Top photo caption: Pope Leo XIV smiles from the Popemobile while riding around St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before his weekly general audience Oct. 28, 2026. CNS photo/Lola Gomez
By Gina Christian Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News
OSV News – Pope Leo XIV has submitted his vote by mail-in ballot for the upcoming Illinois midterm elections, the Vatican confirmed.
In a statement published Oct. 30, the Vatican press office said the Pope “exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so.”
“The Holy See Press Office confirms that in keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, he has submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago,” the statement read.
Pope Leo also confirmed that he took part in eligible elections “during his years of residence in Peru.
“The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes,” the Vatican said.
“In voting, our Holy Father sets the example that encourages each citizen to exercise their civic responsibility,” Chieko Noguchi, executive director of public affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in an Oct. 30 statement.
According to an Oct. 29 report by the Chicago Sun-Times, a county official said the Pope, who was born in Chicago, requested a mail ballot Oct. 3.
Pope Leo – who remains a U.S. citizen, as well as a citizen of Peru – is the first pontiff to vote in a U.S. election.
The Sun-Times confirmed the ballot request with Kim Fladhammer, chief of staff for the Will County, Illinois, clerk’s office.
Speaking to the Sun-Times, Fladhammer said that “Robert Francis Prevost” – the Pope’s given name prior to his papal election – was “on the list of individuals who requested a vote by mail ballot for the upcoming election” in Illinois.
The newspaper said the Pope is registered at a New Lenox, Illinois, address – the same suburban Chicago town in which his elder brother John lives.
The Sun-Times, citing voting records, said that the future Pope had voted in several previous elections: the Republican primaries of 2012, 2014 and 2016; the Democratic primaries of 2008 and 2010; and the general elections of 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2024. However, he did not vote in the state’s March primary this year.
The newspaper clarified that Illinois voters “do not have to register by party and can choose parties for their primary ballot.” In addition, any Illinois registered voter has the option to cast a ballot by mail.
NBC News’ Chicago affiliate confirmed with the county clerk’s chief of staff that the Pope’s ballot had not yet been received as of Oct. 29.
The Will County ballot includes the U.S. Senate and governor races, along with several county and judicial posts.
In a message to participants at an April plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Pope Leo highlighted authentic democracy, which “recognizes the dignity of every person and calls each citizen to participate responsibly in the pursuit of the common good.”
He cited St. John Paul II, who “affirmed that the Church values democracy because it ensures participation in political choices.”
Quoting from St. John Paul’s 1991 encyclical “Centesimus Annus,” he added that democracy also offers people “the possibility both of electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them through peaceful means when appropriate.”
Pope Leo said that “democracy remains healthy, however, only when rooted in the moral law and a true vision of the human person.”
Noguchi said in her statement that with midterm elections approaching, the USCCB “has been encouraging Catholics to exercise their right to vote and to do so in a way that places our faith before our politics.”
She added that the bishops have exhorted Catholics “to inform their conscience as they prepare to vote and to uphold human dignity and the common good in doing so.”
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina. Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.
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