Pope Leo XIV made history on Friday, October 30, 2026, becoming the first sitting pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church known to cast a ballot in a democratic political election.
​The Holy See Press Office confirmed in an official statement released in Vatican City that the 71-year-old pontiff, the Catholic Church’s first U.S.-born pope, submitted a mail-in absentee ballot through local election authorities in Chicago, Illinois, ahead of the upcoming November 3, 2026, U.S. midterm elections.
​”Pope Leo XIV has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so,” the Vatican statement read. “The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes.”
​The Vatican added that during his prior decades of residence in Peru, where he served as an Augustinian missionary and later as a bishop, the pontiff similarly exercised his voting rights as a dual citizen.
​The Pope, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, has remained a registered voter in New Lenox, Illinois, a suburb southwest of Chicago in Will County, where he uses the residential address of his brother, John Prevost.
​According to records from the Will County Clerk’s Office and the Illinois State Board of Elections, Pope Leo requested an absentee ballot on October 3, 2026. His completed mail-in ballot was officially processed and logged by election officials in Illinois this week.
​Voter registration records show that Prevost has maintained an active civic record for decades, requesting Democratic primary ballots in 2008 and 2010, and Republican primary ballots in 2012, 2014, and 2016, as well as casting a vote in the 2024 U.S. presidential election prior to his papal election in May 2025.
Illinois election rules maintain secret balloting, meaning his candidate selections in the upcoming 2026 midterms, which will determine all 435 U.S. House seats, 35 U.S. Senate seats, and governorships nationwide, remain private.
​While popes throughout history have frequently commented on political and moral issues, direct voting participation in national civic elections by a reigning pontiff is considered unprecedented.
​”I don’t think popes have ever voted in a democratic election before,” said British historian and papal expert Michael Walsh, commenting on the announcement.
Traditionally, European pontiffs, primarily of Italian origin prior to the late 20th century, abstained from casting ballots to preserve the Holy See’s stance of political neutrality in secular electoral contests.
​However, Vatican officials stressed that Leo’s vote does not signal a departure from the Holy See’s non-partisan diplomatic stance, framing it instead as an expression of personal civic duty.
​The landmark move comes as Pope Leo XIV continues to encourage global civic engagement while frequently speaking out on contemporary international affairs, including immigration and human rights.
