Unprecedented: Leo XIV to vote in US midterm elections

[Stone]

Unprecedented: Leo XIV betrays papacy by voting in US midterm elections
The news, confirmed by the Vatican, raises a serious question: why is an absolute monarch voting in an American election?

Fri Oct 30, 2026
(LifeSiteNews [adapted]) — The Holy See’s announcement that Pope Leo XIV — the first U.S. citizen to be elected to the papacy — has voted in the U.S. midterm elections by mail raises a serious question: why is an absolute monarch voting in an American election?

For the first time in the Church’s 2,000-year history, a pope has cast a ballot, betraying his sacred office as a Catholic monarch.

“Pope Leo XIV has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so,” according to the Vatican statement. “In keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, he has submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago.”

Michael Walsh, a British historian and author who has written books on the papacy, told CNN that Leo XIV is the first pope to vote in a democratic, secular election.

“I don’t think popes have ever voted in a democratic election before,” said Walsh.

“The Holy Father has also confirmed that, during his years of residence in Peru he exercised his right to vote whenever he was eligible to do so,” noted the statement. “The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes.”

According to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times, which first broke the story, the chief of staff at the Will County Clerk’s Office confirmed that the Pope, who remains registered as Robert Prevost at a New Lenox, Illinois, address, requested a mail-in ballot on October 3.

Since 2000, Prevost has voted in five primary elections, requesting Democratic ballots twice and Republican ballots three times, according to Illinois State Board of Elections records.

Most recently he voted in the 2024 presidential election.

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