Vatican Confirms Pope Leo XIV Cast Mail-In Ballot in Illinois Ahead of U.S. Midterms

The Vatican confirmed Friday that Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born former Cardinal Robert Prevost, submitted a mail-in ballot in Illinois for the U.S. midterm elections, making him the first pope known to vote in an American election. The Holy See press office said he has voted as a U.S. citizen whenever he was eligible, including during his years in Peru, and that he believes in the right and duty of citizens to take part in democratic processes. The Will County clerk's office said he requested the ballot on Oct. 3 for his registered New Lenox address. Reports on the request first appeared before the Vatican statement, and elections are set for Nov. 3, with early voting open in most states. The 71-year-old pope is recovering from surgery to remove a lower lobe of his right lung after a lung cancer diagnosis, and the Vatican said he will still travel to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in early November.

Left-leaning CBS News leads with the historic first and the Vatican's statement, quoting it at length, then adds his recovery from cancer surgery, the South America trip, his brother John's Rome visit with New Lenox parishioners, and a papal call to abandon passivity and indifference. Right-leaning outlets give more weight to his voting record. The Washington Examiner stresses that he requested a ballot and that the clerk's office did not say it was returned, and notes his past Democratic and Republican primary ballots and his brother's support for Trump. The New York Post, which also reports the Vatican confirmation, adds that records show five primaries since 2000, two Democratic and three Republican, and that it is unclear how the ballot was returned. Both sides cite the Chicago Sun-Times and the Oct. 3 request. Axios and BBC largely track the same facts; the BBC adds the pope's clashes with the Trump administration.