🗳️ The Pope just voted in the U.S. midterms — a first in history.

🗳️ The Pope just voted in the U.S. midterms — a first in history.

Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born pontiff, has cast a ballot by mail in the midterm elections, the Vatican confirmed Friday — the first time a pope has ever voted in an American election.

Leo is registered to vote in Illinois under his birth name, Robert Francis Prevost, and requested his ballot Oct. 3, per the Will County Clerk's office. "In keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, he has submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago," the Vatican said. "The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes."

The Vatican did not say which candidates he chose. Illinois voters Tuesday pick a successor to retiring Sen. Dick Durbin and decide whether to re-elect Gov. JB Pritzker.

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Source: Reuters (Oct. 30, 2026)
📷 Pope Leo XIV (photo: Edgar Beltrán, The Pillar / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)