Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope in Catholic Church history to cast a ballot in a U.S. election, the Vatican confirmed Oct. 30.
Pope Leo, who has mostly lived outside of the U.S. since the 1980s, “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so,” the Holy See said in a statement.
The Vatican confirmed that “in keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, (Pope Leo) has submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago” ahead of the 2026 U.S. midterm elections.
Pope Leo confirmed through the Vatican’s statement that “during his years of residence in Peru he exercised his right to vote whenever he was eligible to do so.”
“The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes,” the statement added.
Pope Leo’s absentee ballot marks the first time a Catholic pope has voted in a U.S. election in church history. The United States was established in 1776, about 18 centuries after the founding of the Catholic Church.
The Holy Father, the first pope from the United States, is still a U.S. citizen and also holds Peruvian citizenship, though his election to the papacy raised esoteric questions about those national statuses, such as whether or not he would still pay taxes in the U.S. while serving as head of the Catholic Church.
A 2025 bill proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives moved to “protect the citizenship of, and provide tax-exempt status to, any American elected as the supreme pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church,” a clear reference to Pope Leo’s then-new papacy. The bill ultimately stalled in committee.
Unique among world leaders, the pope serves simultaneously as the universal spiritual head of the Catholic Church and as the head of the Holy See, a distinct sovereign entity under international law that serves as the central government of the Catholic Church.
Voting history obtained by EWTN News from the Illinois government shows that, prior to being elected pope, he voted in multiple U.S. elections while living outside the country, including primary and general elections in 2012, 2016 and 2024.
It is not clear what type of ballot Pope Leo received for the 2026 election. The U.S. government says that overseas citizens whose “intent to return (to the U.S.) is uncertain” are only eligible to receive a “federal-only” ballot, meaning Pope Leo may not have voted in state or local elections on the ballot he cast this year.
