Pope Leo Votes by Mail in US Election!
Vatican City, Oct 30 (EFE).-
Pope Leo XIV voted by mail in the US midterm elections to be held on Nov. 3, the Vatican press office said Friday. “Pope Leo XIV has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so,” the Vatican said, adding that “in keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, he has submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago.”
“The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes,” the statement said.
This is the first time that a pontiff has voted in a secular election.
Robert Francis Prevost – the pope’s given name prior to his papal election – is on the list of people who requested to vote by mail in the upcoming elections, the chief of staff for the Will County clerk’s office, Kim Fladhammer, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
According to the outlet, the pontiff, born in Chicago, made the request from the Vatican on Oct. 3, just one month before the election. Prevost is registered to vote in New Lenox, Illinois, where his home is located.
It also became known that Prevost voted in the general elections of 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2024, as well as in the Republican primaries of 2012, 2014, and 2016, and in the Democratic primaries of 2008 and 2010.
The pope’s vote comes in a year in which his differences with the US President Donald Trump regarding issues such as immigration policies and the war with Iran have been evident.
The American pope has openly criticized the military offensive initiated by the US and Israel against the Islamic republic on Feb. 28 and said that no one can prevent him from continuing to criticize the war, while Trump has gone so far as to say that Leo XIV puts “many Catholics and many people in danger” because he believes that it is “fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” EFE
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