En esta noticia
Pope Leo XIV has voted by mail in the U.S. midterm elections, becoming the first pope to cast a ballot in an American general election. The Vatican confirmed Friday that the Chicago-born pontiff had submitted his ballot ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3.
The Holy See press office said Leo has voted as a U.S. citizen every time he was eligible, and did the same during his decades in Peru. “The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes,” the statement said.
Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost, is still registered in Will County, Illinois, at his brother John’s address in suburban New Lenox. The county clerk’s office said he asked for the ballot Oct. 3, 10 days before surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his lung.
He may also be the first pope to vote in any democratic election. Leo holds U.S. and Peruvian citizenship and leads the Holy See, an absolute monarchy that holds no elections.
Is Pope Leo XIV a Republican or a Democrat? What his US voting record shows
On paper, he is neither. Illinois doesn’t register voters by party, so state records list Prevost as “undeclared.” The only partisan clue comes from primaries, where voters have to request one party’s ballot.
Illinois State Board of Elections records show five primary votes since 2000, divided between the parties:
- 2008 and 2010: Democratic ballots, while he was registered in heavily Democratic Cook County
- 2012, 2014 and 2016: Republican ballots, after he moved to the more conservative suburbs of Will County
The records don’t reveal which candidates he chose. His midterm ballot will stay as private as any other Illinois voter’s.
He has also voted in every general election since 2000 except 2020 and 2022, including the 2024 presidential race. In 2025, a state elections official said federal law protecting Americans abroad would likely preserve his right to vote in federal races.
This year, Will County voters are choosing a governor, with JB Pritzker seeking a third term, and filling the U.S. Senate seat left open by Dick Durbin’s retirement. They also face county races and judicial retention votes, which decide whether sitting judges keep their seats.
Where does Pope Leo XIV stand on US politics, from immigration to the death penalty?
Leo’s public positions don’t line up with either party. He has repeatedly broken with President Donald Trump’s administration on war, immigration and capital punishment. On abortion and assisted dying, he holds to traditional church teaching.
The sharpest clash came earlier this year, when Trump called him “weak” and captive to the “radical left.” Speaking to reporters on a flight to Algeria in April, Leo said he wasn’t afraid of the administration and would keep speaking against war. The feud has cooled in recent months.
Here’s where he has landed on the issues most often debated in U.S. politics:
- War in Iran: He has repeatedly condemned the U.S.-Israeli war. In an Oct. 27 video message marking 40 years since an interfaith peace summit in Assisi, Italy, he said, “There is no such thing as a holy war.”
- Immigration: He has called for humane treatment of immigrants during the administration’s deportation push. As a cardinal, he shared posts criticizing deportations to El Salvador and Vice President JD Vance’s reading of Christian love.
- Death penalty: He has restated church teaching that executions are “inadmissible.” In 2011, he wrote to then-Gov. Pat Quinn thanking him for abolishing Illinois’ death penalty. In April, he marked the law’s 15th anniversary in a video message.
- Abortion: In 2025, as Cardinal Blase Cupich planned to honor Durbin despite the senator’s support for abortion rights, Leo urged respect for both sides. He also said opposing abortion while backing the death penalty isn’t truly pro-life.
- Assisted dying: He said he was “very disappointed” when Illinois legalized medically assisted death in 2025.
- Gender: As a bishop in Chiclayo, Peru, he opposed a government plan to teach “gender ideology” in schools.