Pope Leo XIV has voted in the United States midterm elections, the Vatican confirmed on Friday, October 30, 2026 — the first time a sitting pope is known to have cast a ballot in a U.S. general election.
The Holy See Press Office said the pontiff had submitted his mail-in ballot and that he "exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so." The statement added that he also voted in elections for which he was eligible during his years living in Peru.
An Illinois ballot
Leo was born in Chicago in 1955 as Robert Francis Prevost and remains a U.S. citizen; he is also a citizen of Peru, where he spent much of his career as a missionary and later as a bishop.
He is registered to vote under his birth name at an address in New Lenox, Illinois, a town southwest of Chicago where his elder brother John lives. Kim Fladhammer, chief of staff to the Will County clerk, confirmed to the Chicago Sun-Times that "Robert Francis Prevost" appeared on the county's list of voters who had requested a mail ballot. The request was made on October 3.
The Will County ballot in this cycle includes the races for the U.S. Senate and for governor of Illinois, along with county offices and judicial posts.
A voting record, without a preference
Illinois records, reviewed by the Sun-Times, show a long but mixed participation history. He pulled Democratic primary ballots in 2008 and 2010, while registered in Cook County, and Republican primary ballots in 2012, 2014 and 2016, after moving to Will County. He took part in general elections repeatedly over the same period but did not vote in Illinois's March 2026 primary.
Because Illinois does not record how a voter marks a ballot, the records show which primaries he chose to enter and nothing about whom he supported in any general election. In the American system, taking a party's primary ballot is a procedural choice rather than a declaration of membership.
The reaction
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomed the news. "In voting, our Holy Father sets the example that encourages each citizen to exercise their civic responsibility," said Chieko Noguchi, the conference's director of public affairs, in a statement on October 30.
Leo has spoken about democratic participation before without tying it to a party. In April, addressing the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, he said that "democracy remains healthy, however, only when rooted in the moral law and a true vision of the human person."
Reporting from OSV News, Catholic Review and FOX 32 Chicago, which cited the Holy See Press Office, the Associated Press and the Chicago Sun-Times.
