterms, when control of both chambers of Congress is at stake and the midterm campaign trail has drawn former presidents and senior party figures across the battleground states. A pope voting at all is unprecedented; a pope voting as an American citizen, from the Vatican, in an election that will shape the country of his birth, is a story that sits at the intersection of faith, citizenship and politics.
It also comes at a sensitive moment in Washington, where officials have been warning allies about possible military action in the Middle East after the November 3 midterms. The Vatican gave no indication that Leo’s vote was connected to any particular issue or candidate, and there is no suggestion in the Vatican’s statement that it was meant as a political signal.
Historians quoted in coverage of the announcement said Leo was likely the first pope to vote in any democratic, secular election. Previous popes, born in countries with their own voting systems, did not cast ballots in national elections while in office, and the papacy itself has never been an elected office in the democratic sense: popes are chosen by cardinals in conclave, not by popular vote.
What to Watch Next
What to watch next is, by design, limited. The Vatican has confirmed that the ballot was submitted, but not which candidates he chose or how it was returned, and Illinois election officials will count mail-in ballots under the state’s normal rules. The historic first is already recorded: a sitting pope, born in Chicago and registered in Illinois, has voted in a United States general election. Everything else about the ballot stays private, as it does for every other voter.