Friday, October 30, 2026
Pope Leo XIV mailed a ballot to Illinois. No pope ever had.
The Vatican confirmed Friday that Leo XIV, born in Chicago, submitted a mail-in ballot for the November 3 midterms. He is registered in Will County, Illinois, and asked for the ballot on October 3, ten days before his lung surgery. The Vatican says he has voted whenever eligible, in Peru too, and that citizens have a duty to take part.
The pope leads the Catholic church, and he grew up near Chicago. This week he filled in his ballot, the paper grown-ups vote on, and mailed it home to Illinois like a birthday card to Grandma. No pope had ever voted in an American election. His counts the same as anybody’s.
Why it worksA five-year-old reasons from what is in front of them, so the script hands over one object, a paper mailed home, and skips the Vatican. The birthday card does the work a definition can’t. Expect “Did he vote for the good guy?” Say nobody gets to see, and that is the rule for everyone, popes included.
- “Is the pope allowed to vote?”
- Yes. He was born in Chicago, so he’s an American, and Americans can vote even when they live far away. He mailed his in.
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Becoming pope did not cancel Robert Prevost’s US citizenship. Americans abroad can vote by mail, so on October 3 he asked Will County, Illinois for a ballot and sent it back. His vote is sealed like everyone’s: records show which primaries he picked, never who he chose.
Why it worksAt eight to twelve a child is testing whether rules hold for everyone, so the script runs the chain from citizenship to a county ballot and lands on the one rule that binds the pope like anyone: nobody sees the vote. Expect “But which party is he?” Give the primary record, two and three, and that even that does not say who he picked.
- “Who did he vote for?”
- Nobody knows. Ballots are secret, even a pope’s.
- “Can you vote from another country?”
- Yes. Citizens abroad get a mail-in ballot from their home county.
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Should another country’s head of state vote in ours? Leo XIV is a US citizen, and the law lets citizens abroad vote by mail, even if they work for a foreign government. He has clashed with Trump. Can a vote nobody sees take a side?
Why it worksA teenager can hold two facts at once: the law plainly let him vote, and a pope who has fought with the president casts a ballot people will read as a signal. The script settles the first before it asks the second. Expect “So whose side is he on?” The honest answer: the ballot is secret, and the Vatican said nothing more.
- “Isn’t he the ruler of the Vatican? Isn’t that a conflict?”
- He is. The law lets citizens abroad vote, whoever they work for.
- “Was this a message to Trump?”
- He has voted in every general election since 2000 except two.
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Based on the headline: Pope Leo XIV mailed a ballot to Illinois. No pope ever had.